Jet WindowWindow seat by route · LHR to LAX
London to Los Angeles: which side of the plane?
Sun left by day, right in the evening.
It turns with the clock. On morning and midday departures the sun is mostly on the left; leave in the evening and it is mostly on the right. Find your departure time in the table.
The sun, by departure time
Where the light will be.
Departure times are local to London. About 11 h 30 min in the air over 4,730 nautical miles.
| Leaving at | Winter (mid-December) | Summer (mid-June) |
|---|---|---|
| 7 a.m. | Left · sunrise about 6.5 hours in | Left · sun on this side |
| Noon | Left · sun on this side | Left · sun on this side |
| 5 p.m. | Dark the whole way | Right · sunset about 11.5 hours in |
| 10 p.m. | Dark the whole way | Right · sunset about 6.5 hours in |
On a dark crossing, the right side faces north. If there is an aurora that night, that is where it will be. Jet Window checks the aurora forecast for your actual flight.
Out of the window
What you can look for.
Right on the Pacific shore at the edge of the LA basin.
Along the way
- The Sierra Nevada, a granite wall along the edge of the desert on the right, in daylight
- Las Vegas, an island of light in the dark desert on the left
- The Greenland ice sheet, white to the horizon in every direction on the right, in daylight
Arriving in Los Angeles
The Los Angeles basin fills the view, downtown against the San Gabriel Mountains, with the Hollywood Sign for sharp eyes.
Best from the right, because the common west-flow arrivals come in from the east, so the downtown skyline and mountains sit to the north, on the right.
How this was worked out
The same engine as the app.
These answers come from the model Jet Window uses on your phone: the sun's position from the cabin's own horizon at cruise, sampled along the great-circle path, with the landmark and airport notes the app shows. This page has to assume a departure time and a flight time, and a real flight bends with winds, airways and the runway in use. Cloud is not modeled.
In the app, Jet Window works it out for your actual flight, at its real departure time, and tells you when to look.
More routes