Sit on the Left side of the plane for the best views on flights from San Francisco to Frankfurt. Left side wins both departure and arrival. At SFO you get the full San Francisco Bay panorama and Golden Gate on departure, and at FRA you get the Frankfurt skyline and Main River on approach. The polar route over Canada and Greenland offers limited differentiation mid-flight, but left-side passengers also get slightly better views of Greenland's ice sheet on the northern arc of the route.

During takeoff from San Francisco International (SFO), sit on the Left side for the best views. SFO typically departs northwest on runways 28L/28R, then turns north over the Bay. The left side gives you San Francisco city, the Bay Bridge, and the downtown skyline as you climb out over the water. You also get a clear view of the Golden Gate and Marin Headlands as the aircraft banks north. Notable sights include: San Francisco downtown skyline, Bay Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge, Marin Headlands.

When landing at Frankfurt Main (FRA), sit on the Left side for the best views. Frankfurt typically lands on runways 25L/25R from the east, meaning the approach comes in from the northeast heading southwest. The left side faces southeast, giving views of the Frankfurt skyline and the Main River as you descend. The right side faces mostly northwest toward flat agricultural land. Notable sights include: Frankfurt city skyline (Bankenviertel), Main River, Taunus hills to the north, Rhine-Main plain.

The flight from San Francisco International (SFO) to Frankfurt Main (FRA) takes Approximately 10 to 11 hours.

The route tracks north over the Sierra Nevada, then across southern Canada over the Rockies and Canadian Shield, arcing over southern Greenland where the ice sheet and fjords are visible, then crossing Iceland's vicinity, the North Atlantic, Scotland or northern England, and descending over the Netherlands and Rhine-Main corridor into Frankfurt.