Route profile
SEA→HNL
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Seattle to Honolulu, 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 33% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 9,082 flights. How this is calculated
SEA → HNL arrives on time 71.1% of the time; the return trip, HNL → SEA, arrives on time 78.9% of the time, a 7.9-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
SEA → HNL spends 31.7 minutes on the ground on a 2,677-mile trip: 21.9 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SEA and 9.7 minutes from touchdown to gate at HNL.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
The airline matters unusually much on this route, a wider carrier-to-carrier gap than 94% of 2,692 comparable routes.
Delta Air Lines arrived on time 80.8% of the time, against 60.6% for Hawaiian Airlines, flying the exact same route.
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 SEA to HNL differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SEA to HNL struggles most at 11 AM: 57.5% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 20.4 points behind the 77.9% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 23.5 points.
SEA to HNL is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 6 PM: 72.9% arrive on time, 5.3 points ahead of the 67.6% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 4.3 points.
Friday is the day SEA to HNL slips furthest against routes of similar length, 66.7% on time where they average 77.2%, 10.5 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 9.5 points.
In February, SEA to HNL runs 11.3 points below routes of similar length, 68.6% on time to 79.9%. Against all other routes the gap is 12.9 points.
Hawaiian Airlines’ flights on SEA to HNL arrive on time 60.6% of the time, 12.3 points below the 72.9% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 11.8 points.
SEA to HNL against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 11 AM departures | 57.5% | routes of similar length | 77.9% | −20.4 pts | 967 here, 34,530 there |
| Hour: 6 PM departures | 72.9% | routes of similar length | 67.6% | +5.3 pts | 731 here, 44,688 there |
| Weekday: Friday | 66.7% | routes of similar length | 77.2% | −10.5 pts | 1,284 here, 112,540 there |
| Month: February | 68.6% | routes of similar length | 79.9% | −11.3 pts | 687 here, 48,976 there |
| Airline: Hawaiian Airlines | 60.6% | routes of similar length | 72.9% | −12.3 pts | 1,710 here, 30,323 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 SEA → HNL flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
SEA → HNL cancelled 86 of 9,082 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 106. The reason filed most often was the airline, 90.7% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 116 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 86 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.
78 cancellations, 90.7% of the total.
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
8 cancellations, 9.3% 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.
86 coded cancellations were recorded on SEA → HNL; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
45 min late
against a median of 0 min early
Percentiles over 9,082 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at HNL after arriving from SEA.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 49% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 28% | High risk |
| 60 min | 16% | High 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 0.95% of the time and diverts 0.73% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 8,930 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 45 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 9,082 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SEA → HNL flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 77.1% of the time, against 61.5% for 9 AM–12 PM departures, a gap of 15.6 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 69.2% on time from 1,083 flights
- 8 AM: 82.2% on time from 1,708 flights
- 9 AM: 73.0% on time from 287 flights
- 10 AM: 63.1% on time from 429 flights
- 11 AM: 57.5% on time from 991 flights
- 12 PM: 67.1% on time from 215 flights
- 1 PM: 61.5% on time from 147 flights
- 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 74.0% on time from 1,607 flights
- 4 PM: 73.2% on time from 398 flights
- 5 PM: 68.3% on time from 536 flights
- 6 PM: 72.9% on time from 737 flights
- 7 PM: 69.5% on time from 253 flights
- 8 PM: 63.9% on time from 556 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why SEA → HNL 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 SEA → HNL. 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 | 4,963 | 70.0% | 1.11% | 0 min | 6.7% |
| Delta Air Lines | 2,388 | 80.8% | 0.50% | -6 min | 5.2% |
| Hawaiian Airlines | 1,731 | 60.6% | 1.10% | 8 min | 9.8% |
Alaska Airlines flew 54.6% of the 9,082 flights listed.
Delta Air Lines arrived on time 20.2 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 Friday the least, a gap of 6.4 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 68.7%
- Feb: 68.6%
- Mar: 68.1%
- Apr: 78.8%
- May: 74.7%
- Jun: 65.9%
- Jul: 63.0%
- Aug: 73.4%
- Sep: 78.8%
- Oct: 75.1%
- Nov: 72.4%
- Dec: 68.2%
July is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 15.8 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 70.9% from 248 flights
- August 2023: 81.9% from 248 flights
- September 2023: 81.6% from 240 flights
- October 2023: 78.6% from 248 flights
- November 2023: 69.6% from 240 flights
- December 2023: 73.8% from 247 flights
- January 2024: 50.9% from 233 flights
- February 2024: 80.8% from 220 flights
- March 2024: 84.0% from 245 flights
- April 2024: 80.1% from 231 flights
- May 2024: 81.1% from 239 flights
- June 2024: 69.2% from 241 flights
- July 2024: 76.4% from 248 flights
- August 2024: 80.2% from 248 flights
- September 2024: 80.4% from 240 flights
- October 2024: 69.1% from 249 flights
- November 2024: 82.5% from 242 flights
- December 2024: 70.1% from 276 flights
- January 2025: 77.7% from 278 flights
- February 2025: 64.6% from 244 flights
- March 2025: 69.7% from 269 flights
- April 2025: 79.9% from 239 flights
- May 2025: 71.0% from 248 flights
- June 2025: 59.8% from 240 flights
- July 2025: 50.4% from 248 flights
- August 2025: 57.9% from 248 flights
- September 2025: 74.5% from 240 flights
- October 2025: 77.6% from 248 flights
- November 2025: 64.8% from 234 flights
- December 2025: 60.6% from 256 flights
- January 2026: 70.9% from 250 flights
- February 2026: 60.9% from 231 flights
- March 2026: 51.6% from 260 flights
- April 2026: 76.5% from 239 flights
- May 2026: 72.2% from 247 flights
- June 2026: 68.6% from 237 flights
- July 2026: 54.0% from 243 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 65.7% against 71.3% in the 12 months before — declining by 5.6 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 9,082 SEA → HNL 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