please read this !!!

was the alternate timeline flight of the plane also one thousand miles off course? that's what the pilot told jack and kate in the pilot episode. so, were they off course again; they flew right over the island. i hope its not the cheesy answer...."well, you know, the island can move around"........so, if they were off course, why did they land without incident at lax ?

the Island has an effect of distorting space/time, so there is no telling where the plane was when the pilot thought it was off course. he may have been flying a thousand miles in a circle and not known it. he may have been flying for a thousand miles through a spacer/time vortex. for all we know the plane's route takes it right over the Island, but usually there is no effect.

whatever it is I can guarantee the producers will not answer the question. it is a trivial matter which no one has noticed until now and is another example of the writers not carefully thinking about what they are writing until too late.

good question though.

perhaps since the Island has been sunk for 30 years the flight lanes now go right over the Island, where as before they didn't in the other reality because they Island hides itself.

there are many possibilities but all lead to the Island in the end.