Airport month record

SEAFEB

Seattle-Tacoma International in February 2026

Departures: 11,000
Month: February 2026
National, same month: 80.2%
Carriers: 8

Historical statistics for February 2026, not live status or a forecast for this year’s February. For today’s conditions at SEA, see live FAA status.

SEA in February earns a B+. More than four flights in five arrive inside the 15-minute window the DOT uses to define an on-time arrival, which puts it 4 points better than the national rate of 80.2%. When something does go wrong the average delay runs about an hour. That rests on 11,000 flights, of which American Airlines flew 422 at 88.4% on time.

American Airlines is the most reliable of the six carriers covered here at 88.4% on time across 422 flights.

On time

84.4%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 10,885 completed departures

Avg delay

56 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.78%

Nationally in February: 2.25%

Whole year

79.4%

SEA across all twelve months

These figures cover 11,000 departures from Seattle-Tacoma International in February 2026. On time means an arrival less than 15 minutes after the scheduled gate time, the DOT's threshold, and the national comparison uses every US departure in the same month rather than the whole year.

Against the year

February next to SEA's other months

Against SEA's own year, February ran 5 points better than the twelve-month rate of 79.4%, which makes it number two of twelve months, best first. Either side of it, January ran 81.6% on time and March 80.2%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse stretch.

SEA month by month
Month	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
July 2025	16,577	69.2%	57 min	1.38%	C
August 2025	15,970	73.6%	51 min	0.66%	C+
September 2025	14,552	82.9%	50 min	0.29%	B+
October 2025	13,859	82.9%	58 min	1.16%	B
November 2025	12,616	81.9%	58 min	1.69%	B
December 2025	13,023	74.0%	59 min	1.02%	C
January 2026	11,927	81.6%	60 min	1.91%	B
February 2026 (this page)	11,000	84.4%	56 min	0.78%	B+
March 2026	12,830	80.2%	64 min	2.23%	B
April 2026	12,864	85.6%	56 min	0.17%	A+
May 2026	14,564	82.2%	52 min	0.41%	B+
June 2026	15,402	78.1%	57 min	0.48%	B+

Departure window

The best time of day to leave SEA in February

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 10 points, against 7 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am1,300 flights90.9%
8am–11am2,405 flights86.3%
11am–2pm2,267 flights82.6%
2pm–5pm1,509 flights81.9%
5pm–8pm1,651 flights80.9%
8pm–5am1,868 flights84.8%

Scale runs 70% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 90.9% of the time, against 80.9% for the evening window. That is 10 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 8am–11am window is the busiest, with 2,405 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 87.6% on time and Monday the weakest at 80.7%. 7 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at SEA in February

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. American Airlines arrives on time 88.4% of the time; Delta Air Lines manages 81.6%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 2,233 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at SEA in February 2026
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Alaska Airlines	5,325	84.3%	49 min	0.58%	B+
Delta Air Lines	2,233	81.6%	56 min	1.39%	B
SkyWest Airlines	1,952	86.5%	69 min	0.61%	A+
United Airlines	476	88.1%	108 min	1.26%	A
Southwest Airlines	473	82.9%	46 min	0.00%	B+
American Airlines	422	88.4%	50 min	1.18%	A
Frontier Airlinesthin sample	79	82.1%	140 min	1.27%	B
Envoy Airthin sample	40	95.0%	22 min	0.00%	A+

American leads Delta by 7 points. Real, but small enough that a better departure time on the weaker carrier can outweigh it.

Route by route

Busiest routes out of SEA in February

Routes from SEA in February 2026
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
SEA to PHX · Phoenix	565	85.8%	64 min	0.35%	A+
SEA to LAX · Los Angeles	554	82.6%	53 min	0.18%	B+
SEA to SFO · San Francisco	480	74.3%	67 min	1.04%	C
SEA to LAS · Las Vegas	415	82.9%	45 min	0.24%	B+
SEA to ANC · Anchorage	414	79.7%	42 min	0.24%	B+
SEA to DEN · Denver	403	85.1%	70 min	0.00%	A+
SEA to GEG · Spokane	400	88.4%	60 min	0.25%	A+
SEA to PDX · Portlandthin sample	361	87.0%	62 min	0.00%	A+
SEA to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	344	88.0%	41 min	0.29%	A+
SEA to SJC · San Josethin sample	342	84.5%	44 min	0.00%	B+
SEA to SAN · San Diegothin sample	306	81.6%	38 min	0.33%	B+
SEA to ORD · Chicagothin sample	300	92.3%	50 min	0.67%	A+
SEA to BOI · Boisethin sample	294	86.7%	49 min	0.00%	A+
SEA to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample	294	83.8%	50 min	0.34%	B+
SEA to SNA · Santa Anathin sample	282	89.6%	60 min	0.71%	A+
SEA to SMF · Sacramentothin sample	281	85.0%	58 min	0.00%	A+
SEA to HNL · Honoluluthin sample	231	60.9%	97 min	1.30%	D
SEA to ATL · Atlantathin sample	191	91.1%	63 min	0.52%	A+
SEA to JFK · New Yorkthin sample	181	89.2%	49 min	8.29%	A−
SEA to EUG · Eugenethin sample	174	87.9%	74 min	0.57%	A+
SEA to FAI · Fairbanksthin sample	168	86.2%	66 min	0.60%	A+
SEA to PSP · Palm Springsthin sample	166	82.2%	45 min	1.20%	B
SEA to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample	158	88.0%	54 min	0.00%	A+
SEA to MCO · Orlandothin sample	157	92.9%	67 min	0.64%	A+
SEA to OGG · Kahuluithin sample	140	72.1%	50 min	0.71%	C+

Delay causes

What held SEA up in February

One category carries most of the weight here. Carrier accounts for 53% of the 95,000 delay minutes carriers reported, and the remaining four split what is left. The split is by minutes rather than by flights, so a few very long delays count for as much as many short ones.

Carrier
53%
Late-arriving aircraft
21%
National Airspace System
21%
Extreme weather
6%
Security
0%

The largest share of delay minutes, 53%, falls under carrier control: crew scheduling, maintenance, fuelling, baggage. Unlike weather, that is a management outcome, and it is the category where the gap between two carriers on the same schedule is genuinely earned. It accounts for 50,000 of the 95,000 delay minutes reported here. The split is drawn from 95,083 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.78%, below the national 2.25% and low enough to earn the plus on the grade. Roughly one flight in 100 is called off; the risk here is arriving late, not not arriving.

Badly late arrivals are rare here: only 3.9% land an hour or more behind schedule, against 6.5% nationally. Connections built on this flight are about as safe as US domestic connections get, though a cancelled flight still ignores every layover you give it.

What to do with this

Flying from SEA in February

For a February trip through SEA: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 84.4% on time with 0.78% cancelled. That is a base rate for the month as a whole; a single storm can still spoil a particular day.

Seattle-Tacoma International (SEA), the whole year
SEA in July69.2%
SEA in August73.6%
SEA in September82.9%
SEA in October82.9%
SEA in November81.9%
SEA in December74.0%
SEA in January81.6%
SEA in March80.2%
SEA in April85.6%
SEA in May82.2%
SEA in June78.1%

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, July 2025 to June 2026. Last updated 15 September 2026; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.

Key figures