Los Angeles to Beijing (LAX–PEK): distance and flight time

Flight time each way

LAX → PEK

13 h 20 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 321° (NW).

Leave Los Angeles Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive Beijing Sun 8 Nov, 15:20 local +1 day.

PEK → LAX

11 h 40 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 43° (NE).

Leave Beijing Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive Los Angeles Sat 7 Nov, 05:40 local.

PEK-bound flights are the slower direction by about 95 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 distance	10,037 km · 6,237 mi · 5,419 nmi
Initial heading	321° (NW) from LAX; 43° (NE) from PEK
Farthest from the equator	58.7°N — the path arcs north of both airports
Crosses	the 180th meridian (International Date Line area)
Share of the longest possible trip	50% 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
PEK	Asia/Shanghai — UTC+8 now; UTC+8 all year (no daylight saving time)
Difference	Beijing is 15 hours ahead of Los Angeles today; +16 h in January and +15 h in July because daylight saving time starts and ends on different dates (or not at all).

Jet lag, flying LAX → PEK. The clock change is 15 hours, but to your body that is a shift of 9 hours the other way. Your body clock has to move 9 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 9 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

PEK Beijing Capital International AirportBeijing, China · longest runway 12,467 ft3,800 m

More routes from LAX and PEK

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 PEKSHA Beijing – Shanghai 1,076 km668 mi · 2 h 15 min PEKCTU Beijing – Chengdu 1,558 km968 mi · 3 h PEKSZX Beijing – Shenzhen 1,957 km1,216 mi · 3 h 20 min FRAPEK Frankfurt – Beijing 7,789 km4,840 mi · 9 h 20 min CDGPEK Paris – Beijing 8,190 km5,089 mi · 9 h 50 min JFKPEK New York – Beijing 10,979 km6,822 mi · 13 h 40 min

Routes of a similar length

EZEMAD Buenos Aires – Madrid 10,087 km6,267 mi · 12 h 10 min ORDHND Chicago – Tokyo 10,124 km6,291 mi · 13 h 15 min SFOPVG San Francisco – Shanghai 9,877 km6,138 mi · 13 h 20 min YVRHKG Vancouver – Hong Kong 10,269 km6,381 mi · 13 h 30 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 ⇄ PEK Beijing