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Window Seat

Los Angeles → Detroit

LAX–DTW · Los Angeles International Airport to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport

Best bet

Left side

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

It is close. The left edges it, mostly on San Juan Mountains, but the right 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 DTW: 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.LAXDTWLEFT SIDERIGHT SIDE12345678
Distance from the route is to scale (up to 43 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

    RightEarly31 mi off the route

    San Gorgonio Mountain is about 31 miles off the right, early in the flight.

    Distant possibility

  2. Lake Mead

    LeftEarly43 mi off the route

    Early in the flight, Lake Mead sits roughly 43 miles to the left.

    Distant possibility

  3. Grand Canyon

    RightQuarter in19 mi off the route

    Look right about a quarter of the way in for Grand Canyon, about 19 miles out.

    Strong candidate

  4. Lake Powell

    LeftQuarter in21 mi off the route

    Lake Powell is about 21 miles off the left, about a quarter of the way in.

    Good possibility

  5. Monument Valley

    Either sideQuarter in6 mi off the route

    Monument Valley 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

  6. San Juan Mountains

    LeftQuarter in11 mi off the route

    Look left about a quarter of the way in for San Juan Mountains, about 11 miles out.

    Good possibility

  7. Pikes Peak

    LeftHalfway16 mi off the route

    Pikes Peak is about 16 miles off the left, around the halfway mark.

    Good possibility

  8. Chicago skyline

    Either sideNear the end2 mi off the route

    Chicago skyline passes almost directly beneath late in the flight, which is the one place a window seat can't help you.

    Strong candidate

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

1,975 mi
Great-circle distance
63°
Course out of LAX
85°
Course into DTW
6
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?

Detroit → Los AngelesRight 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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