We compute the exact window seat side for your flight — using real bearing math, sun position, and landmark geography. Not guesswork.
You're flying Delhi to Leh. You know the Himalayas are somewhere out there. You pick a window seat. You end up looking at the flat Punjab plains for 80 minutes while the person across the aisle has Rohtang Pass, Kullu Valley, and the Pir Panjal range filling their window the entire flight.
This happens on almost every scenic route in the world. The information to avoid it exists — it's just buried in bearing math, sun angle tables, and geographic coordinates that nobody wants to calculate before a flight.
"Which side should I sit for the Himalayas?" is a question with a precise, computable answer. We compute it."
Best Side of Plane makes that calculation instant, for 197 routes across India, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe, North America, Africa, and beyond.
Every recommendation is computed from first principles — not crowd-sourced opinions or gut feeling. Here's what goes into the score:
We calculate the true compass bearing between origin and destination airports (the great-circle bearing). For Delhi→Leh, that's approximately 345° (north-northwest). This bearing determines which compass direction each side of the aircraft faces throughout the flight.
For a flight on bearing H°, the left side of the aircraft faces bearing (H − 90°) and the right side faces (H + 90°). We then check every landmark along the route — mountain, lake, coastline, monument — against its actual GPS coordinates to determine which side it falls on. Rohtang Pass sits at 77.25°E, west of the Delhi–Leh route centerline, which places it on the left side for a northbound flight.
Using the NREL Solar Position Algorithm, we compute the sun's azimuth for the route's latitude and typical departure time. A flight heading west into a setting sun means the right (west-facing) side will be blinded by glare. This is weighted at 15% of the final score.
Not all landmarks are equal. A 8,849m peak (Everest) scores higher than a river. A UNESCO world heritage site scores higher than a generic hill. Each landmark is assigned a scenic weight, and the sum of weighted landmarks per side determines 65% of the score.
The side with the higher combined score (scenic 65% + sun 15% + moon 10% + comfort 10%) is the recommendation. Confidence is HIGH when the margin is large, MEDIUM when it's close, LOW when it's essentially a tie.
These are routes where the side choice makes a dramatic difference — sitting on the wrong side means missing the entire point of the flight.
If you're flying into Leh, Queenstown, Lukla, or Tromsø — the window seat side is the difference between a life-changing view and staring at clouds. This tool exists for those flights above all else.
Knowing the exact side and phase of flight (takeoff / cruise / landing) where each landmark appears lets you set up before you need to. Several of our landmark entries include the approximate distance from the flight path so you can judge the angular size.
On a westbound evening flight, the right side is looking directly into the setting sun for hours. The recommendation engine accounts for this even when there's nothing scenic on either side — comfort matters too.
A child who can see Etna erupting or the Maldivian atolls from their window is a child who isn't asking "are we there yet." The right side selection is a practical parenting tool on long-haul flights.
197 pre-computed route pages with landmark data, left vs right breakdowns, named geographic features, and time-of-day guidance. Best for researching your flight in advance. The recommendation is based on the typical flight bearing and general sun position — accurate for most departures.
Enter your origin, destination, and exact departure time. The engine computes the sun's position at every point along your specific flight path, checks live weather and visibility, and returns a recommendation tuned to your flight specifically. A 6 AM Delhi–Leh is different from a 2 PM Delhi–Leh — the live engine knows this, the static guide doesn't.
Use the static guides for planning. Use the live engine the night before you fly.
Open Live Engine →We currently cover 197 routes across seven geographic regions:
New routes are added regularly. If your route isn't listed, the live engine can still compute a recommendation from scratch for any origin-destination pair.
Each route in our database goes through a three-step check:
We prioritise geometric accuracy over editorial intuition. If the math says left, the page says left — even when it feels counterintuitive.
Enter your origin, destination, and departure time. Get a recommendation in seconds — with the landmarks, sun position, and confidence level explained.
Open Best Side of Plane →