Updated
Flight Distance Calculator: Miles and Flight Time Between Any Two Airports
Distance is the number behind a lot of your points
How far you fly sounds like trivia. For points and miles, it's often the number that matters most. Many programs pay you by the mile when you credit a partner flight. Some award charts price seats by distance band. And a connection that adds a few hundred miles can earn you more on one ticket and cost you more on another.
The Flight Distance Calculator gives you that number in seconds. Pick two airports and it shows the great-circle distance in miles plus an estimated flight time. It's free, there's nothing to sign up for, and it covers 1,210 airports in 189 countries and territories.
How to use the Flight Distance Calculator
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Choose your origin. Click Origin and start typing. The search matches airport names, and most names include the three-letter code, so typing "JFK" or "Heathrow" both work.
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Choose your destination. Do the same under Destination.
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Click Calculate. You'll see the distance in miles and an estimated Flight Time in hours and minutes.
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Repeat for each leg. The calculator measures one airport pair at a time. For a connecting trip, run each flight separately and add them up, since that's how airlines count distance for earning.
Tip: If you want the miles you'll earn rather than the miles you'll fly, use the Alaska Miles Calculator or the United PQP Calculator. Both calculate distance the same way and then apply the program's earning rules.
How the calculator measures distance
The calculator uses the great-circle distance: the shortest path between two points on the surface of the Earth. That's the route a plane would fly in still air, and it's why a flight from New York to Tokyo heads north over Canada and Alaska instead of straight west across the map.
Here's exactly what happens when you click Calculate:
- It looks up each airport's latitude and longitude.
- It applies the haversine formula with an Earth radius of 6,371 km.
- It converts kilometers to miles (multiplying by 0.621371) and rounds to the nearest mile.
- It estimates flight time by dividing the distance in kilometers by 800 km/h, a typical average speed for a jet.
Airlines publish their own segment mileage, and those figures can differ from a spherical calculation by a few miles. For earning estimates and distance bands, the difference rarely matters, but it can if you're right at the edge of a band.
Distances for popular routes
All figures below come straight from the calculator.
| Route | Distance | Estimated flight time |
|---|---|---|
| London (LHR) to Paris (CDG) | 216 miles | 26 min |
| Chicago (ORD) to Denver (DEN) | 886 miles | 1 hr 47 min |
| Seattle (SEA) to Los Angeles (LAX) | 955 miles | 1 hr 55 min |
| Seattle (SEA) to New York (JFK) | 2,415 miles | 4 hrs 51 min |
| Los Angeles (LAX) to New York (JFK) | 2,469 miles | 4 hrs 58 min |
| Seattle (SEA) to Honolulu (HNL) | 2,677 miles | 5 hrs 23 min |
| New York (JFK) to London (LHR) | 3,442 miles | 6 hrs 55 min |
| Newark (EWR) to Frankfurt (FRA) | 3,859 miles | 7 hrs 46 min |
| San Francisco (SFO) to Tokyo (NRT) | 5,112 miles | 10 hrs 17 min |
| New York (JFK) to Tokyo (HND) | 6,758 miles | 13 hrs 36 min |
| San Francisco (SFO) to Singapore (SIN) | 8,439 miles | 16 hrs 59 min |
| Dallas (DFW) to Melbourne (MEL) | 8,994 miles | 18 hrs 6 min |
| New York (JFK) to Singapore (SIN) | 9,532 miles | 19 hrs 11 min |
Why the flight time is an estimate
The flight time is distance divided by an average cruising pace. It doesn't know about taxiing, climbing, descending, air traffic or wind, so treat it as time in the air, not the schedule.
- Short flights look much shorter than they are. London to Paris shows 26 minutes, and Honolulu to Lihue (102 miles) shows 12 minutes. On hops like these, taxi, climb and descent take up most of the scheduled time.
- Wind changes things on long flights. The jet stream generally speeds up eastbound flights and slows westbound ones, so the same route can differ by an hour or more depending on direction.
- Long-haul estimates land closer. On flights of several thousand miles, cruise makes up most of the trip, so the estimate is a reasonable guide for planning.
For real departure and arrival times, check the airline's schedule.
Why distance matters for points and miles
Distance-based earning
Some programs still pay you a percentage of the miles you fly, set by your fare class. Alaska's Atmos Rewards works this way on Alaska and Hawaiian flights in 2026, and most programs use distance when you credit a partner airline's ticket.
