JetSetAuthority

Route · Trans-Pacific

SEA Seattle ⇄ HND Tokyo

Seattle–Tacoma International Airport (United States) and Tokyo Haneda International Airport (Japan): great-circle distance, estimated scheduled flight time each way, time difference and jet lag.

Distance7,711 km4,792 mi4,164 nautical miles
SEA → HND10 h 35 minestimated block time
HND → SEA9 h 10 minestimated block time
Clock change+16 hTokyo vs Seattle, today
Great-circle route from Seattle (SEA) to Tokyo (HND)SEASeattleHNDTokyo
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

SEA → HND

10 h 35 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 301° (WNW).

Leave Seattle Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive Tokyo Sun 8 Nov, 13:35 local +1 day.

HND → SEA

9 h 10 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 46° (NE).

Leave Tokyo Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive Seattle Sat 7 Nov, 02:10 local.

HND-bound flights are the slower direction by about 85 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 distance7,711 km · 4,792 mi · 4,164 nmi
Initial heading301° (WNW) from SEA; 46° (NE) from HND
Farthest from the equator54.4°N — the path arcs north of both airports
Crossesthe 180th meridian (International Date Line area)
Share of the longest possible trip39% of the 20,015 km to the far side of the Earth

Time zones and jet lag

SEAAmerica/Los_Angeles — UTC−7 now; UTC−8 standard time, UTC−7 during daylight saving time
HNDAsia/Tokyo — UTC+9 now; UTC+9 all year (no daylight saving time)
DifferenceTokyo is 16 hours ahead of Seattle 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 SEA → HND. 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

SEA Seattle–Tacoma International AirportSeattle, United States · longest runway 11,901 ft3,627 m HND Tokyo Haneda International AirportTokyo, Japan · longest runway 11,024 ft3,360 m

More routes from SEA and HND

SFOSEA San Francisco – Seattle 1,093 km679 mi · 2 h 20 min SEADEN Seattle – Denver 1,645 km1,022 mi · 2 h 45 min SEAORD Seattle – Chicago 2,762 km1,716 mi · 3 h 55 min SEAKEF Seattle – Reykjavík 5,811 km3,611 mi · 7 h 25 min SEAAMS Seattle – Amsterdam 7,840 km4,872 mi · 9 h 40 min SINSEA Singapore – Seattle 12,979 km8,065 mi · 15 h HNDITM Tokyo – Osaka 404 km251 mi · 1 h 35 min HNDOKA Tokyo – Okinawa (Naha) 1,555 km966 mi · 2 h 55 min HNLHND Honolulu – Tokyo 6,191 km3,847 mi · 8 h 45 min SFOHND San Francisco – Tokyo 8,286 km5,148 mi · 11 h 30 min LHRHND London – Tokyo 9,592 km5,960 mi · 11 h 35 min JFKHND New York – Tokyo 10,875 km6,758 mi · 13 h 55 min

Routes of a similar length

GIGLIS Rio de Janeiro – Lisbon 7,715 km4,794 mi · 9 h 40 min JFKGRU New York – São Paulo 7,664 km4,762 mi · 9 h 35 min IAHLHR Houston – London 7,763 km4,824 mi · 9 h 15 min FRAPEK Frankfurt – Beijing 7,789 km4,840 mi · 9 h 20 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).