Seattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA) delays & on-time performance
Seattle, Washington · 92 nonstop destinations · 11 airlines · Aug 2025 – Jul 2026
No FAA-reported ground stops or delays at SEA right now. Individual flights can still be delayed by the airline; check with your airline for your flight.
On-time arrivals
80%
arrived < 15 min late
Cancelled
0.9%
1,535 flights
Avg arrival delay
13 min
56 min when late
Departed on time
79%
avg taxi-out 22 min
Figures cover 164,821 departures from SEA; on-time is measured at arrival. Arrivals into SEA were on time 80% of the time.
Key facts
- Flights departing Seattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA) arrived on time 80% of the time in Aug 2025 – Jul 2026, better than the 78% national average.
- 0.9% were cancelled, and 5% arrived an hour or more late.
- SkyWest Airlines was the most punctual airline here (86% on time); Southwest Airlines was the least (70%).
- Departures scheduled around 6am did best (92% on time); around 8pm did worst (75%).
- The largest source of delay minutes was airline (crew, maintenance, cleaning, fueling) (43%).
Most delayed routes from SEA
Lowest on-time arrival rates among regularly flown routes.
- SFO · San Francisco62%6,791 flts
- HNL · Honolulu66%2,933 flts
- LIH · Lihue73%1,094 flts
- OAK · Oakland74%1,895 flts
- KOA · Kona74%1,421 flts
- BOS · Boston75%2,502 flts
- ORD · Chicago76%5,551 flts
- SAT · San Antonio76%558 flts
- SAN · San Diego76%4,595 flts
- ANC · Anchorage76%6,657 flts
Most reliable routes from SEA
Highest on-time arrival rates among regularly flown routes.
- LWS · Lewiston91%364 flts
- CLT · Charlotte88%1,296 flts
- MFR · Medford88%1,274 flts
- OKC · Oklahoma City87%425 flts
- MSP · Minneapolis86%2,684 flts
- BOI · Boise86%3,881 flts
- MKE · Milwaukee86%509 flts
- DTW · Detroit85%2,060 flts
- BLI · Bellingham85%1,216 flts
- RDM · Bend/Redmond85%1,907 flts
Best airline at SEA
Departures from this airport, ranked by on-time arrival.
| Airline | On time | Cancelled | Avg delay | Routes | Flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SkyWest Airlines | 86% | 0.7% | 10 min | 43 | 28,770 |
| Envoy Air | 86% | 0.0% | 12 min | 1 | 754 |
| Delta Air Lines | 81% | 1.1% | 13 min | 42 | 32,324 |
| United Airlines | 80% | 0.8% | 16 min | 9 | 8,748 |
| American Airlines | 79% | 2.0% | 21 min | 10 | 6,702 |
| Alaska Airlines | 78% | 0.9% | 12 min | 73 | 76,779 |
| Frontier Airlines | 76% | 2.1% | 22 min | 7 | 1,404 |
| Southwest Airlines | 70% | 0.4% | 16 min | 17 | 8,098 |
| Spirit Airlines | 67% | 0.0% | 20 min | 1 | 12 |
| Hawaiian Airlines | 63% | 1.2% | 33 min | 3 | 817 |
| JetBlue | 62% | 2.9% | 40 min | 2 | 413 |
Best time to fly out of SEA
On-time arrival rate by scheduled departure hour (local time).
- 5am94%2,543 flts
- 6am92%4,598 flts
- 7am87%13,464 flts
- 8am84%12,646 flts
- 9am82%12,283 flts
- 10am78%10,212 flts
- 11am75%15,444 flts
- 12pm81%7,318 flts
- 1pm76%9,493 flts
- 2pm77%6,185 flts
- 3pm77%11,043 flts
- 4pm77%5,636 flts
- 5pm76%11,277 flts
- 6pm76%6,772 flts
- 7pm77%9,325 flts
- 8pm75%5,579 flts
- 9pm79%8,332 flts
- 10pm77%5,134 flts
- 11pm82%6,694 flts
Monthly trend
Why departures were late
- Airline (crew, maintenance, cleaning, fueling)43%
- Late-arriving aircraft29%
- Air traffic control & airport congestion23%
- Extreme weather5%
- Security0%
Data: U.S. DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Aug 2025 – Jul 2026 (12 months). Latest month published by BTS: July 2026. How we calculate this.