Thank you for your post. I have no relationship with Northwest, just a fan. I’ve tracked flights by them lots of times that haven’t been posted as blog posts, and they always seem, in my eyes, to do more than the others. You are right, other airlines do ask for other altitudes and other measures, but it is my opinion that Northwest is the most proactive. I am also sure that routing and other measures are not as simple as they seem on the surface, but when they fly the same routes as the others, but deviate from those same routes on days such as the one mentioned in that post, they must be doing it for some reason, right? The path taken by them was a bit longer, but clear of any pilot reports. They have also stayed much lower than other flights in certain instances of turbulence advisories for certain altitudes. Maybe it’s just me, but I detect a pattern.

I try to remain objective and factual in my analysis and I do check most airlines and also compare Northwest routing compared to other days for the same route, time, and airline. In other words, I even compare Northwest against itself to try and figure out the reasoning behind the routing changes.

Also see this link:
http://www.nwa.com/weather/
and look at comment #4 above.

Weather matters most. If it’s rough all over, it doesn’t matter who you fly. If it’s smooth all over, it doesn’t matter who you fly. If it’s half and half (like it typically is), then, it matters.

However, if the jet stream was more favorable to the south, why didn’t the other airlines take advantage of it? Also, there was some chop to the north of the area too, the most intensive region was though, within the yellow circle.

I think Northwest does fit a particular pattern, as they are more turbulence adverse than other airlines. It could be a matter of policy or of their world famous turbulence prediction. I’ve also monitored flights to other destinations. One day there was a moderate turbulence for 30,000-42,000ft. NW was flying at 28,000 or lower through the area, while other airlines went at their standard altitudes.

See this article:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05123/498351.stm

Specificically, this paragraph.

But the improvement comes from more than just buckling up. Northwest Airlines has been a pioneer in developing forecasting for turbulence and wind shear, and today Northwest sells its daily “turbulence plot” to several other airlines. Northwest is particularly interested in the issue because it flies so much in mountainous areas. The information comes in the form of maps as well as instant text messaging sent to pilots in the air. Pilots can get warnings of turbulent air hundreds of miles in advance through onboard computers, or from FAA air-traffic controllers who collect reports of bumpy rides from planes, and figure out which altitudes are smoother than others.

Regardless of why, they routed to a totally clear area, and that means a lot for the visitors of this site.

I’ve noticed a number of times when it gets turbulent over Colorado that Jetblue takes that more southern route too. Sometimes it’s a difference of one flight, one will go through Colorado then the next is south of there. At least the flights from Long Beach to NY, instead of going through Nevada, Utah then Colorado, they go almost due east over Arizona, New Mexico, Kansas then start to go more Northeasterly. I’ve never checked their flights out of Burbank but I’m guessing they do the same.