JetSetAuthority

Route · North Atlantic

LAX Los Angeles ⇄ IST Istanbul

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

Distance11,002 km6,836 mi5,940 nautical miles
LAX → IST13 h 05 minestimated block time
IST → LAX14 h 05 minestimated block time
Clock change+10 hIstanbul vs Los Angeles, today
Great-circle route from Los Angeles (LAX) to Istanbul (IST)LAXLos AngelesISTIstanbul
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 → IST

13 h 05 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 24° (NNE).

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

IST → LAX

14 h 05 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 333° (NNW).

Leave Istanbul Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive Los Angeles Sat 7 Nov, 13:05 local.

LAX-bound flights are the slower direction by about 60 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 distance11,002 km · 6,836 mi · 5,940 nmi
Initial heading24° (NNE) from LAX; 333° (NNW) from IST
Farthest from the equator70.0°N — the path arcs north of both airports
Crossesneither the equator nor the 180th meridian
Share of the longest possible trip55% 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
ISTEurope/Istanbul — UTC+3 now; UTC+3 all year (no daylight saving time)
DifferenceIstanbul is 10 hours ahead of Los Angeles today; +11 h in January and +10 h in July because daylight saving time starts and ends on different dates (or not at all).

Jet lag, flying LAX → IST. Your body clock has to move 10 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 10 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 IST İstanbul AirportIstanbul, Turkey · longest runway 13,451 ft4,100 m

More routes from LAX and IST

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 LAXAKL Los Angeles – Auckland 10,487 km6,516 mi · 13 h 20 min LAXSIN Los Angeles – Singapore 14,102 km8,762 mi · 18 h 25 min ISTADB Istanbul – Izmir 358 km222 mi · 1 h 30 min ATHIST Athens – Istanbul 553 km344 mi · 1 h 40 min FRAIST Frankfurt – Istanbul 1,837 km1,141 mi · 3 h DXBIST Dubai – Istanbul 3,030 km1,883 mi · 4 h 45 min ISTBKK Istanbul – Bangkok 7,514 km4,669 mi · 9 h ISTHND Istanbul – Tokyo 8,959 km5,567 mi · 10 h 25 min

Routes of a similar length

DXBJFK Dubai – New York 11,002 km6,836 mi · 14 h 30 min DFWICN Dallas–Fort Worth – Seoul 10,987 km6,827 mi · 14 h 20 min JNBSYD Johannesburg – Sydney 11,024 km6,850 mi · 12 h 35 min JFKPEK New York – Beijing 10,979 km6,822 mi · 13 h 40 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).