Sit on the Right side of the plane for the best views on flights from Chicago to Shanghai. The landing approach into PVG on the right side delivers genuinely dramatic and geographically distinctive scenery — the Yangtze delta, Chongming Island, and the Shanghai skyline on the horizon. The takeoff left-side Chicago view is excellent but brief. Over the long transpacific routing, the right side also tracks closer to the Aleutian Islands arc and the Japanese archipelago during the great-circle path, offering occasional coastal and island views during daylight hours depending on season.

During takeoff from Chicago Ohare International (ORD), sit on the Left side for the best views. Departing ORD, most runway configurations send aircraft northeast or east toward Lake Michigan. A left/north-facing seat gives you a clear view of downtown Chicago's skyline — the Willis Tower, the Loop grid, and the lakefront — as the plane climbs out over the western suburbs and banks toward the Pacific routing. Right seats face south toward suburban sprawl with little of interest. Notable sights include: Chicago Loop skyline (Willis Tower, John Hancock), Lake Michigan shoreline, Navy Pier and Grant Park lakefront, O'Hare's own runway complex below during initial climb.

When landing at Shanghai Pudong International (PVG), sit on the Right side for the best views. PVG's primary landing approaches come from the east over the East China Sea, tracking west onto runways 16/34 or 17/35. A right/north-facing seat gives you the Yangtze River mouth and Chongming Island as you descend, then the dense urban fabric of Pudong and the Huangpu River corridor. Left seats face south toward open farmland and the less distinctive southern suburbs. Notable sights include: Yangtze River mouth and Chongming Island, Pudong skyline (Shanghai Tower, Oriental Pearl Tower visible in distance), Huangpu River bends through central Shanghai, flat agricultural polder land of the Yangtze delta.

The flight from Chicago Ohare International (ORD) to Shanghai Pudong International (PVG) takes Approximately 14 to 15 hours westbound (ORD to PVG), routing via the North Pacific great-circle arc.

The great-circle route from ORD to PVG arcs north over southern Canada and the Canadian Rockies, then tracks across the Gulf of Alaska and the Aleutian Island chain — a long volcanic arc visible as dark islands in gray ocean. The route then crosses the Kamchatka Peninsula (heavily glaciated volcanic peaks), descends over the Sea of Okhotsk, crosses Hokkaido and Honshu in Japan (Japanese Alps visible in clear conditions), crosses the East China Sea, and arrives over the Yangtze delta. The Aleutians and Kamchatka volcanoes are the most visually striking midpoint features in clear weather.