Flying from Auckland to Brisbane?
Add a departure date and see which side gets the sun.
Flying from Auckland to Brisbane?
Add a departure date and see which side gets the sun.
Flying from Auckland to Brisbane?
Add a departure date and see which side gets the sun.
Auckland → Brisbane
A medium flight from New Zealand to Australia. You gain 2 hours on arrival.
The city of sails
Auckland sits on a narrow isthmus between two harbors, the Waitemata and the Manukau, dotted with dozens of dormant volcanic cones that still shape its skyline and parks. There is no direct rail link to the airport; the main public option is a bus connection to Puhinui Station, where it meets the suburban rail network, while taxis and ride-hailing cover the rest. It's New Zealand's largest city by far, the country's commercial center even though Wellington is the capital. Traffic across the isthmus's harbor bridges can be heavy at peak times, and ferries are a genuinely useful way to reach some harborside suburbs.
Surrounding hubs
| 2,637 km / 1,639 mi | |
| 4,094 km / 2,544 mi | |
| 4,131 km / 2,567 mi |
Queensland's river capital
Brisbane curls along the looping Brisbane River in Australia's subtropical northeast, a spread-out, low-rise city by Australian capital standards. The Airtrain runs directly from the airport into the city center and onward to the Gold Coast, a long-standing and reliable link. Summers are hot and humid with a real risk of subtropical storms, while winters stay mild. Brisbane is the gateway to both the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, so plenty of travelers passing through are just connecting onward by car or train rather than stopping in the city itself.
Surrounding hubs
| 2,089 km / 1,298 mi | |
| 2,710 km / 1,684 mi | |
| 4,632 km / 2,878 mi |
Find out which side of the plane to sit on.
Pick your airports, set your departure time, and you're done.
We calculate the sun's position based on your flight path and departure time, then tell you which side of the plane gets direct sun and which stays shaded. No guessing, just math.
Enter your flight
Pick your departure and arrival airports and set your departure time at the departure airport. FlightSide estimates the duration and you can adjust it if you know the exact schedule.
We track the sun along your route
Your flight path is broken into hundreds of points. At each one we check where the sun is and which side of the plane it faces.
You get a recommendation
Which side of the plane to sit on, left or right, depending on whether you'd rather avoid the sun or enjoy it. The percentages and the map are there if you want to see why.
Want to go deeper? Accuracy, edge cases, polar routes — see the FAQ →
Notes from the product.
Small updates, route observations, and clearer explanations for how the app keeps evolving.
Type less, wait less, wonder more
Airport search now understands metro codes and old city names, FlightSide loads noticeably faster, and a new Feeling lucky button chooses a flight for anyone without one in mind.
A closer look at the route, not just the seat
FlightSide now shows the two cities and key details about the flight alongside the seat recommendation: confirm you picked the right airports, read the time change off two clocks, and check the return leg.
It's all about the sun (after all)
Not all sunlight reaches the side windows. FlightSide now weighs the sun’s angle to the cabin and shows twilight along the route.