Seattle: summer costs you on the taxi and at passport control

Seattle moves with the season. Landing to gate takes a median 9 minutes in January and 12 in July and August, and the slow tail goes from 17 to 23. At passport control, the share waiting over 30 minutes hit 37.5% in August and fell to 15.8% in October.

Summer is the slow season for arrivals

From May to September the taxi median sits at 11 or 12 minutes. From January to March it’s 9 or 10. Alaska, Delta and SkyWest all run about the same, so the airline matters less here than the month.

All international arrivals clear one hall, in the South Satellite. Across the year, 28.2% waited over 30 minutes and 7.2% waited over an hour, the same share over an hour as JFK. For a US passport, the middle hour averages 15 minutes. For visitors it’s 25, and the slowest 1 in 10 hours average 54 or more.

Security is a morning airport

The top band typically runs from 6 to 11 AM on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays, and from 8 to 11 AM at the weekend. Afternoons are quieter. Monday to Wednesday drop to the 10–20 minute band by 1 PM, and Tuesday and Wednesday have no top-band hour at all.

If you can pick between a 9 AM and a 2 PM flight here, the 2 PM flight usually has the shorter line.

The N and S gates are a train ride out

The B, C and D gates are 2 to 10 minutes from the curb. The A gates are 2 to 17. The N gates are 7 to 17, and the S gates 9 to 19, both by the underground train.

For a carry-on in row 25, the typical trip from landing to curb is 27 minutes from B, C or D, 33 from N and 35 from S. A checked bag adds about 7 across the airport. That bag figure is a judgement.

The 1 Line light rail is 8 to 30 minutes from the gate, depending on where you start. Rideshares load on Level 3 of the garage, 5 to 24 minutes out, and friends pick up on the Arrivals Drive curb.

Of 11 lounges, Priority Pass opens 2, both The Club SEA, one at the A gates and one at the S gates.

What this can’t tell you

It’s one year. The sharp fall in passport waits from September to October could be a season, a staffing change or a change in schedules, and the counts can’t separate those. A busier summer schedule would explain the peak, but that’s a guess.

Passport counts mix citizens and visitors. Taxi figures cover domestic flights only, so they don’t include the long-haul arrivals that feed the passport line.

Security bands are typical, not live, and not a guarantee. Walks are modelled from maps and nobody has timed them.

Taxi and passport figures are measured. Security bands and walks are modelled. Bag time is judgement. Methods: taxi-in, passport control, landing to the curb.

At Seattle, Skycap adds the train from your gate to your curb time.

Typical security times are estimated from public passenger-throughput data. Not affiliated with any airport, airline or government agency.