Where SunFlight stands

As of September 2026, sunflight.org shows a maintenance notice in place of its flight map, and sunflight.net no longer resolves. Travelers have been looking for replacements on FlyerTalk since December 2025.

The site is still up, and the notice says the map is coming back. So FlightSide isn't a replacement for something that's gone. It's another way to get the answer, and you can use it today.

SunFlight showed the sun. FlightSide names the side

SunFlight drew the sun's path along your route and gave you the numbers: sun left, sun right, night, and when the first sunrise or sunset would happen. Then it was up to you. As its own FAQ put it, "most people use this app to help plan where to sit on their flight, based on the location of the sun."

FlightSide does that part too, and then makes the call. The card names a side, left or right, and gives the reason in one line, so you can take it straight to the seat map.

FlightSide showing a Tokyo to Sydney flight on the map, recommending the left side, with 49% of the flight in sun on the right side

What else is different

  • Glancing sun doesn't count as sun. SunFlight put the sun on one side or the other, going by the plane's bearing. FlightSide weights every moment by how directly the sun faces the windows, so light coming from near the nose or the tail lands in its own "ahead or behind" number instead of inflating a side.
  • Shade or sun, your choice. The pick defaults to the shadier side, for screens and sleep. One switch flips it to the brighter side, for photos or a sunset from the air.
  • Running late. A Delay slider pushes your departure back in 15-minute steps, so you can check from the gate whether the answer still holds. It's also the quickest way to test a close call: on a flight that's near 50/50, nudge it 15 or 30 minutes and see whether the pick changes. More on the Delay slider.
  • Type what you know. Airport codes work, and so do city names, country names and older names, instead of codes alone.
  • No internet needed. Install FlightSide and the whole tool runs on your device, in any modern browser, at the gate or in the air. More on using it offline.

It's free, with no account and no sign-up.

Check your flight in FlightSide

If you're used to SunFlight, you already know what to have ready:

  • Your airports go into From and To.
  • Your departure time goes into Departure, in local time at the airport you're leaving from.
  • Your flight time is filled in for you. Change it only if you know how long your flight really takes.

The recommendation card then names the side to pick. How to use FlightSide walks through every step, and How to pick your side explains the numbers behind it.