Flights Chicago → Seattle
MDW → SEA
Route overview
The flight route from Chicago to Seattle has an on-time performance rate of 68%, with the average delay being approximately twenty minutes. Over the course of a year, this route sees around 146 flights, serving a highly trafficked destination airport that accommodates more than 52 million passengers annually.
Your rights on this US flight (DOT)
US flights have no statutory cash compensation for delays. Under the US DOT rules, if your flight is cancelled or significantly changed and you decline rebooking, you're owed an automatic refund of the unused ticket. The tarmac-delay limit is 3 hours (domestic) / 4 hours (international). Amenities for controllable delays depend on each airline's contract of carriage.
US flight refund rules & checker →General information, not legal advice.
The Chicago (MDW) → Seattle (SEA) route is operated by Southwest Airlines. Across 177 flights monitored in recent months, 67% arrived on time (within 15 min of schedule), with an average delay of 22 minutes. The cancellation rate is 0.56%. FlightGuard's average computed risk is 23.5/100 (medium), updated in real time from weather, ATC delays, strikes, NOTAMs, fuel and flight history. At Seattle the average ATFM delay is 2.0 minutes (main cause: atfm). Departing from Chicago the average ATFM delay is 2.0 minutes.
Heading to Seattle: what to expect in this direction
Flying from Chicago (MDW) to Seattle (SEA) heads north-west for about 2,782 km, a flight time of roughly 3h 54m.
Departures from Chicago on this leg cluster in the overnight window: about 44% of MDW-SEA flights take off then.
Air-traffic congestion: departing Chicago the average ATFM delay is 2.0 min (atfm); arriving into Seattle it is 2.0 min (atfm).
Across 177 tracked MDW-SEA flights, 67% left on time with an average delay of 22 min and a 0.6% cancellation rate.
Route facts
Flights on this route
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Airline punctuality on this route
| Airline | On-time | Average delay | Cancellations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines (WN) | 73% | 6 min | 3.1% |
Airlines operating MDW-SEA
Airports
Frequently asked questions about MDW-SEA
On the Chicago (MDW) -> Seattle (SEA) route, on-time performance is 67% with an average delay of 22 minutes, based on 177 tracked flights.
The cancellation rate on Chicago-Seattle is 0.56% across 177 monitored flights.
The route is operated by 1 airline: Southwest Airlines.
Enter your flight number on FlightGuard for a real-time analysis based on 9 factors: weather at Seattle, ATC delays, strikes, NOTAMs, fuel, airline punctuality and recent trends.
US flights have no statutory cash compensation for delays. Under US DOT rules, if the airline cancels or significantly changes your flight and you decline rebooking, you're owed an automatic refund of the unused ticket. The tarmac-delay limit is 3 hours (domestic) / 4 hours (international). Meals or hotels for controllable delays depend on each airline's contract of carriage.
