Route profile
CLE→SEA
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Cleveland to Seattle, 2,021 miles.
Right now
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Weather conditions are strongly associated with delays and cancellations.
Route reliability
July 2023 – July 2026
Better than 45% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 1,409 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
CLE → SEA arrives on time 73.7% of the time; the return trip, SEA → CLE, arrives on time 76.0% of the time, a 2.3-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
CLE → SEA spends 28.6 minutes on the ground on a 2,021-mile trip: 16.7 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at CLE and 11.9 minutes from touchdown to gate at SEA.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Reliability on this route has fallen unusually sharply over the past year, a bigger swing than 97% of 5,368 comparable routes.
62.8% on time over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), against 76.3% in the 12 months before (2024-08 to 2025-07), a change of 13.5 points.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Ranked against every other route with the same kind of figure and at least 5,368 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where CLE to SEA differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
CLE to SEA struggles most at 7 AM: 79.2% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 7.6 points behind the 86.8% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 8.6 points.
CLE to SEA is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 6 PM: 74.7% arrive on time, 5.2 points ahead of the 69.5% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 6.1 points.
Monday is the day CLE to SEA slips furthest against routes of similar length, 69.0% on time where they average 78.1%, 9.1 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 8.3 points.
In May, CLE to SEA runs 8.4 points below routes of similar length, 68.3% on time to 76.7%.
Alaska Airlines’ flights on CLE to SEA arrive on time 73.7% of the time, 2.3 points below the 76.0% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 4.3 points.
CLE to SEA against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 7 AM departures | 79.2% | routes of similar length | 86.8% | −7.6 pts | 457 here, 105,042 there |
| Hour: 6 PM departures | 74.7% | routes of similar length | 69.5% | +5.2 pts | 621 here, 55,137 there |
| Weekday: Monday | 69.0% | routes of similar length | 78.1% | −9.1 pts | 210 here, 163,349 there |
| Month: May | 68.3% | routes of similar length | 76.7% | −8.4 pts | 139 here, 97,222 there |
| Airline: Alaska Airlines | 73.7% | routes of similar length | 76.0% | −2.3 pts | 1,391 here, 89,749 there |
Each comparison pools the flights of other routes, with this route’s own left out. Similar length means within 15% of this route’s 2,021 miles, with at least 5 such routes. A bucket is set against the most comparable group that has enough flights: similar length, then the same origin (at least 3 routes), then all other routes. Hours, weekdays and months appear only where both sides have 120 completed flights, and airlines where both have 600. The gap must be at least 2 points and 2 standard errors, and only the largest gap each way is kept per measure. These are differences in the flights counted, not causes.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
38 min late
against a median of 2 min early
Percentiles over 1,409 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SEA after arriving from CLE.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 46% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 25% | High risk |
| 60 min | 13% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.2% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 2.9% | Low risk |
This is one leg of a connection. Gate changes and the next flight's own schedule matter too. And a connection can fail before delay is even the question — this route cancels 1.21% of the time and diverts 0.07% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 1,391 arrivals on this route that landed later than the connection time less 30 minutes to reach the next gate.
The worst tenth of arrivals on this route land at least 38 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 1,409 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Why CLE → SEA runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
screening or terminal security incidents
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for CLE → SEA. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on CLE → SEA, at 45.0%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late.
Airlines on this route
Carriers with at least 200 flights, by the airline that operated each one.
| Carrier | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Severe |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska Airlines | 1,409 | 73.7% | 1.21% | -2 min | 6.3% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Monday the least, a gap of 10.6 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 62.8% against 76.3% in the 12 months before — declining by 13.5 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 1,409 CLE → SEA flight records from the US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, covering July 2023 – July 2026. Late means 15 or more minutes past scheduled arrival; cancelled and diverted flights are left out of on-time rates.
Full methodology · Data sources · Report a problem
Related research: How Long a Layover Needs to Be · Two Airlines on One Route · Best Time of Day to Fly From Major US Airports
Analysis last recomputed