This link was posted in another forum
World's Longest Flights - Yahoo! News
It contains this statement:
Most people are surprised to learn that this trip takes longer than the airline's Newark-Singapore flight, which travels about 800 more miles. The Newark flight path across the North Pole subjects the aircraft to less wind resistance, allowing it to travel faster than the flight from L.A., which crosses the Pacific Ocean.
I'm guessing they're referring to prevailing winds/jetstream but it seems a pretty cackhanded way of doing so.