Why a dog-leg flightpath HKG to LHR?
I flew SLF on the 2335 VAA flight 201 from HKG to LHR on 5 Feb 2015 (yesterday), and was curious about the flight path.
According to the in-seat skymap, after take-off the A340 flew on a heading of around 315 for a short while, then turned right onto a heading of about 350 for about an hour, and only then turned left to pick up a great circle route direct to LHR.
So I was wondering if the reason for the dog-leg was either:
1. Avoiding bad weather or
2. acquiring a tail wind or
3. avoiding Ukrainian airspace or
4. something else!
Any thoughts?