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Chicago → San Francisco

MDW–SFO · Chicago Midway International Airport to San Francisco International Airport

Best bet

Right side

Good betA real difference, not a rounding error.

Wasatch Range leads it, with 2 more on the same side.

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.

MDW to SFO: 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.MDWSFOLEFT SIDERIGHT SIDE123456
Distance from the route is to scale (up to 54 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. Longs Peak

    LeftHalfway52 mi off the route

    Longs Peak is about 52 miles off the left, around the halfway mark.

    Distant possibility

  2. Uinta Mountains

    RightThree quarters31 mi off the route

    About three quarters of the way, Uinta Mountains sits roughly 31 miles to the right.

    Distant possibility

  3. Wasatch Range

    RightThree quarters27 mi off the route

    Look right about three quarters of the way for Wasatch Range, about 27 miles out.

    Good possibility

  4. Mono Lake

    LeftNear the end33 mi off the route

    Mono Lake is about 33 miles off the left, late in the flight.

    Distant possibility

  5. Lake Tahoe

    RightNear the end54 mi off the route

    Late in the flight, Lake Tahoe sits roughly 54 miles to the right.

    Distant possibility

  6. San Francisco Bay

    Either sideNear the end0 mi off the route

    Whether San Francisco Bay appears comes down to how you come into SFO, 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

1,850 mi
Great-circle distance
273°
Course out of MDW
250°
Course into SFO
5
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?

San Francisco → ChicagoLeft 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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