Route profile
SAT→SEA
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from San Antonio to Seattle, 1,774 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 58% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 1,782 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
SAT → SEA arrives on time 73.7% of the time; the return trip, SEA → SAT, arrives on time 75.6% of the time.
SAT → SEA spends 26.9 minutes on the ground on a 1,774-mile trip: 14.5 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SAT and 12.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at SEA.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where SAT to SEA differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SAT to SEA struggles most at 6 AM: 80.5% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 9.3 points behind the 89.8% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 10.3 points.
Sunday is the day SAT to SEA slips furthest against routes of similar length, 65.6% on time where they average 75.3%, 9.7 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 9.2 points.
Alaska Airlines’ flights on SAT to SEA arrive on time 73.7% of the time, 2.8 points below the 76.5% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 4.3 points.
SAT to SEA against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 6 AM departures | 80.5% | routes of similar length | 89.8% | −9.3 pts | 190 here, 85,712 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 65.6% | routes of similar length | 75.3% | −9.7 pts | 259 here, 190,024 there |
| Airline: Alaska Airlines | 73.7% | routes of similar length | 76.5% | −2.8 pts | 1,765 here, 84,810 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 1,774 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.
SAT to SEA in context
This route against SAT and SEA as a whole, against similar routes from SAT, and against its own first year, July 2023 – July 2026.
Leaving SAT, SAT to SEA is on time 73.7% of the time, 8.7 points worse than the airport’s other departures at SAT (82.4%, from 123,703 flights).
Arriving at SEA, SAT to SEA is on time 73.7% of the time, 6.8 points worse than the airport’s other arrivals at SEA (80.5%, from 502,544 flights).
SAT to SEA cancels 0.67% of its scheduled flights, 1.09 points below the 1.76% on 3 other routes from SAT of similar length (within 15% of 1,774 miles).
Of the 1,607 flights scheduled in hours with at least 120 flights, 7 AM is the busiest hour with 572 (35.6%), 84.2% of them on time, and 6 AM the quietest with 192 (11.9%), 80.5% of them on time.
Airport comparisons take this route’s flights out of the airport total. Length means within 15% of this route’s distance, with at least 3 other routes from the same origin. On-time gaps are stated at 2 points and 2 standard errors, cancellation gaps at 0.5 points and 2 standard errors, and every group needs 750 flights. These are differences in the flights counted, not causes.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
37 min late
against a median of 1 min early
Percentiles over 1,782 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SEA after arriving from SAT.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 46% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 25% | High risk |
| 60 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.9% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.7% | 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 0.67% of the time and diverts 0.28% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 1,765 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 37 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 1,782 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SAT → SEA flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 83.2% of the time, against 64.9% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 18.3 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 80.5% on time from 192 flights
- 7 AM: 84.2% on time from 572 flights
- 8 AM to 5 PM: too few flights to score
- 6 PM: 66.6% on time from 300 flights
- 7 PM: 64.1% on time from 543 flights
- 8 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why SAT → 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 SAT → SEA. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on SAT → SEA, at 42.2%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 83.2% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 64.9%.
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 | 1,782 | 73.7% | 0.67% | -1 min | 5.0% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Friday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 12.2 percentage points.
By month
- Jan to Feb: no data
- Mar: 71.8%
- Apr: 76.4%
- May: 75.6%
- Jun: 67.2%
- Jul: 65.6%
- Aug: 69.9%
- Sep: 78.9%
- Oct: 80.9%
- Nov: 81.4%
- Dec: 75.3%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 15.8 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 78.6% against 72.5% in the 12 months before — improving by 6.1 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 1,782 SAT → 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