Los Angeles to Sydney (LAX–SYD): distance and flight time

Flight time each way

LAX → SYD

15 h 15 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 241° (WSW).

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

SYD → LAX

14 h 15 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 61° (ENE).

Leave Sydney Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive Los Angeles Sat 7 Nov, 05:15 local.

SYD-bound flights are the slower direction by about 60 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	12,061 km · 7,494 mi · 6,512 nmi
Initial heading	241° (WSW) from LAX; 61° (ENE) from SYD
Farthest from the equator	33.9°S
Crosses	the equator and the 180th meridian (International Date Line area)
Share of the longest possible trip	60% 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
SYD	Australia/Sydney — UTC+11 now; UTC+10 standard time, UTC+11 during daylight saving time
Difference	Sydney is 18 hours ahead of Los Angeles today; +19 h in January and +17 h in July because daylight saving time starts and ends on different dates (or not at all).

Jet lag, flying LAX → SYD. The clock change is 18 hours, but to your body that is a shift of 6 hours the other way. Your body clock has to move 6 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 6 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

SYD Sydney Kingsford Smith International AirportSydney, Australia · longest runway 12,999 ft3,962 m

More routes from LAX and SYD

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 SYDCBR Sydney – Canberra 236 km147 mi · 1 h 20 min SYDCHC Sydney – Christchurch 2,126 km1,321 mi · 3 h 15 min SYDMNL Sydney – Manila 6,263 km3,892 mi · 8 h 20 min HNLSYD Honolulu – Sydney 8,170 km5,077 mi · 10 h 35 min SFOSYD San Francisco – Sydney 11,950 km7,425 mi · 15 h 10 min LHRSYD London – Sydney 17,021 km10,576 mi · 19 h 30 min

Routes of a similar length

DXBGRU Dubai – São Paulo 12,217 km7,591 mi · 15 h 20 min DXBMEL Dubai – Melbourne 11,644 km7,235 mi · 13 h 50 min JFKTPE New York – Taipei 12,545 km7,795 mi · 15 h 35 min YYZHKG Toronto – Hong Kong 12,548 km7,797 mi · 15 h 35 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 ⇄ SYD Sydney