Everything on earth, not just the ground, but also the water (and even the atmosphere), is rotating in the same direction, Forbes reported. Since planes in the sky are being pulled eastward with the earth, it takes more time to go west. Think of it kind of like walking against the wind.

Flights traveling from east to west take longer primarily due to jet streams, which are high-altitude, fast-moving air currents that flow from west to east. When an airplane flies eastward, it "piggybacks" on these tailwinds, which can reach speeds of over 200 mph, significantly increasing the plane's ground speed. Conversely, when flying westward, the aircraft faces these currents as headwinds, which force the engines to work harder to maintain the same forward progress relative to the ground. A common misconception is that the Earth's rotation "pulls" the destination away or toward the plane; however, the atmosphere (and the plane within it) rotates with the Earth. The jet streams themselves are a byproduct of the Earth's rotation (the Coriolis effect) and the uneven heating of the atmosphere, making the "longer trip west" a consistent reality for transoceanic and transcontinental flights in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.