I was on a flight to London that caught one of these tailwinds last year. I recall a little buffeting mid–Atlantic, don't know if that was in the jet stream or not. Only problem really was that we arrived too early in London and had to circle for half an hour before landing and then wait for immigration & customs to open.
As far as I have been able to tell in flying across the continent is the change in flight time (arriving early or late after departing on time).
I’ve had a SFO -> London flight once where the pilot intentionally flew into a very strong jet stream current (saved us a lot of flight time, think it was close to an hour). Experienced a short burst of mildly rough turbulence entering and exiting, but otherwise smooth sailing.
Just curious... How do you know that?
I wonder how some nervous passengers might react if they learned the pilot decided to enter a turbulence area on purpose.
The pilot got on the intercom and specifically stated he was doing it. He assured everyone there was zero risk outside the brief bumpiness and it would get us there much faster. He got loud cheers of support from the cabin, so I guess those nervous just kept to themselves.
I wonder if the pilot got any compensation for the fuel savings? I could see that being a dangerous incentive though, forcing pilots to opt for more risky conditions for the fuel savings bonus.
It would be as undetectable as the motion of the earth. It's the change in velocity (not the velocity itself) that causes you to feel something. Moving from one air current to another, with a large change in velocity, would be very noticeable.
They could be more turbulent. I presume they aren’t, though.