Seatle Flight Time

[nancya622]

What is the earliest time to book a flight out of Seatle?We are on the Carnival Spirit in June 2011.

[CruiserBruce]

What does the cruise line recommend?

 

I would say not before 12 noon.

[Sandy Sails]

SeaTac is a long ways away from the downtown pier and I've heard stories that the airport gets pretty crowded on cruise days. I agree - not before noon.

[alcpa1]

We haven't cruised out of Seattle but do travel there fairly often. I would definitely not book a flight before noon either.

We have had several late cruise arrivals over the last couple of years and we now look at noon or later from most ports.

We have also been subject to Homeland Security Red level alerts that slow security to less than a crawl.

I hate waiting for flights but I'd much rather not miss one.

Have a great cruise. Alaska is fantastic.

[beachchick]

Of course it depends on what time your ship docks, but if your ship starts disembarkation at 7:30 or 8 am, not before 11:30 or 12:00, IMO. The airport is about 25 to 30 minutes from the pier area, but that's with little traffic--a rare event in Seattle. But that's not the only thing to consider. SeaTac has terminal "arms" that you get to by a train system that loops around. You can have a quite a distance from check in to your assigned gate. Those cars can get pretty crowded during busy flight times. As well, security at SeaTac is typical for a large international airport with long lines at times.

 

If your ship docks super early and if disembarkation starts right away and if you do self-disembarkation and if the Customs and Immigration process goes smoothly and if you are not arriving on a heavy traffic day (e.g., morning commute), then an earlier flight could work. But we'd rather not take the chance. I'd rather wander around the airport for a bit than fret about making an early morning flight.

 

beachchick

[BIG_Steve]

We returned to Seattle at 8am on a Sunday morning. Our flight was 12:15. The ride to the airport was only something like 30 minutes, no traffic on Sunday morning. If I were to do it again, I still would try to book a flight for an hour later (if there were one) just to have a fudge factor.

 

I'm not a worry wart, but missing flights is one of the things in this world that really ruins my day/week/vacation.

[juliecat]

Just wanted to add that they are installing new body scanners at the TSA checkpoints at Sea-Tac. Give yourself a little extra time to get through security. If you get through extra early, there are lots of good places to eat and drink post-checkpoint.

 

J

[CanWeGoYet?]

I-5 traffic headed down to the airport can be worse on weekends than on week days. No idea why, but I allow extra travel time for weekends. And as it was already mentioned, Sea Tac is a mess with long lines on weekends.