Airport month record
SEAOCT
Seattle-Tacoma International in October 2025
- Departures
- 13,859
- Month
- October 2025
- National, same month
- 79.7%
- Carriers
- 10
Historical statistics for October 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s October. For today’s conditions at SEA, see live FAA status.
SEA in October lands a B, 3 points better than the national rate of 79.7%. About one flight in six arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by about an hour on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 13,859 flights, of which SkyWest Airlines flew 2,532 at 89.5% on time.
SkyWest Airlines is the most reliable of the six carriers covered here at 89.5% on time across 2,532 flights.
Key figures
On time
82.9%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 13,674 completed departures
Avg delay
58 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
1.16%
Nationally in October: 0.53%
Whole year
79.4%
SEA across all twelve months
These figures cover 13,859 departures from Seattle-Tacoma International in October 2025. 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
October next to SEA's other months
Against SEA's own year, October ran 4 points better than the twelve-month rate of 79.4%, which makes it number four of twelve months, best first. Either side of it, September ran 82.9% on time and November 81.9%, so this month sits in line with its neighbours.
| 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 (this page) | 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 | 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 October
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 13 points, against 15 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,551 flights91.5%
- 8am–11am3,108 flights83.4%
- 11am–2pm2,586 flights80.7%
- 2pm–5pm2,159 flights80.8%
- 5pm–8pm2,074 flights78.1%
- 8pm–5am2,381 flights85.0%
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 91.5% of the time, against 78.1% for the evening window. That is 13 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 3,108 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 88.7% on time and Friday the weakest at 76.5%. 12 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at SEA in October
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. SkyWest Airlines arrives on time 89.5% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 74.4%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 626 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska Airlines | 6,181 | 79.8% | 51 min | 2.22% | B |
| Delta Air Lines | 2,780 | 83.9% | 66 min | 0.36% | B+ |
| SkyWest Airlines | 2,532 | 89.5% | 57 min | 0.20% | A+ |
| United Airlines | 796 | 87.2% | 67 min | 0.25% | A+ |
| Southwest Airlines | 626 | 74.4% | 44 min | 0.16% | C+ |
| American Airlines | 573 | 86.2% | 55 min | 0.17% | A+ |
| Hawaiian Airlinesthin sample | 155 | 77.1% | 133 min | 1.29% | B |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 121 | 80.5% | 172 min | 2.48% | B |
| JetBlue Airwaysthin sample | 50 | 86.0% | 183 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 45 | 82.2% | 84 min | 0.00% | B+ |
The spread between SkyWest and Southwest is 15 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 15 more arrivals inside the on-time window.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of SEA in October
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SEA to LAX · Los Angeles | 614 | 86.1% | 70 min | 1.30% | A |
| SEA to PHX · Phoenix | 599 | 79.5% | 57 min | 0.50% | B+ |
| SEA to SFO · San Francisco | 584 | 73.0% | 61 min | 1.20% | C |
| SEA to DEN · Denver | 557 | 83.2% | 48 min | 0.72% | B+ |
| SEA to ANC · Anchorage | 553 | 76.7% | 51 min | 1.63% | B |
| SEA to ORD · Chicago | 496 | 81.1% | 53 min | 0.60% | B+ |
| SEA to LAS · Las Vegas | 487 | 76.2% | 82 min | 2.46% | B |
| SEA to GEG · Spokane | 451 | 89.0% | 57 min | 0.89% | A+ |
| SEA to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 442 | 82.2% | 58 min | 0.68% | B+ |
| SEA to PDX · Portland | 428 | 88.0% | 35 min | 0.70% | A+ |
| SEA to SJC · San Jose | 392 | 84.5% | 47 min | 1.02% | B |
| SEA to SMF · Sacramento | 375 | 84.9% | 45 min | 0.80% | B+ |
| SEA to SLC · Salt Lake City | 365 | 85.6% | 62 min | 1.37% | A |
| SEA to SAN · San Diegothin sample | 348 | 75.4% | 48 min | 2.30% | B |
| SEA to SNA · Santa Anathin sample | 341 | 82.0% | 57 min | 1.76% | B |
| SEA to BOI · Boisethin sample | 333 | 91.6% | 55 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SEA to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 295 | 85.2% | 85 min | 1.02% | A |
| SEA to JFK · New Yorkthin sample | 273 | 75.9% | 66 min | 1.83% | B |
| SEA to HNL · Honoluluthin sample | 248 | 77.6% | 90 min | 1.21% | B |
| SEA to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 230 | 91.2% | 45 min | 1.30% | A |
| SEA to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 227 | 72.4% | 66 min | 0.88% | C+ |
| SEA to PSC · Pascothin sample | 213 | 84.4% | 50 min | 0.94% | B+ |
| SEA to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 206 | 81.3% | 58 min | 1.46% | B |
| SEA to ONT · Ontariothin sample | 200 | 87.9% | 69 min | 1.00% | A |
| SEA to OAK · Oaklandthin sample | 178 | 79.7% | 42 min | 0.56% | B+ |
Delay causes
What held SEA up in October
One category carries most of the weight here. Carrier accounts for 50% of the 135,000 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.
- 50%Carrier
- 26%Late-arriving aircraft
- 21%National Airspace System
- 4%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
The largest share of delay minutes, 50%, 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 68,000 of the 135,000 delay minutes reported here. The split is drawn from 135,182 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 1.16% against a national 0.53%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.17%.
Badly late arrivals are rare here: only 4.5% land an hour or more behind schedule, against 6.3% 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 October
For a October trip through SEA: expect 82.9% on time and 1.16% cancelled, going by October 2025. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.
Related
Where to go next
- Seattle-Tacoma International (SEA), the whole year
- SEA in July69.2%
- SEA in August73.6%
- SEA in September82.9%
- SEA in November81.9%
- SEA in December74.0%
- SEA in January81.6%
- SEA in February84.4%
- 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.