Route profile
HNL→SEA
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Honolulu to Seattle, 2,677 miles.
Right now
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Route reliability
July 2023 – July 2026
Better than 63% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 9,090 flights. How this is calculated
HNL → SEA arrives on time 78.9% of the time; the return trip, SEA → HNL, arrives on time 71.1% of the time, a 7.9-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
HNL → SEA spends 31.8 minutes on the ground on a 2,677-mile trip: 20.6 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at HNL and 11.2 minutes from touchdown to gate at SEA.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Every day of the week performs about the same on this route, steadier than 99% of 4,467 comparable routes.
80.4% on time on the best day (Wednesday) against 77.7% on the worst (Sunday).
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 4,467 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where HNL to SEA differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
HNL to SEA is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 8 PM: 86.9% arrive on time, 16.1 points ahead of the 70.8% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 19.5 points.
July is kinder to HNL to SEA than to routes of similar length: 77.9% on time against 70.8%, 7.1 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 8.2 points.
In April, HNL to SEA runs 5.7 points below routes of similar length, 74.6% on time to 80.3%. Against all other routes the gap is 5.3 points.
Delta Air Lines does better on HNL to SEA than on its routes of similar length: 90.0% on time here, 80.0% there, 10 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 8.5 points.
Hawaiian Airlines’ flights on HNL to SEA arrive on time 66.3% of the time, 6.3 points below the 72.6% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 5.8 points.
HNL to SEA against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 8 PM departures | 86.9% | routes of similar length | 70.8% | +16.1 pts | 436 here, 28,193 there |
| Month: July | 77.9% | routes of similar length | 70.8% | +7.1 pts | 972 here, 92,784 there |
| Month: April | 74.6% | routes of similar length | 80.3% | −5.7 pts | 709 here, 60,786 there |
| Airline: Delta Air Lines | 90.0% | routes of similar length | 80.0% | +10.0 pts | 2,368 here, 117,858 there |
| Airline: Hawaiian Airlines | 66.3% | routes of similar length | 72.6% | −6.3 pts | 1,719 here, 30,314 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 2,677 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.
Why HNL → SEA flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
HNL → SEA cancelled 98 of 9,090 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 93. The reason filed most often was the airline, 90.8% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 102 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 98 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
89 cancellations, 90.8% of the total.
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
9 cancellations, 9.2% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
0 cancellations, 0.0% of the total.
A terminal evacuation, a security breach, screening equipment failure, or screening queues over 29 minutes.
0 cancellations, 0.0% of the total.
Reason codes are the operating airline’s own filing with US DOT, not an independent finding of fault. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
98 coded cancellations were recorded on HNL → SEA; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
33 min late
against a median of 5 min early
Percentiles over 9,090 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SEA after arriving from HNL.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 40% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 20% | High risk |
| 60 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.3% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.4% | 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 1.08% of the time and diverts 0.10% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 8,983 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 33 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 9,090 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
HNL → SEA flights departing 6–9 PM arrived on time 86.9% of the time, against 72.5% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 14.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 88.5% on time from 803 flights
- 8 AM: 81.0% on time from 450 flights
- 9 AM: too few flights to score
- 10 AM: 76.9% on time from 527 flights
- 11 AM: 76.3% on time from 264 flights
- 12 PM: 74.0% on time from 598 flights
- 1 PM: 73.7% on time from 1,683 flights
- 2 PM: 70.7% on time from 690 flights
- 3 PM: 70.7% on time from 533 flights
- 4 PM to 7 PM: too few flights to score
- 8 PM: 86.9% on time from 436 flights
- 9 PM: 80.7% on time from 904 flights
- 10 PM: 93.0% on time from 808 flights
- 11 PM: 78.4% on time from 1,196 flights
Why HNL → SEA runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
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 HNL → SEA. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
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 | 4,968 | 78.0% | 1.39% | -5 min | 5.7% |
| Delta Air Lines | 2,388 | 90.0% | 0.80% | -14 min | 3.8% |
| Hawaiian Airlines | 1,734 | 66.3% | 0.58% | 6 min | 6.5% |
Alaska Airlines flew 54.7% of the 9,090 flights listed.
Delta Air Lines arrived on time 23.7 percentage points more often than Hawaiian Airlines on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 2.7 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 77.2%
- Feb: 79.7%
- Mar: 79.6%
- Apr: 74.6%
- May: 77.6%
- Jun: 75.9%
- Jul: 77.9%
- Aug: 79.2%
- Sep: 81.9%
- Oct: 81.1%
- Nov: 82.0%
- Dec: 80.9%
April is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 7.4 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 87.0% from 248 flights
- August 2023: 82.1% from 248 flights
- September 2023: 80.6% from 240 flights
- October 2023: 84.3% from 248 flights
- November 2023: 86.2% from 239 flights
- December 2023: 87.4% from 248 flights
- January 2024: 76.1% from 233 flights
- February 2024: 79.9% from 220 flights
- March 2024: 80.6% from 244 flights
- April 2024: 78.8% from 232 flights
- May 2024: 74.9% from 240 flights
- June 2024: 80.7% from 240 flights
- July 2024: 82.9% from 248 flights
- August 2024: 80.6% from 248 flights
- September 2024: 87.9% from 240 flights
- October 2024: 82.6% from 249 flights
- November 2024: 85.4% from 243 flights
- December 2024: 84.4% from 275 flights
- January 2025: 77.4% from 277 flights
- February 2025: 78.4% from 244 flights
- March 2025: 80.3% from 271 flights
- April 2025: 74.5% from 240 flights
- May 2025: 80.4% from 249 flights
- June 2025: 72.2% from 241 flights
- July 2025: 69.4% from 248 flights
- August 2025: 74.9% from 248 flights
- September 2025: 77.1% from 240 flights
- October 2025: 76.3% from 247 flights
- November 2025: 74.4% from 236 flights
- December 2025: 70.8% from 255 flights
- January 2026: 77.8% from 252 flights
- February 2026: 80.8% from 231 flights
- March 2026: 77.8% from 259 flights
- April 2026: 70.7% from 241 flights
- May 2026: 77.3% from 248 flights
- June 2026: 75.0% from 237 flights
- July 2026: 71.8% from 243 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 75.4% against 79.5% in the 12 months before — declining by 4.1 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 9,090 HNL → 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