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Los Angeles → Bentonville

LAX–XNA · Los Angeles International Airport to Northwest Arkansas National 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 XNA: 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.LAXXNALEFT SIDERIGHT SIDE12345678
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. San Gorgonio Mountain

    RightEarly10 mi off the route

    San Gorgonio Mountain is about 10 miles off the right, early in the flight.

    Good possibility

  2. San Jacinto Peak

    RightEarly31 mi off the route

    Early in the flight, San Jacinto Peak sits roughly 31 miles to the right.

    Distant possibility

  3. Sedona red rocks

    RightQuarter in15 mi off the route

    Look right about a quarter of the way in for Sedona red rocks, about 15 miles out.

    Distant possibility

  4. San Francisco Peaks

    LeftQuarter in17 mi off the route

    San Francisco Peaks is about 17 miles off the left, about a quarter of the way in.

    Good possibility

  5. Meteor Crater

    RightQuarter in11 mi off the route

    About a quarter of the way in, Meteor Crater sits roughly 11 miles to the right.

    Good possibility

  6. Painted Desert

    LeftHalfway13 mi off the route

    Look left around the halfway mark for Painted Desert, about 13 miles out.

    Good possibility

  7. Petrified Forest

    RightHalfway18 mi off the route

    Petrified Forest is about 18 miles off the right, around the halfway mark.

    Distant possibility

  8. Sandia Mountains

    RightHalfway35 mi off the route

    Around the halfway mark, Sandia Mountains sits roughly 35 miles to the right.

    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

1,368 mi
Great-circle distance
76°
Course out of LAX
90°
Course into XNA
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?

Bentonville → 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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