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Window Seat

Houston → Oakland

HOU–OAK · William P. Hobby Airport to Oakland International Airport

Best bet

Either side

Both sides workThe two sides come out close to level.

Both sides have something going for them, and the totals come out close enough that picking one would be a coin flip with extra steps.

Flight paths move around. Treat this as the better bet, not a promise.

What you might see

In flight order, with distance measured from the representative route.

HOU to OAK: where each landmark sits relative to the routeA diagram of the representative route running left to right, with the departure airport at the left and the arrival airport at the right. Landmarks on the left side of the aircraft are plotted above the route line and landmarks on the right side below it, each at its distance from the route. The numbered list below this diagram carries the same information as text.HOUOAKLEFT SIDERIGHT SIDE12345678910
Distance from the route is to scale (up to 40 miles); the shaded ends are the 40-mile zones around each airport where the runway in use decides the view. Numbers match the list below. Hollow markers didn't count toward the recommendation.

  1. Petrified Forest

    RightHalfway11 mi off the route

    Petrified Forest is about 11 miles off the right, around the halfway mark.

    Good possibility

  2. Painted Desert

    RightHalfway32 mi off the route

    Around the halfway mark, Painted Desert sits roughly 32 miles to the right.

    Distant possibility

  3. Meteor Crater

    LeftThree quarters16 mi off the route

    Look left about three quarters of the way for Meteor Crater, about 16 miles out.

    Distant possibility

  4. San Francisco Peaks

    Either sideThree quarters6 mi off the route

    San Francisco Peaks passes almost directly beneath about three quarters of the way, which is the one place a window seat can't help you.

    Strong candidate

  5. Grand Canyon

    RightThree quarters36 mi off the route

    About three quarters of the way, Grand Canyon sits roughly 36 miles to the right.

    Good possibility

  6. Lake Mead

    Either sideThree quarters8 mi off the route

    Lake Mead passes almost directly beneath about three quarters of the way, which is the one place a window seat can't help you.

    Good possibility

  7. Death Valley

    LeftThree quarters16 mi off the route

    Death Valley is about 16 miles off the left, about three quarters of the way.

    Good possibility

  8. Mount Whitney

    LeftNear the end28 mi off the route

    Late in the flight, Mount Whitney sits roughly 28 miles to the left.

    Good possibility

  9. Half Dome

    RightNear the end34 mi off the route

    Look right late in the flight for Half Dome, about 34 miles out.

    Distant possibility

  10. San Francisco Bay

    Either sideNear the end5 mi off the route

    Whether San Francisco Bay appears comes down to how you come into OAK, which is not something we can know in advance.

    Runway dependent

The sun

Flying soon? Add your date and departure time and we'll work out where the sun should be, and which side gets less of it.

Airport codes or city names. SEA, Seattle, and Seattle-Tacoma all work.

Skip the date and you still get the landmark answer. Add it and we work out where the sun will be, using the departure airport's local time.

The route we used

1,640 mi
Great-circle distance
297°
Course out of HOU
282°
Course into OAK
7
Landmarks that counted

That is the shortest path between the two airports, used as a representative corridor rather than a flight plan. The first and last 40 miles are treated as uncertain, because that part of the flight is shaped by the runway in use and the published departure or arrival procedure. Anything in those zones is listed and marked, never counted toward the recommendation.

Left and right, from where?

Left and right are from your perspective sitting in the cabin, facing the front of the aircraft. Seat letters are not a reliable guide to which side you are on, because aircraft are configured differently.

Why this isn't guaranteed

Flights don't follow the same path every day. Runway configuration, weather deviations, traffic, and air traffic control all move the track around, and none of it is knowable in advance. We also have nothing to say about cloud cover, which is the other thing standing between you and Mount Rainier. The full method.

Flying the other way?

Oakland → HoustonEither side

Calculated from scratch, not by flipping this one. The landmarks arrive in the opposite order, the sun is somewhere else entirely, and the answer changes with them.

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