JetSetAuthority

Route · North Atlantic

LAX Los Angeles ⇄ FRA Frankfurt

Los Angeles International Airport (United States) and Frankfurt Main Airport (Germany): great-circle distance, estimated scheduled flight time each way, time difference and jet lag.

Distance9,322 km5,792 mi5,033 nautical miles
LAX → FRA11 h 05 minestimated block time
FRA → LAX12 h 15 minestimated block time
Clock change+8 hFrankfurt vs Los Angeles, today
Great-circle route from Los Angeles (LAX) to Frankfurt (FRA)LAXLos AngelesFRAFrankfurt
The shortest path over the Earth’s surface (great circle), drawn on a Natural Earth projection. Real flight paths bend around weather, winds and closed airspace.

Flight time each way

LAX → FRA

11 h 05 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 31° (NNE).

Leave Los Angeles Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive Frankfurt Sun 8 Nov, 06:05 local +1 day.

FRA → LAX

12 h 15 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 318° (NW).

Leave Frankfurt Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive Los Angeles Sat 7 Nov, 13:15 local.

LAX-bound flights are the slower direction by about 65 minutes in our estimate: the route runs partly east–west through latitudes where the prevailing westerly winds at cruise height are strong, so heading east rides a tailwind and heading west fights a headwind. How we estimate it.

Distance

Great-circle distance9,322 km · 5,792 mi · 5,033 nmi
Initial heading31° (NNE) from LAX; 318° (NW) from FRA
Farthest from the equator64.6°N — the path arcs north of both airports
Crossesneither the equator nor the 180th meridian
Share of the longest possible trip47% of the 20,015 km to the far side of the Earth

Time zones and jet lag

LAXAmerica/Los_Angeles — UTC−7 now; UTC−8 standard time, UTC−7 during daylight saving time
FRAEurope/Berlin — UTC+1 now; UTC+1 standard time, UTC+2 during daylight saving time
DifferenceFrankfurt is 8 hours ahead of Los Angeles today.

Jet lag, flying LAX → FRA. Your body clock has to move 8 hours earlier, like an eastward trip. A common rule of thumb is that the body clock adjusts by roughly one time zone a day, so expect up to about 8 days to fully adjust. Shifting earlier (as here) is usually the harder direction; morning daylight at the destination helps. Flying the other way, the shift is reversed.

General information, not medical advice.

The two airports

LAX Los Angeles International AirportLos Angeles, United States · longest runway 12,894 ft3,930 m FRA Frankfurt Main AirportFrankfurt, Germany · longest runway 13,123 ft4,000 m

More routes from LAX and FRA

LAXLAS Los Angeles – Las Vegas 380 km236 mi · 1 h 25 min LAXSEA Los Angeles – Seattle 1,537 km955 mi · 2 h 50 min EWRLAX Newark – Los Angeles 3,941 km2,449 mi · 6 h 05 min LAXNAN Los Angeles – Nadi (Fiji) 8,893 km5,526 mi · 11 h 30 min LAXTPE Los Angeles – Taipei 10,922 km6,787 mi · 14 h 40 min LAXSIN Los Angeles – Singapore 14,102 km8,762 mi · 18 h 25 min FRABER Frankfurt – Berlin 431 km268 mi · 1 h 30 min FRADEL Frankfurt – Delhi 6,122 km3,804 mi · 7 h 25 min ORDFRA Chicago – Frankfurt 6,971 km4,331 mi · 8 h 25 min DFWFRA Dallas–Fort Worth – Frankfurt 8,258 km5,131 mi · 9 h 50 min FRAPVG Frankfurt – Shanghai 8,859 km5,505 mi · 10 h 30 min FRASIN Frankfurt – Singapore 10,280 km6,388 mi · 12 h 05 min

Routes of a similar length

HELSIN Helsinki – Singapore 9,275 km5,763 mi · 11 h 05 min CDGRUN Paris – Réunion (Saint-Denis) 9,370 km5,822 mi · 11 h 25 min LHRPVG London – Shanghai 9,241 km5,742 mi · 11 h GRUCDG São Paulo – Paris 9,405 km5,844 mi · 11 h 25 min

Need a different pair? The flight-time calculator works for any two of 3,245 airports. Not covered: which airlines fly this route, schedules, fares and live status — that data is proprietary and we don’t guess it.

Photos on airport pages are credited there. Estimates are rounded to 5 minutes; typical error about 13 minutes (validation).