Which side of the plane should you sit on to avoid the sun?

It depends on three things: which way the aircraft is heading, the time of day, and the time of year. Get them right and you can pick a seat out of the glare, or one with the sunset.

Check your flight

The rule of thumb

North of the tropics, the sun spends the middle of the day in the southern sky. South of the tropics, it's in the northern sky. So:

• Northern hemisphere, flying east: south is on your right, so the sun is mostly on the right. Sit on the left for shade.
• Northern hemisphere, flying west: the sun is mostly on the left. Sit on the right.
• Southern hemisphere: the other way round.
• Flying north or south: the sun is on the east side in the morning and the west side in the afternoon. Flying north, east is on the right; flying south, it's on the left.

Why it changes with season and time

Early and late in the day the sun is low and far to the east or west, so morning and evening flights can have it on the opposite side to midday. In summer the sun rises and sets well to the north (in the northern hemisphere), so on some routes the "shady" side flips for part of the flight. Near the tropics the midday sun can be almost overhead, where it barely reaches the side windows at all.

A sun that's ahead of the nose or behind the tail doesn't shine directly into the side windows either, so on those flights either side is fine.

What about sunsets and sunrises?

If you want the view rather than the shade, sit on the side where the sun is. Sunseat lists every sunrise and sunset along the way and the side it's on. At cruise altitude the sun sets later than on the ground, so the colours often last longer than you'd expect.

How accurate is any prediction?

Where the sun is in the sky at a given moment and place is known almost exactly. What isn't known in advance is exactly where your aircraft will be, and when. Sunseat's answer is an estimate built on three assumptions.

• Route. Sunseat assumes the shortest path, a great circle. Real flights bend around jet streams, follow airways and oceanic tracks, and detour around closed airspace. A heading a few degrees off rarely changes which side gets the sun. It can when the sun is nearly ahead of the nose or behind the tail, which is when either side is a good choice anyway.
• Timing. Departure delays, holding, and the wind all move the schedule. A strong jet stream can make an eastbound long-haul flight an hour shorter than the westbound return. Every sunrise and sunset along the way shifts with it, so treat event times as approximate.
• Altitude. At cruise, about 11 km up, the horizon sits around 3° below level. You see the sun rise earlier and set later than people on the ground below, often 10 to 20 minutes, and Sunseat includes this. Climb and descent are modelled as a simple profile.
• Weather. Clouds below the aircraft don't hide the sun, but a bright cloud deck reflects strong glare up through the windows, even on the "shady" side. Flying through cloud during climb and descent softens the light. At cruise you are above almost all weather, so the sun is usually in full view.

Over a whole flight these effects mostly average out. The side with more sun on paper is nearly always the side with more sun in the air.

Popular routes

• Los Angeles → New York
• New York → Los Angeles
• New York → London
• London → New York
• London → Dubai
• Dubai → London
• London → Singapore
• Singapore → London
• San Francisco → Tokyo
• Los Angeles → Narita
• Los Angeles → Sydney
• Sydney → Los Angeles
• Paris → New York
• London → Hong Kong
• Sydney → Melbourne
• Melbourne → Sydney
• Barcelona → Madrid
• Singapore → Sydney
• Dubai → Sydney
• New York → Tokyo
• Chicago → London
• San Francisco → London
• New Delhi → Mumbai
• Hong Kong → Taoyuan
• All routes