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Window Seat

Los Angeles → Buffalo

LAX–BUF · Los Angeles International Airport to Buffalo Niagara International Airport

Best bet

Right side

Slight edgeEnough to break a tie, not enough to change seats over.

It is close. The right edges it, mostly on Grand Canyon, but the left is not a bad seat.

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.

LAX to BUF: 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.LAXBUFLEFT SIDERIGHT SIDE12345678910
Distance from the route is to scale (up to 47 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. San Gorgonio Mountain

    RightEarly33 mi off the route

    San Gorgonio Mountain is about 33 miles off the right, early in the flight.

    Distant possibility

  2. Lake Mead

    LeftEarly39 mi off the route

    Early in the flight, Lake Mead sits roughly 39 miles to the left.

    Distant possibility

  3. Grand Canyon

    RightQuarter in25 mi off the route

    Look right about a quarter of the way in for Grand Canyon, about 25 miles out.

    Good possibility

  4. Lake Powell

    LeftQuarter in13 mi off the route

    Lake Powell is about 13 miles off the left, about a quarter of the way in.

    Good possibility

  5. Monument Valley

    RightQuarter in15 mi off the route

    About a quarter of the way in, Monument Valley sits roughly 15 miles to the right.

    Good possibility

  6. San Juan Mountains

    Either sideQuarter in1 mi off the route

    San Juan Mountains passes almost directly beneath about a quarter of the way in, which is the one place a window seat can't help you.

    Strong candidate

  7. Mount Elbert

    LeftQuarter in47 mi off the route

    Mount Elbert is about 47 miles off the left, about a quarter of the way in.

    Distant possibility

  8. Pikes Peak

    Either sideHalfway2 mi off the route

    Pikes Peak passes almost directly beneath around the halfway mark, which is the one place a window seat can't help you.

    Strong candidate

  9. Chicago skyline

    RightThree quarters27 mi off the route

    Look right about three quarters of the way for Chicago skyline, about 27 miles out.

    Distant possibility

  10. Niagara Falls

    LeftNear the end11 mi off the route

    Whether Niagara Falls appears comes down to how you come into BUF, 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

2,213 mi
Great-circle distance
62°
Course out of LAX
87°
Course into BUF
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?

Buffalo → Los AngelesLeft 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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