Route profile
SEA→TPA
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Seattle to Tampa, 2,520 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 3,169 flights. How this is calculated
SEA → TPA arrives on time 76.9% of the time; the return trip, TPA → SEA, arrives on time 73.8% of the time, a 3.2-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
SEA → TPA spends 29.9 minutes on the ground on a 2,520-mile trip: 22.4 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SEA and 7.5 minutes from touchdown to gate at TPA.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where SEA to TPA differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SEA to TPA struggles most at 9 AM: 71.8% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 8.3 points behind the 80.1% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 12.5 points.
SEA to TPA is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 8 AM: 90.7% arrive on time, 7.4 points ahead of the 83.3% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 4.8 points.
In August, SEA to TPA runs 9.2 points below routes of similar length, 67.6% on time to 76.8%. Against all other routes the gap is 8.9 points.
February is kinder to SEA to TPA than to routes of similar length: 85.4% on time against 80.2%, 5.2 points better.
SEA to TPA against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 9 AM departures | 71.8% | routes of similar length | 80.1% | −8.3 pts | 873 here, 61,812 there |
| Hour: 8 AM departures | 90.7% | routes of similar length | 83.3% | +7.4 pts | 312 here, 95,978 there |
| Month: August | 67.6% | routes of similar length | 76.8% | −9.2 pts | 256 here, 81,541 there |
| Month: February | 85.4% | routes of similar length | 80.2% | +5.2 pts | 240 here, 60,964 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 2,520 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 5 min early
Percentiles over 3,169 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at TPA after arriving from SEA.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 40% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 22% | High risk |
| 60 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.8% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.6% | 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 1.04% of the time and diverts 0.63% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,116 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 3,169 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SEA → TPA flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 90.7% of the time, against 73.9% for 9 AM–12 PM departures, a gap of 16.8 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 90.7% on time from 316 flights
- 9 AM: 71.8% on time from 893 flights
- 10 AM: 79.7% on time from 384 flights
- 11 AM: 72.9% on time from 403 flights
- 12 PM to 8 PM: too few flights to score
- 9 PM: 78.2% on time from 806 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why SEA → TPA 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 → TPA. 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 | 2,055 | 75.7% | 1.17% | -4 min | 4.5% |
| Delta Air Lines | 1,114 | 79.3% | 0.81% | -5 min | 5.8% |
Alaska Airlines flew 64.8% of the 3,169 flights listed.
Delta Air Lines arrived on time 3.6 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.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| DL358 Delta Air Lines | 11:55 AM | 780 | 77.1% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 7.0 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 79.6%
- Feb: 85.4%
- Mar: 78.2%
- Apr: 75.6%
- May: 80.1%
- Jun: 72.5%
- Jul: 65.2%
- Aug: 67.6%
- Sep: 82.0%
- Oct: 80.8%
- Nov: 86.5%
- Dec: 77.4%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 21.3 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 79.9% against 72.7% in the 12 months before — improving by 7.2 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,169 SEA → TPA 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