Eli5: Why do some flights go so far north before crossing the Pacific Ocean?

Question

There is a flight going from Dallas Texas to Tokyo but they appear to be going all the way to Alaska before crossing and coming back down.

In: 1

Answer 1

They are actually following the smallest path between these two cities. Remember that the earth is a globe that gets distorted when you put it into a map.

So if you take a globe, put Dallas in front of you and your finger in Tokyo and trace an arc over the surface of the globe connecting these two cities, you will see that it goes very near Alaska.