Flights San Francisco → Seattle
SFO → SEA
Route overview
The flight route from San Francisco to Seattle operates with a high level of punctuality, achieving an on-time performance rate of 81%. Over the course of a year, approximately 1505 flights are conducted using various aircraft models including Boeing 737 series and Airbus A320, among others, serving a destination airport that sees over 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 San Francisco (SFO) → Seattle (SEA) route is operated by American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, United Airlines. Across 2006 flights monitored in recent months, 80% arrived on time (within 15 min of schedule), with an average delay of 11 minutes. The cancellation rate is 3.54%. FlightGuard's average computed risk is 20.9/100 (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 San Francisco the average ATFM delay is 2.0 minutes.
Heading to Seattle: what to expect in this direction
Flying from San Francisco (SFO) to Seattle (SEA) heads north for about 1,093 km, a flight time of roughly 1h 47m.
Departures from San Francisco on this leg cluster in the morning window: about 39% of SFO-SEA flights take off then.
Air-traffic congestion: departing San Francisco the average ATFM delay is 2.0 min (atfm); arriving into Seattle it is 2.0 min (atfm).
Across 2,006 tracked SFO-SEA flights, 80% left on time with an average delay of 11 min and a 3.5% cancellation rate.
Route facts
Flights on this route
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Airline punctuality on this route
| Airline | On-time | Average delay | Cancellations |
|---|---|---|---|
| KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KL) | 84% | 20 min | 0.0% |
| Delta Air Lines (DL) | 80% | 8 min | 1.8% |
| United Airlines (UA) | 74% | 10 min | 6.9% |
| American Airlines (AA) | 74% | 16 min | 3.0% |
| Alaska Airlines (AS) | 67% | 10 min | 11.9% |
Airlines operating SFO-SEA
Airports
Frequently asked questions about SFO-SEA
On the San Francisco (SFO) -> Seattle (SEA) route, on-time performance is 80% with an average delay of 11 minutes, based on 2006 tracked flights.
The cancellation rate on San Francisco-Seattle is 3.54% across 2006 monitored flights.
The route is operated by 5 airlines: American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, United 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.
