Flights Sacramento → Seattle
SMF → SEA
Route overview
The flight route from Sacramento to Seattle operates with a high level of punctuality, achieving an on-time performance rate of 87%. Over the course of a year, approximately 1042 flights are conducted using Boeing 737 and Boeing 737-300 aircraft, with an average delay time of just 4 minutes. The destination airport serves over 52 million passengers annually, indicating its significance as a major travel hub.
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 Sacramento (SMF) → Seattle (SEA) route is operated by American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines. Across 1373 flights monitored in recent months, 86% arrived on time (within 15 min of schedule), with an average delay of 5 minutes. The cancellation rate is 1.17%. FlightGuard's average computed risk is 17.1/100 (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 Sacramento the average ATFM delay is 2.0 minutes.
Heading to Seattle: what to expect in this direction
Flying from Sacramento (SMF) to Seattle (SEA) heads north for about 975 km, a flight time of roughly 1h 38m.
Departures from Sacramento on this leg cluster in the overnight window: about 45% of SMF-SEA flights take off then.
Air-traffic congestion: departing Sacramento the average ATFM delay is 2.0 min (atfm); arriving into Seattle it is 2.0 min (atfm).
Across 1,373 tracked SMF-SEA flights, 86% left on time with an average delay of 5 min and a 1.2% cancellation rate.
Route facts
Flights on this route
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Airline punctuality on this route
| Airline | On-time | Average delay | Cancellations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines (DL) | 80% | 8 min | 1.8% |
| American Airlines (AA) | 74% | 16 min | 3.0% |
| Southwest Airlines (WN) | 73% | 6 min | 3.1% |
| Alaska Airlines (AS) | 67% | 10 min | 11.9% |
Airlines operating SMF-SEA
Airports
Frequently asked questions about SMF-SEA
On the Sacramento (SMF) -> Seattle (SEA) route, on-time performance is 86% with an average delay of 5 minutes, based on 1373 tracked flights.
The cancellation rate on Sacramento-Seattle is 1.17% across 1373 monitored flights.
The route is operated by 4 airlines: American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines, 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.
