> The most direct route typically goes too far north. This only happens when departure and arrival are both in the Northern Hemisphere, if that's the case, gre

> The most direct route typically goes too far north. This only happens when departure and arrival are both in the Northern Hemisphere, if that's the case, great circle routes appear as curved towards the North when plotted on a 2D map. But here we are going from Northern to Southern hemisphere, so the great circle route will appear S-shaped, and the middle section will not be very far away from a straight line drawn on a 2D map. This is the great circle route SFO-SYD, Honolulu is pretty close as you can see http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=sfo-syd http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=sfo-syd