Sit on the Left side of the plane for the best views on flights from New York to Amsterdam. Left wins both the departure and arrival phases. During the transatlantic cruise at 35,000 feet over open ocean there is little to differentiate sides, but the bookend views — Manhattan on departure and Amsterdam on arrival — are both on the left, making it the clear overall choice.

During takeoff from John F Kennedy International (JFK), sit on the Left side for the best views. JFK departures heading northeast on runway 31L/31R put Manhattan directly to the left. You get a clear view of the entire Manhattan skyline, the East River crossings, and the harbor as the aircraft climbs out over Jamaica Bay and turns north. Notable sights include: Manhattan skyline and Central Park, Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, Jamaica Bay wetlands, Brooklyn and Queens grid below.

When landing at Schiphol (AMS), sit on the Left side for the best views. Schiphol's most common landing approaches on runways 18R or 27 bring the aircraft in from the north or east. A left window seat gives views over central Amsterdam's canal ring, the IJ waterway, and the flat Dutch polder landscape stretching south. Right seats face open farmland with less visual interest. Notable sights include: Amsterdam canal ring and city center, IJ waterway and harbor, Dutch polder fields and windmill clusters, North Sea coastline to the northwest.

The flight from John F Kennedy International (JFK) to Schiphol (AMS) takes Approximately 7 to 7.5 hours.

The flight tracks northeast over New England and Nova Scotia, then crosses Newfoundland near St. John's before heading out over the North Atlantic. The southern tip of Greenland may be visible on the left in clear conditions at cruise altitude. The route then passes south of Iceland and crosses into European airspace over Ireland and the UK, with the British Isles visible below during descent toward the Netherlands.