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Kansas City → Portland

MCI–PDX · Kansas City International Airport to Portland International 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 Mount Hood, 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.

MCI to PDX: 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.MCIPDXLEFT SIDERIGHT SIDE123456789101112
Distance from the route is to scale (up to 92 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. Wind River Range

    LeftHalfway33 mi off the route

    Wind River Range is about 33 miles off the left, around the halfway mark.

    Distant possibility

  2. Yellowstone Lake

    RightHalfway43 mi off the route

    Around the halfway mark, Yellowstone Lake sits roughly 43 miles to the right.

    Distant possibility

  3. Grand Teton

    LeftHalfway11 mi off the route

    Look left around the halfway mark for Grand Teton, about 11 miles out.

    Strong candidate

  4. Sawtooth Range

    LeftThree quarters47 mi off the route

    Sawtooth Range is about 47 miles off the left, about three quarters of the way.

    Distant possibility

  5. Hells Canyon

    RightThree quarters32 mi off the route

    About three quarters of the way, Hells Canyon sits roughly 32 miles to the right.

    Distant possibility

  6. Wallowa Mountains

    RightThree quarters14 mi off the route

    Look right about three quarters of the way for Wallowa Mountains, about 14 miles out.

    Good possibility

  7. Mount Adams

    RightNear the end49 mi off the route

    Mount Adams is about 49 miles off the right, late in the flight.

    Distant possibility

  8. Mount Jefferson

    LeftNear the end58 mi off the route

    Late in the flight, Mount Jefferson sits roughly 58 miles to the left.

    Distant possibility

  9. Mount Hood

    LeftNear the end9 mi off the route

    Look left late in the flight for Mount Hood, about 9 miles out.

    Strong candidate

  10. Columbia River Gorge

    RightNear the end13 mi off the route

    Whether Columbia River Gorge appears comes down to how you come into PDX, which is not something we can know in advance.

    Runway dependent

  11. Mount Rainier

    RightNear the end92 mi off the route

    Late in the flight, Mount Rainier sits roughly 92 miles to the right.

    Distant possibility

  12. Mount St. Helens

    RightNear the end44 mi off the route

    Look right late in the flight for Mount St. Helens, about 44 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

1,478 mi
Great-circle distance
296°
Course out of MCI
277°
Course into PDX
11
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?

Portland → Kansas CityRight 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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