Sit on the Left side of the plane for the best views on flights from Seattle to Paris. Left side wins both the departure and arrival phases with the most visually compelling geography — Puget Sound and the Olympics on takeoff, and Paris itself on landing. During the long polar cruise the views are largely symmetric over the Arctic and Greenland, so the decisive advantage is at both ends of the flight.

During takeoff from Seattle Tacoma International (SEA), sit on the Left side for the best views. SEA typically departs northbound on runway 16R/34L or uses runways oriented north-south. On a northbound departure toward the polar route, the left (west) side gives you Elliott Bay, downtown Seattle's skyline, and the Olympic Peninsula across Puget Sound. The right side faces east toward the Cascades but the city and water views on the left are more immediately dramatic during climb-out. Notable sights include: Elliott Bay and downtown Seattle waterfront, Puget Sound stretching south toward Tacoma, the Olympic Peninsula and Olympic Mountains across the water, Bainbridge Island directly west.

When landing at Charles De Gaulle (CDG), sit on the Left side for the best views. CDG typically uses runways oriented roughly east-west (08/26 or 09/27). On a westerly approach from the north, the left side faces south toward Paris, giving you a clear view of the Seine river bends, the dense urban grid of the city, and on clear days the Eiffel Tower and La Défense cluster are identifiable from altitude. The right side faces north over flat agricultural Île-de-France with little of note. Notable sights include: The Seine river making its distinctive bends through the Paris basin, La Défense business district high-rise cluster west of the city center, the dense Haussmann urban grid of central Paris, Bois de Boulogne as a large dark green rectangular forest patch west of the city.

The flight from Seattle Tacoma International (SEA) to Charles De Gaulle (CDG) takes Approximately 9 to 10 hours.

The route tracks northeast from Seattle over British Columbia and the Canadian Rockies, then across Hudson Bay or northern Quebec, over the southern tip of Greenland or Iceland depending on winds, across the North Atlantic, over Scotland or northern England, and down through Belgium into Paris. Notable features include the Canadian Rockies visible early in the flight, the vast frozen tundra and sea ice of the Canadian Arctic, Greenland's ice sheet if the route passes over it, and the British Isles coastline before the Channel crossing.