On a Seattle (SEA) to New York (JFK) Alaska flight, 2,415 miles, the Alaska Miles Calculator shows:
| Fare class | Earning rate | Points earned (no status) |
|---|---|---|
| J (first) | 200% | 4,830 |
| Y or B (full-fare economy) | 150% | 3,623 |
| M, L, V and other main cabin | 100% | 2,415 |
| X (Saver) | 0% | 0 |
Same plane, same distance, and the fare class decides whether you earn nothing or twice the distance.
The same idea applies when you credit a partner flight to United. On a Lufthansa flight from Newark (EWR) to Frankfurt (FRA), 3,859 miles, the United PQP Calculator shows 965 miles in deep-discount economy (fare class K, 25%) and 7,718 miles in business class (fare class J, 200%).
Distance-based award charts
Some programs price award seats by flight distance instead of by region. British Airways Avios is the best-known example: many partner awards are priced by distance band, so a route just under a band boundary can cost noticeably fewer points than one just over it. Check the distance first, then compare prices in the Award Flight Pricer.
Connections add distance, sometimes a lot
Distance-based programs count each flight separately. A connection that goes out of the way earns more miles, while a connection that sits on the great-circle path barely changes anything:
| Trip | Nonstop distance | With a connection | Extra miles |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York (JFK) to London via Chicago (ORD) | 3,442 | 4,680 | +1,238 |
| Seattle (SEA) to Honolulu via Los Angeles (LAX) | 2,677 | 3,508 | +831 |
| San Francisco (SFO) to Singapore via Tokyo (NRT) | 8,439 | 8,441 | +2 |
The Tokyo connection is a nice surprise: Narita sits almost exactly on the great-circle path between San Francisco and Singapore, so stopping there adds just 2 miles. If you're earning by distance, that routing earns about the same as the nonstop. If you're paying for an award that prices each segment separately, two segments can cost more than one, so always check both.
Tips for using flight distance in award planning
Check distance before you pick a fare. On a long flight, the gap between a discount fare class and a full-fare one can be thousands of miles. Multiply the distance by each fare's earning rate before you book.
Look up every leg of a connection. Use the calculator once per flight and add them up. That's the number distance-based programs use.
Compare where to credit the flight. The same distance earns very different amounts in different programs. The Flight Creditor compares them side by side.
Find out who flies the route. The Routes tool shows every airline on a city pair and the programs that can book it.
Track what you earn. Log your balances in the Points Tracker so you know when you're close to an award or a status tier.
What the Flight Distance Calculator doesn't do
- It doesn't calculate miles earned. It shows distance and flight time only. For earning by fare class and status, use the Alaska Miles Calculator or the United PQP Calculator.
- It doesn't show schedules or whether a nonstop exists. A distance appears for any two airports in the list, whether or not an airline flies the route.
- It covers 1,210 airports, not every airfield. Major commercial airports are included; some small regional airports aren't.
- Flight time is an in-air estimate. It leaves out taxi time, wind and routing.
Frequently asked questions
How is flight distance calculated?
The calculator uses the great-circle distance between the two airports' coordinates, calculated with the haversine formula on a spherical Earth (radius 6,371 km). The result is converted to statute miles and rounded to the nearest mile.
How far is New York to London by plane?
New York (JFK) to London Heathrow (LHR) is 3,442 miles, or about 5,540 km, with an estimated 6 hours 55 minutes in the air.
How is the estimated flight time calculated?
It divides the distance in kilometers by an average speed of 800 km/h. It doesn't include taxiing, climb, descent or wind, so short flights will show much less time than the airline's schedule.
Why is the flight distance shorter than it looks on a map?
Flat maps distort the globe. The shortest path between two points on a sphere, the great circle, often curves toward the poles on a flat map. That's why flights from the US to Asia pass over Canada and Alaska.
Does the airline use the same distance to calculate miles earned?
Airlines use their own published segment mileage, which can differ from a great-circle calculation by a few miles. For most trips the difference is small, but your posted miles can vary slightly from the estimate.
Do connecting flights earn more miles than a nonstop?
In distance-based programs, usually yes, because each flight is counted separately. New York (JFK) to London via Chicago adds 1,238 miles over the nonstop. But a connection on the direct path, like San Francisco to Singapore via Tokyo Narita, adds only 2 miles.
Can I calculate distance in kilometers?
The calculator shows miles. To convert, multiply miles by 1.609. For example, 3,442 miles is about 5,540 km.
Is the Flight Distance Calculator free?
Yes. It's free to use with no account required.
The bottom line
Distance is the quiet input behind earning rates, distance-based award prices and status. The Flight Distance Calculator gives you that number for any pair of 1,210 airports. Run it before you choose a fare or a connection, then use the Alaska or United calculators to turn it into points.