Route profile
SEA→AUS
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Seattle to Austin, 1,770 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 65% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 6,405 flights. How this is calculated
SEA → AUS arrives on time 77.1% of the time; the return trip, AUS → SEA, arrives on time 82.4% of the time, a 5.3-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
SEA → AUS spends 34.9 minutes on the ground on a 1,770-mile trip: 22.0 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SEA and 12.9 minutes from touchdown to gate at AUS.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where SEA to AUS differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SEA to AUS struggles most at 11 PM: 58.9% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 21.7 points behind the 80.6% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 20.2 points.
SEA to AUS is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 6 PM: 79.8% arrive on time, 9.7 points ahead of the 70.1% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 11.2 points.
Monday is the day SEA to AUS slips furthest against routes of similar length, 71.5% on time where they average 77.1%, 5.6 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 5.8 points.
February is kinder to SEA to AUS than to routes of similar length: 86.7% on time against 81.2%, 5.5 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 5.3 points.
In May, SEA to AUS runs 5.5 points below routes of similar length, 70.1% on time to 75.6%. Against all other routes the gap is 5.2 points.
SEA to AUS against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 11 PM departures | 58.9% | routes of similar length | 80.6% | −21.7 pts | 124 here, 61,506 there |
| Hour: 6 PM departures | 79.8% | routes of similar length | 70.1% | +9.7 pts | 168 here, 76,602 there |
| Weekday: Monday | 71.5% | routes of similar length | 77.1% | −5.6 pts | 942 here, 196,333 there |
| Month: February | 86.7% | routes of similar length | 81.2% | +5.5 pts | 346 here, 88,775 there |
| Month: May | 70.1% | routes of similar length | 75.6% | −5.5 pts | 562 here, 113,929 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 1,770 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
37 min late
against a median of 3 min early
Percentiles over 6,405 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at AUS after arriving from SEA.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 43% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 22% | High risk |
| 60 min | 13% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.4% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.0% | 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 0.62% of the time and diverts 0.19% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 6,353 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 6,405 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SEA → AUS flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 85.3% of the time, against 69.7% for 12–3 PM departures, a gap of 15.6 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM: 80.7% on time from 145 flights
- 1 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 89.9% on time from 209 flights
- 7 AM: 83.5% on time from 871 flights
- 8 AM: 86.5% on time from 507 flights
- 9 AM: 81.4% on time from 579 flights
- 10 AM: 85.8% on time from 214 flights
- 11 AM: 73.7% on time from 1,215 flights
- 12 PM: 72.3% on time from 551 flights
- 1 PM to 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 70.3% on time from 1,485 flights
- 6 PM: 79.8% on time from 168 flights
- 7 PM to 9 PM: too few flights to score
- 10 PM: 85.6% on time from 273 flights
- 11 PM: 58.9% on time from 125 flights
Why SEA → AUS runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
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 SEA → AUS. 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 | 3,598 | 74.6% | 0.61% | 0 min | 4.7% |
| Delta Air Lines | 2,749 | 80.9% | 0.65% | -7 min | 6.7% |
Alaska Airlines flew 56.7% of the 6,347 flights listed.
Delta Air Lines arrived on time 6.3 percentage points more often than Alaska Airlines on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
DL739 (7:20 AM) arrived on time 86.5% of the time, 10.8 points more often than DL848 (5:45 PM) at 75.7%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Monday the least, a gap of 12.7 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 81.4%
- Feb: 86.7%
- Mar: 83.3%
- Apr: 84.4%
- May: 70.1%
- Jun: 68.8%
- Jul: 67.2%
- Aug: 74.0%
- Sep: 80.7%
- Oct: 80.3%
- Nov: 80.1%
- Dec: 79.9%
July is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 19.5 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 80.9% from 206 flights
- August 2023: 76.5% from 217 flights
- September 2023: 74.1% from 190 flights
- October 2023: 75.1% from 197 flights
- November 2023: 78.5% from 181 flights
- December 2023: 89.5% from 153 flights
- January 2024: 77.9% from 124 flights
- February 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- March 2024: 75.3% from 146 flights
- April 2024: 78.7% from 169 flights
- May 2024: 67.8% from 181 flights
- June 2024: 67.4% from 174 flights
- July 2024: 65.1% from 178 flights
- August 2024: 69.6% from 194 flights
- September 2024: 83.3% from 204 flights
- October 2024: 81.1% from 196 flights
- November 2024: 82.5% from 185 flights
- December 2024: 74.4% from 156 flights
- January 2025: too few flights to score (113)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (106)
- March 2025: 86.7% from 167 flights
- April 2025: 86.3% from 175 flights
- May 2025: 64.5% from 198 flights
- June 2025: 64.9% from 203 flights
- July 2025: 60.2% from 208 flights
- August 2025: 75.6% from 195 flights
- September 2025: 84.9% from 167 flights
- October 2025: 85.3% from 174 flights
- November 2025: 79.3% from 172 flights
- December 2025: 76.2% from 169 flights
- January 2026: too few flights to score (116)
- February 2026: 87.1% from 124 flights
- March 2026: 86.9% from 172 flights
- April 2026: 88.2% from 170 flights
- May 2026: 78.4% from 185 flights
- June 2026: 73.8% from 207 flights
- July 2026: 62.7% from 217 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 79.3% against 75.8% in the 12 months before — improving by 3.5 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 6,405 SEA → AUS 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