Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - Which is closer to SYD: SFO or LAX?

I was booking a UA flight from SFO to SYD, and was checking LAX as an alternative. I ran across the apparent fact that SFO is actually closer to SYD than LAX! Checked it with a great circle program, and sure enough.

Learn something new everyday.....

In my travels, I've noticed that people also don't realize that (1) BOS-LAX is shorter than BOS-SFO or that (2) SFO-HNL is shorter than LAX-HNL.

In my travels, I've noticed that people also don't realize that (1) BOS-LAX is shorter than BOS-SFO or that (2) SFO-HNL is shorter than LAX-HNL.

I think that actually anything on the east coast to LAX is shorter then to SFO. IAD-LAX is 200 miles shorter then IAD-SFO, I think. Amazingly counterintuitive.

It helps that as you go up the California coastline, it really juts out west.

After all, a lot of people would be surprised that Reno, Nevada is further west than Los Angeles - just goes to show how far west you go as you go up the coast from LA.

After all, a lot of people would be surprised that Reno, Nevada is further west than Los Angeles
woah - put me on that list!

I was booking a UA flight from SFO to SYD, and was checking LAX as an alternative. I ran across the apparent fact that SFO is actually closer to SYD than LAX! Checked it with a great circle program, and sure enough.

Learn something new everyday.....

Yep. LAX is further east than sfo and therefore SFO closer to Sydney.

Very interesting, thanks for sharing. But wait a few million years and LAX will be NW of SFO :)

While SYD, MEL, HNL, LIH, KOA, and OGG are closer to SFO than LAX, AKL is the opposite.

Brazil distances are like this also - people forget how far east Brazil really is. JFK-GRU/GIG is almost 400 miles shorter than DFW-GRU/GIG, even though JFK is well north of DFW. EZE is breakeven.

That's very interesting. I was planning on booking SFO-LAX-SYD instead of SFO-SYD, because I would get the extra SFO-LAX miles. Then I noticed that LAX-SYD generates more miles than SFO-SYD.

I thought that was strange, but now, I know why :)

But how much more pleasant to fly in to SFO than LAX! Just add another leg somewhere else to make the miles ;)