Best scenery ever on a flight
 

Yeah ok we have all seen the grand canyon while flying to LAX across the country, but what has really stood out to be the best scenery you have ever seen on a flight? For me, it was a DL flight from JFK-MUC in 2000. Across the northern Atlantic, we see the glorious northern lights flashing beside us on this dark winter night. It was beautiful. My second favorite would be a DL connection SkyWest flight from SLC-SFO 2 years ago. Our tiny plane was on approach and the fog covered the ground as far as I could see, it was like one giant cloud sitting on the ground. You could see the hills popping up out of the fog with the sunrise in the distance. Really another beautiful sight. How about you guys?

Over Greenland - the mountains and glaciers are breathtaking, even from altitude.

Many trips come to mind-

In the mid 90's I had been travelling out to SEA every week. I always saw Mt. Ranier out in the distance, and it was nice scenery. One day we were on approach and I woke up and looked out the window. The winds must have been doing something funny because I was close enough to see climbers on the mountain, and they were higher than I was. We couldn't have been more than a few thousand feet away and were several thousand feet below the peak.

Taking red-eyes from LA to PIT during the summer of fire (late 90's?) was amazing - from 30K feet you could still see vast expanses of the the earth on fire against complete blackness.

The Mississippi and other river floods, also late 90's iirc. Having seen the normal river many times, seeing it spread out 10-20 times as wide really helped understand how vast the flooding was.

And flying parallel to hurrican Charly a few weeks back, BWI to CLT - I must have stared out the window for 30 minutes without a single break in white lightning flashes.

Mother Nature at her destructive best can be awesome.

PPT (Papeete, Tahiti) to BOB (Bora Bora) on VT (Air Tahiti) on my honeymoon in October 2003: it doesn't get any better than the spectacular view of Bora Bora from the air.

I would say that the approach to Phuket is pretty awe inspiring. All shades of blue on the water, contrasting with lush green forests. Made for a great start to the vacation.

Flying south just east of Florida's east coast just before sunset one evening, I was able to look down to see the Atlantic Ocean directly below, then all the way across the state to see the sun reflecting off the Gulf of Mexico on the other side.

Flying from Innsbruck, Austria to Paris once, we seemed to barely clear the Alps just north of the Inn valley, and approached CDG in Paris on a route that took us right over the center of Paris at low altitude, for a stunning view of the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Louvre & Tivoli gardens, and Arc de Triomphe just as the evening lights were twinkling on.

I've also seen the aurora borealis and the Appalachians poking through a morning fog blanket like islands in a white sea, and agree that both are memorable.

I'm looking forward to an upcoming RJ flight from SLC to FCA (Kalispell, in northern Montana) in September, which is short enough to stay relatively low for much of the flight, and seems like it should track right along the spine of the Rockies.

We flew in December, IAH-FRA-FCO and return FCO-FRA-SFO. We were in F, so we got a very nice view out the windows.

1. The view of the Alps from FRA to FCO was incredible! I had no idea they were so wide-spread and rugged! Same view on the way back.

2. From FRA-SFO, we flew pretty far north. The view over Greenland was indeed incredible. I could have sworn I could just barely see some caribou or reindeer or something slogging through the snow.

It must have been on the way over (it was nighttime), and I scrooched my neck into a position where I could see the sky. At 35,000 feet, there are a lot more stars visible that you can see from the ground!

1) Flying north from Santiago to Calama and watching the Andes pass by on the right side of the plane!

2) Flying from Buenos Aires into Santiago, and beginning our descent over the snow-covered Andes. At one moment we were almost between mountain peaks.

Greenland. We had either three or four windows to ourselves in business class to peer down at sights. Remarkable.

Way it happened was pretty remarkable too. Had paid $400 each for economy to Paris and back. On the return flight we had middle seats, hubbie said he wished we had a seat near a window. Well, for what we jokingly called "L" class ("L" meaning "Last class" or "Least class," as you like), we didn't have much expectations for change. But I stood in line (think this was Air France on a Delta ticket) a long time to ask to be changed, only to be told by harried personnel the flight was way overcrowded. This was right before Easter, I think. So I saw my chance and asked to be bumped. Eventually they decided they could use our seats, so they put us on a subsequent flight, in business class, bulkhead, I guess. Wasn't familiar with the technicalities of the matter, only knew that the husband who wanted a window seat to see out now had several. And I knelt by one of the windows myself, looking out at the spectacular ice of Greenland.

(Almost forgot, they gave us $500 vouchers each, routed us circuitously back so that we got extra mileage, and fed us pressed duck, etc., etc.)

Delta treated us very well in those days, always did, hate to see today's headlines on their financial situation. Nice people.

Ummm....well....
 

[Flying from Innsbruck, Austria to Paris once, we seemed to barely clear the Alps just north of the Inn valley, and approached CDG in Paris on a route that took us right over the center of Paris at low altitude, for a stunning view of the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Louvre & Tivoli gardens, and Arc de Triomphe just as the evening lights were twinkling on.[/QUOTE]

Wow. that must have been a huge plane being that you could see the Tivoli Gardens located in Denmark while you were flying over Paris! ;) I think you meant jardin de luxembourg or the tuilleries gardens.
hee hee! :)

My favorite is flying for 10+ hours to Tel Aviv and upon landing seeing the Israeli coastline appear out of nowwhere after flying over the beautiful Mediterranean for the last couple of hours of the flight.

Ever flown Hooters Air? Enough said.

Coming into TEX (Telluride, CO, http://www.airnav.com/airport/TEX) over the mountaintops when coming from DEN. The mountains are something like 14,000 ft high and you are not flying much higher. The view out of the front of the B1900 (yes, front, they leave the door open) is cool as they turn 360 degrees to loose altitude for the landing (above 9,000ft).

I really have to second the Alps in the beginning of the summer with the sun reflecting from the snow covered mountains.Niiiiiiiiice ^

My most scenic flight was flying from Lima, Peru to Puerto Maldonado, Peru. Flying from the Pacific Ocean and over the Andes and Cusco and coming down into the Amazon jungle was spectacular. The contrast from the pristine Andes mountains to the lush green jungle and river is startling.

Pacific NW on NW
 

Supposed to arrive SEA 10 AM. Beautiful clear day. Except at SEA down on the river, thick fog had the inbounds backed up. Dropped down to about 15,000 feet, level with the mountain peaks. Spent a full hour making lazy Ss round the mountains over Washington and Oregon, both sides of the plane got to see everything. Pilot pointing out Mt. Ranier, Mt. St. Helens, knew all the sights. You could not design a better sightseeing flight.