Skip to content
WanderNerd
Check a flight

Window Seat

Los Angeles → Raleigh–Durham

LAX–RDU · Los Angeles International Airport to Raleigh–Durham 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 San Gorgonio Mountain, 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 RDU: 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.LAXRDULEFT SIDERIGHT SIDE123456789
Distance from the route is to scale (up to 64 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

    RightEarly12 mi off the route

    San Gorgonio Mountain is about 12 miles off the right, early in the flight.

    Good possibility

  2. San Jacinto Peak

    RightEarly33 mi off the route

    Early in the flight, San Jacinto Peak sits roughly 33 miles to the right.

    Distant possibility

  3. Grand Canyon

    LeftQuarter in64 mi off the route

    Look left about a quarter of the way in for Grand Canyon, about 64 miles out.

    Distant possibility

  4. Sedona red rocks

    RightQuarter in24 mi off the route

    Sedona red rocks is about 24 miles off the right, about a quarter of the way in.

    Distant possibility

  5. San Francisco Peaks

    LeftQuarter in8 mi off the route

    About a quarter of the way in, San Francisco Peaks sits roughly 8 miles to the left.

    Good possibility

  6. Meteor Crater

    RightQuarter in20 mi off the route

    Look right about a quarter of the way in for Meteor Crater, about 20 miles out.

    Distant possibility

  7. Painted Desert

    Either sideQuarter in2 mi off the route

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

    Good possibility

  8. Petrified Forest

    RightQuarter in29 mi off the route

    About a quarter of the way in, Petrified Forest sits roughly 29 miles to the right.

    Distant possibility

  9. Blue Ridge Mountains

    RightNear the end33 mi off the route

    Look right late in the flight for Blue Ridge Mountains, about 33 miles out.

    Distant possibility

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

2,234 mi
Great-circle distance
75°
Course out of LAX
98°
Course into RDU
8
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?

Raleigh–Durham → 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.

Keep nerding