Los Angeles to Seoul (LAX–ICN): distance and flight time

Flight time each way

LAX → ICN

13 h

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 314° (NW).

Leave Los Angeles Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive Seoul Sun 8 Nov, 16:00 local +1 day.

ICN → LAX

11 h 10 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 49° (NE).

Leave Seoul Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive Los Angeles Sat 7 Nov, 04:10 local.

ICN-bound flights are the slower direction by about 115 minutes in our estimate: the route runs mostly 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 distance	9,625 km · 5,981 mi · 5,197 nmi
Initial heading	314° (NW) from LAX; 49° (NE) from ICN
Farthest from the equator	53.3°N — the path arcs north of both airports
Crosses	the 180th meridian (International Date Line area)
Share of the longest possible trip	48% of the 20,015 km to the far side of the Earth

Time zones and jet lag

LAX	America/Los_Angeles — UTC−7 now; UTC−8 standard time, UTC−7 during daylight saving time
ICN	Asia/Seoul — UTC+9 now; UTC+9 all year (no daylight saving time)
Difference	Seoul is 16 hours ahead of Los Angeles today; +17 h in January and +16 h in July because daylight saving time starts and ends on different dates (or not at all).

Jet lag, flying LAX → ICN. The clock change is 16 hours, but to your body that is a shift of 8 hours the other way. Your body clock has to move 8 hours later, like a westward 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 later (as here) is usually the easier direction; evening 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

ICN Incheon International AirportSeoul, South Korea · longest runway 13,123 ft4,000 m

More routes from LAX and ICN

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 ICNKIX Seoul – Osaka 860 km535 mi · 1 h 55 min ICNHKG Seoul – Hong Kong 2,069 km1,286 mi · 3 h 30 min YVRICN Vancouver – Seoul 8,200 km5,095 mi · 11 h FRAICN Frankfurt – Seoul 8,544 km5,309 mi · 10 h 15 min ORDICN Chicago – Seoul 10,519 km6,536 mi · 13 h 30 min ATLICN Atlanta – Seoul 11,487 km7,138 mi · 14 h 40 min

Routes of a similar length

LHRHKG London – Hong Kong 9,630 km5,984 mi · 11 h 20 min LHRHND London – Tokyo 9,592 km5,960 mi · 11 h 35 min CDGHKG Paris – Hong Kong 9,590 km5,959 mi · 11 h 10 min LHRBKK London – Bangkok 9,578 km5,951 mi · 11 h 15 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).

LAX Los Angeles ⇄ ICN Seoul