Route profile
MCO→SEA
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Orlando to Seattle, 2,554 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 49% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 5,730 flights. How this is calculated
MCO → SEA arrives on time 77.6% of the time; the return trip, SEA → MCO, arrives on time 80.5% of the time, a 2.9-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
MCO → SEA spends 34.6 minutes on the ground on a 2,554-mile trip: 22.5 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MCO and 12.0 minutes from touchdown to gate at SEA.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Every airline on this route performs about the same, a narrower carrier gap than 90% of 2,692 comparable routes.
Delta Air Lines (78.7% on time) and Alaska Airlines (76.9%) are close together here.
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 2,692 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where MCO to SEA differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MCO to SEA is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 10 AM: 89.8% arrive on time, 12.4 points ahead of the 77.4% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 7.1 points.
MCO to SEA struggles most at 7 AM: 78.9% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 6.3 points behind the 85.2% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 8.9 points.
In May, MCO to SEA runs 6.7 points below routes of similar length, 71.3% on time to 78.0%.
October is kinder to MCO to SEA than to routes of similar length: 87.9% on time against 82.8%, 5.1 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 4.9 points.
Delta Air Lines’ flights on MCO to SEA arrive on time 78.7% of the time, 2.2 points below the 80.9% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 2.8 points.
MCO to SEA against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 10 AM departures | 89.8% | routes of similar length | 77.4% | +12.4 pts | 245 here, 43,033 there |
| Hour: 7 AM departures | 78.9% | routes of similar length | 85.2% | −6.3 pts | 1,106 here, 92,503 there |
| Month: May | 71.3% | routes of similar length | 78.0% | −6.7 pts | 460 here, 78,792 there |
| Month: October | 87.9% | routes of similar length | 82.8% | +5.1 pts | 439 here, 74,976 there |
| Airline: Delta Air Lines | 78.7% | routes of similar length | 80.9% | −2.2 pts | 2,129 here, 158,363 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 2,554 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 MCO → SEA flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
MCO → SEA cancelled 84 of 5,730 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 68. The reason filed most often was the airline, 72.6% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 94 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 84 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.
61 cancellations, 72.6% of the total.
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
22 cancellations, 26.2% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
1 cancellation, 1.2% 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. With only one or two carriers on the route, the split mostly reflects how they file. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
84 coded cancellations were recorded on MCO → SEA; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
39 min late
against a median of 6 min early
Percentiles over 5,730 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SEA after arriving from MCO.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 39% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 22% | High risk |
| 60 min | 13% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.6% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.9% | 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 1.47% of the time and diverts 0.30% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 5,629 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 39 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 5,730 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MCO → SEA flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 85.9% of the time, against 66.1% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 19.8 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 78.9% on time from 1,126 flights
- 8 AM: 89.1% on time from 381 flights
- 9 AM: 85.2% on time from 1,365 flights
- 10 AM: 89.8% on time from 252 flights
- 11 AM to 3 PM: too few flights to score
- 4 PM: 76.7% on time from 524 flights
- 5 PM: 76.3% on time from 472 flights
- 6 PM: 65.1% on time from 1,318 flights
- 7 PM: too few flights to score
- 8 PM: 68.7% on time from 175 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why MCO → 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 MCO → SEA. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on MCO → SEA, at 35.9%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 9 AM–12 PM departures arrived on time 85.9% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 66.1%.
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 | 3,565 | 76.9% | 1.65% | -5 min | 6.5% |
| Delta Air Lines | 2,165 | 78.7% | 1.15% | -8 min | 7.1% |
Alaska Airlines flew 62.2% of the 5,730 flights listed.
Carriers on this route performed within a couple of percentage points of each other.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
DL347 (9:00 AM) arrived on time 87.4% of the time, 10.8 points more often than AS419 (4:39 PM) at 76.6%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 6.5 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 77.8%
- Feb: 82.9%
- Mar: 73.0%
- Apr: 81.0%
- May: 71.3%
- Jun: 74.4%
- Jul: 66.9%
- Aug: 71.9%
- Sep: 82.6%
- Oct: 87.9%
- Nov: 85.5%
- Dec: 80.5%
July is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 21.0 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 56.9% from 154 flights
- August 2023: 84.4% from 154 flights
- September 2023: 80.0% from 150 flights
- October 2023: 95.4% from 154 flights
- November 2023: 90.5% from 158 flights
- December 2023: 92.3% from 183 flights
- January 2024: 81.5% from 154 flights
- February 2024: 89.3% from 150 flights
- March 2024: 76.8% from 182 flights
- April 2024: 73.2% from 165 flights
- May 2024: 60.1% from 154 flights
- June 2024: 70.9% from 150 flights
- July 2024: 64.2% from 155 flights
- August 2024: 67.3% from 155 flights
- September 2024: 79.1% from 150 flights
- October 2024: 88.2% from 147 flights
- November 2024: 83.9% from 138 flights
- December 2024: 78.1% from 151 flights
- January 2025: 79.3% from 145 flights
- February 2025: 77.9% from 146 flights
- March 2025: 73.3% from 184 flights
- April 2025: 85.4% from 171 flights
- May 2025: 71.4% from 154 flights
- June 2025: 77.0% from 150 flights
- July 2025: 72.8% from 154 flights
- August 2025: 63.6% from 154 flights
- September 2025: 89.0% from 145 flights
- October 2025: 80.0% from 151 flights
- November 2025: 81.2% from 139 flights
- December 2025: 68.0% from 151 flights
- January 2026: 73.2% from 150 flights
- February 2026: 81.2% from 157 flights
- March 2026: 68.2% from 166 flights
- April 2026: 84.7% from 150 flights
- May 2026: 82.4% from 155 flights
- June 2026: 75.3% from 150 flights
- July 2026: 74.0% from 154 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 76.6% against 77.7% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 5,730 MCO → 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