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Seattle → Kailua-Kona

SEA–KOA · Seattle–Tacoma International Airport to Ellison Onizuka Kona 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 Rainier, 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.

SEA to KOA: 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.SEAKOALEFT SIDERIGHT SIDE123456
Distance from the route is to scale (up to 75 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. Mount Rainier

    LeftEarly49 mi off the route

    Mount Rainier is about 49 miles off the left, early in the flight.

    Good possibility

  2. Mount St. Helens

    LeftEarly75 mi off the route

    Early in the flight, Mount St. Helens sits roughly 75 miles to the left.

    Distant possibility

  3. Olympic Mountains

    RightEarly62 mi off the route

    Look right early in the flight for Olympic Mountains, about 62 miles out.

    Distant possibility

  4. Haleakalā

    RightNear the end51 mi off the route

    Haleakalā is about 51 miles off the right, late in the flight.

    Distant possibility

  5. Mauna Kea

    LeftNear the end27 mi off the route

    Mauna Kea sits close enough to KOA that the runway in use and the procedure of the day decide whether it shows up at all.

    Runway dependent

  6. Mauna Loa

    LeftNear the end34 mi off the route

    Whether Mauna Loa appears comes down to how you come into KOA, 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

2,688 mi
Great-circle distance
236°
Course out of SEA
217°
Course into KOA
4
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?

Kailua-Kona → SeattleRight 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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