Anchorage to Chicago flight path: ANC to ORD

Sit on the Right side of the plane for the best views on flights from Anchorage to Chicago. The right side wins on both ends of the flight: a dramatic Turnagain Arm and Chugach Mountains departure from Anchorage, and a downtown Chicago and Lake Michigan view on arrival, while the cruise portion over Yukon and Canadian prairie forest is scenically neutral for either side.

During takeoff from Ted Stevens Anchorage International (ANC), sit on the Right side for the best views. Departing ANC to the southeast, the aircraft banks south over Turnagain Arm's tidal mudflats with the sheer wall of the Chugach Mountains rising right beside the climb path, plus a glimpse of Cook Inlet and the Kenai Peninsula's peaks beyond. The left side only offers the flatter Knik Arm and Matanuska Valley, with Denali usually too distant and hazy to be a reliable feature. Notable sights include: Turnagain Arm, Chugach Mountains, Cook Inlet, Kenai Peninsula ridgeline.

When landing at Chicago Ohare International (ORD), sit on the Right side for the best views. On the descent into ORD, arrivals looping toward the west-facing runways pass south of the city core, giving right-side passengers a clear view of downtown Chicago's skyline and the curving Lake Michigan shoreline before touchdown. The left side over these final minutes shows only flat Illinois farmland and suburban grids. Notable sights include: Downtown Chicago skyline, Lake Michigan shoreline, Chicago lakefront parks, Willis Tower.

The flight from Ted Stevens Anchorage International (ANC) to Chicago Ohare International (ORD) takes 5h50m.

Wrangell-St. Elias mountain foothills near the Alaska-Yukon border, the boreal forest and lake-dotted plateau of southern Yukon and northern British Columbia, and the flat farmland patchwork of the Canadian Prairies and upper Midwest leading into the Great Lakes basin.