Route profile
TPA→SEA
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Tampa to Seattle, 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 41% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,167 flights. How this is calculated
TPA → SEA arrives on time 73.8% of the time; the return trip, SEA → TPA, arrives on time 76.9% of the time, a 3.2-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
TPA → SEA spends 31.7 minutes on the ground on a 2,520-mile trip: 18.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at TPA and 12.9 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 TPA to SEA differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
TPA to SEA struggles most at 7 AM: 75.9% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 9.5 points behind the 85.4% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 11.9 points.
TPA to SEA is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 9 AM: 85.9% arrive on time, 5.9 points ahead of the 80.0% those routes manage at that hour.
Monday is the day TPA to SEA slips furthest against routes of similar length, 71.5% on time where they average 78.0%, 6.5 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 5.8 points.
In May, TPA to SEA runs 11.8 points below routes of similar length, 66.2% on time to 78.0%. Against all other routes the gap is 9.1 points.
Alaska Airlines’ flights on TPA to SEA arrive on time 68.1% of the time, 8 points below the 76.1% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 10 points.
TPA to SEA against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 7 AM departures | 75.9% | routes of similar length | 85.4% | −9.5 pts | 1,181 here, 95,935 there |
| Hour: 9 AM departures | 85.9% | routes of similar length | 80.0% | +5.9 pts | 453 here, 62,232 there |
| Weekday: Monday | 71.5% | routes of similar length | 78.0% | −6.5 pts | 460 here, 136,229 there |
| Month: May | 66.2% | routes of similar length | 78.0% | −11.8 pts | 278 here, 81,653 there |
| Airline: Alaska Airlines | 68.1% | routes of similar length | 76.1% | −8.0 pts | 2,014 here, 161,934 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
41 min late
against a median of 2 min early
Percentiles over 3,167 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SEA after arriving from TPA.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 46% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 25% | High risk |
| 60 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.1% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.7% | 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 1.39% 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 3,114 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 41 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,167 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
TPA → SEA flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 85.9% of the time, against 60.5% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 25.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 75.9% on time from 1,202 flights
- 8 AM: 87.7% on time from 309 flights
- 9 AM: 85.9% on time from 459 flights
- 10 AM to 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 74.7% on time from 239 flights
- 6 PM: 60.2% on time from 894 flights
- 7 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why TPA → SEA 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 TPA → SEA. 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 | 2,054 | 68.1% | 1.66% | 2 min | 7.0% |
| Delta Air Lines | 1,113 | 84.2% | 0.90% | -9 min | 4.8% |
Alaska Airlines flew 64.9% of the 3,167 flights listed.
Delta Air Lines arrived on time 16.1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| DL1090 Delta Air Lines | 9:05 AM | 780 | 85.6% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 8.1 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 80.2%
- Feb: 73.3%
- Mar: 72.8%
- Apr: 73.0%
- May: 66.2%
- Jun: 71.4%
- Jul: 66.1%
- Aug: 72.1%
- Sep: 73.8%
- Oct: 82.8%
- Nov: 85.1%
- Dec: 76.0%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 19.0 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 75.0% against 73.2% in the 12 months before — improving by 1.8 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,167 TPA → 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