Route profile
CLT→SEA
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Charlotte to Seattle, 2,279 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 12% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 4,028 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
CLT → SEA arrives on time 68.9% of the time; the return trip, SEA → CLT, arrives on time 84.5% of the time, a 15.6-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
CLT → SEA spends 33.6 minutes on the ground on a 2,279-mile trip: 19.9 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at CLT and 13.7 minutes from touchdown to gate at SEA.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Reliability here swings unusually widely by season, a wider month-to-month spread than 99% of 3,357 comparable routes.
81.9% on time in a typical January, against 52.1% in July.
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 3,357 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where CLT to SEA differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
CLT to SEA struggles most at 8 PM: 45.4% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 24.2 points behind the 69.6% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 22 points.
Saturday is the day CLT to SEA slips furthest against routes of similar length, 67.1% on time where they average 79.0%, 11.9 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 12 points.
In July, CLT to SEA runs 18.5 points below routes of similar length, 52.1% on time to 70.6%. Against all other routes the gap is 17.7 points.
American Airlines’ flights on CLT to SEA arrive on time 68.9% of the time, 10 points below the 78.9% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 6.2 points.
CLT to SEA against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 8 PM departures | 45.4% | routes of similar length | 69.6% | −24.2 pts | 355 here, 36,404 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 67.1% | routes of similar length | 79.0% | −11.9 pts | 553 here, 162,279 there |
| Month: July | 52.1% | routes of similar length | 70.6% | −18.5 pts | 562 here, 142,071 there |
| Airline: American Airlines | 68.9% | routes of similar length | 78.9% | −10.0 pts | 3,976 here, 246,473 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 2,279 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
65 min late
against a median of 0 min early
CLT → SEA has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 0 min early, but the worst tenth are 65 minutes worse than that. If the trip has something unmissable at the end of it, the median is the wrong number to plan against.
Percentiles over 4,028 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SEA after arriving from CLT.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 50% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 30% | Likely to miss |
| 60 min | 20% | High risk |
| 90 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 6.5% | Some 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 1.09% of the time and diverts 0.20% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,976 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 65 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 4,028 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
CLT → SEA flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 83.1% of the time, against 58.8% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 24.3 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 75.8% on time from 155 flights
- 9 AM: 82.9% on time from 867 flights
- 10 AM to 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 65.6% on time from 546 flights
- 4 PM: 65.5% on time from 762 flights
- 5 PM: 65.4% on time from 184 flights
- 6 PM: 65.0% on time from 673 flights
- 7 PM: 62.4% on time from 200 flights
- 8 PM: 45.4% on time from 366 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why CLT → SEA runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow 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 CLT → SEA. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on CLT → SEA, at 43.0%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 9 AM–12 PM departures arrived on time 83.1% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 58.8%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 4,028 | 68.9% | 1.09% | 0 min | 11.2% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 6.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 81.9%
- Feb: 79.7%
- Mar: 69.2%
- Apr: 73.3%
- May: 62.9%
- Jun: 58.2%
- Jul: 52.1%
- Aug: 64.2%
- Sep: 81.6%
- Oct: 75.4%
- Nov: 79.8%
- Dec: 73.9%
July is historically the weakest month and January the strongest, a spread of 29.8 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: too few flights to score (117)
- August 2023: 64.6% from 134 flights
- September 2023: too few flights to score (118)
- October 2023: too few flights to score (118)
- November 2023: too few flights to score (91)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (83)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (86)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (79)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (93)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (86)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (119)
- June 2024: 51.1% from 146 flights
- July 2024: 41.8% from 151 flights
- August 2024: 56.4% from 151 flights
- September 2024: 76.4% from 126 flights
- October 2024: too few flights to score (118)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (78)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (88)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (86)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (75)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (90)
- April 2025: too few flights to score (90)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (111)
- June 2025: 56.7% from 144 flights
- July 2025: 57.2% from 154 flights
- August 2025: 73.0% from 126 flights
- September 2025: 86.7% from 120 flights
- October 2025: too few flights to score (109)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (84)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (88)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (93)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (84)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (93)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (90)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (113)
- June 2026: 66.7% from 144 flights
- July 2026: 58.6% from 152 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 69.7% against 72.0% in the 12 months before — declining by 2.3 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 4,028 CLT → 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