Skip to content
WanderNerd
Check a flight

Window Seat

Ontario → New York

ONT–JFK · Ontario International Airport to John F. Kennedy 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 Sangre de Cristo Mountains, 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.

ONT to JFK: 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.ONTJFKLEFT SIDERIGHT SIDE12345678910
Distance from the route is to scale (up to 56 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 Jacinto Peak

    RightEarly37 mi off the route

    San Jacinto Peak is about 37 miles off the right, early in the flight.

    Distant possibility

  2. San Gorgonio Mountain

    RightEarly15 mi off the route

    Early in the flight, San Gorgonio Mountain sits roughly 15 miles to the right.

    Good possibility

  3. Grand Canyon

    LeftEarly12 mi off the route

    Look left early in the flight for Grand Canyon, about 12 miles out.

    Strong candidate

  4. San Francisco Peaks

    RightEarly45 mi off the route

    San Francisco Peaks is about 45 miles off the right, early in the flight.

    Distant possibility

  5. Monument Valley

    LeftQuarter in31 mi off the route

    About a quarter of the way in, Monument Valley sits roughly 31 miles to the left.

    Distant possibility

  6. Shiprock

    RightQuarter in11 mi off the route

    Look right about a quarter of the way in for Shiprock, about 11 miles out.

    Good possibility

  7. San Juan Mountains

    LeftQuarter in56 mi off the route

    San Juan Mountains is about 56 miles off the left, about a quarter of the way in.

    Distant possibility

  8. Sangre de Cristo Mountains

    RightQuarter in9 mi off the route

    About a quarter of the way in, Sangre de Cristo Mountains sits roughly 9 miles to the right.

    Good possibility

  9. Great Sand Dunes

    Either sideQuarter in2 mi off the route

    Great Sand Dunes 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

  10. Manhattan

    Either sideNear the end5 mi off the route

    Whether Manhattan appears comes down to how you come into JFK, 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

2,424 mi
Great-circle distance
66°
Course out of ONT
94°
Course into JFK
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?

New York → OntarioLeft 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