[melling]

The addition of the Pacific routes might have helped.

Those are some long flights. LA to Tokyo or Beijing in half the time, with a quick stop in Hawaii.

[Scoundreller]

LA to Tokyo would allow for more supersonic flight too. They avoided that over landmass to avoid sonic booms over inhabited areas. Which covers a good chunk of territory if they take the shortest route:

http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=lhr-jfk