Return Flight From Seattle WA

[time11130]

Hello fellow Cruisers - 

Looking into Flights for our June Cruise to Alaska and can only find return flights that leave the airport at 10am.  Is this calling it too close?  Generally we book flights departing after 12:00 but we cannot find one anywhere near us on any airline :(

[Jam0610]

Grew up in Seattle. With traffic on a normal day, no way you make a 10:00 am flight.

We are also cruising to Alaska in July. Booked my return flight to Kansas City, leaving at 1:00 pm.

 

 

 

[Diver2014]

 I also lived in Seattle.  No way would I try to make a 10am flight. SeaTac is at the opposite end of the city from the piers.

If you get off early enough and had a ride that took you thru the back roads such  as Hwy 509 or 99 instead of I-5,  you still have to wait in the long TSA lines at SeaTac.  We almost missed our flight last September but a sympathetic TSA agent let us cut in after we waited in the wrong line for ages.  You didn't specify where you are flying to so can't offer much help in finding alternatives.

[TRadle]

We ended up flying out the next day.  There is an inexpensive hotel near the airport with a shuttle.  That made for a stress free end to our cruise.

 

[blackshirt]

I’ll defer to those who live or have lived there but if it’s a weekend when traffic isn’t so bad and you do self walkoff, I would think you could make it. We disembarked on a Saturday and didn’t even do self walkoff and were at the airport by 9am, our flight was at noon. We took an Uber. One thing to consider, though, you won’t be able to take advantage of the free luggage valet service.

[Tree_skier]

4 minutes ago, blackshirt said:

I’ll defer to those who live or have lived there but if it’s a weekend when traffic isn’t so bad and you do self walkoff, I would think you could make it. We disembarked on a Saturday and didn’t even do self walkoff and were at the airport by 9am, our flight was at noon. We took an Uber. One thing to consider, though, you won’t be able to take advantage of the free luggage valet service.

Alaska out of Seattle in June is Friday to Friday.  Weekday traffic will be in effect.  I have flown out of Seattle many many times. There is no way I would chance a 10  am flight on Debarkation day. The prospect that you will miss your flight is very very high. Stay the night if you can, you won't regret it.  Flight out on Saturday is probably cheaper than Friday so that will mitigate some of the extra expense if you can afford the time.

[time11130]

Thanks everyone for your advice.  We finally decided to just pay an arm and a leg and get a better flight.  The only seats that were available were in First Class and although we really didn't want to spend the extra money for First Class I would rather do that then to worry about not making a flight at the end of our cruise.   Now off to look for a Hotel.... :)  

[Tulsacoker]

Thanks for the thread. We are in the same boat (pun intended) for our Sept 4-11 cruise

[psuboater]

Came to say the same. If you had CLEAR, Pre Check and did self walk off, I think you could do it but you're not giving yourself any time for delays. This would be cutting it close. 

I know you said you've booked another flight already, but for those who are looking.

 

It's about a 25-45 minute uber trip from the port, depending on time of day and day of the week. Weekend mornings don't tend to get too bad before 10am. If you're arriving at any other day of the week besides Saturday or Sunday, expect a 40 minute minimum drive to the airport.

 

TSA PreCheck can be up to 30 minutes long, General Screening can be up to a hour. Summer is always worse than winter here - I've seen General Screening back up into the check-in counters, and they are not that close to the front of the line. If you have CLEAR, you're adding 10 minutes on time at the most. Also keep in mind that check-in luggage times cut off 45 minutes-1 hour before take off -- and I've never been able to do a cruise with a carry on 🙂

 

I would only chance it with self-disembarkation and TSA Precheck + CLEAR to take a 10am flight and that you have to have a lot of luck on your side. Unfortunately for you East Coasters, your next flight after the morning flights are usually a red-eye. 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 28, 2020 by psuboater

[sheridan318]

Tradle would you mind if we asked for the name of hotel? as we are from Australia and doing Japan to Seattle next year

thanks

[waterbug123]

On 1/26/2020 at 4:04 PM, time11130 said:

can only find return flights that leave the airport at 10am.

 

On 1/28/2020 at 2:50 PM, time11130 said:

 decided to just pay an arm and a leg and get a better flight.  The only seats that were available were in First Class

 

What is your home airport?   I find it difficult to believe that ALL economy seats are sold out this far in advance.  I'm guessing you are applying some additional parameters to your search that you aren't sharing, (as above, when you said there were no flights after 10am, and obviously they were, but they simply weren't within your search parameter of a particular price)

Are you perhaps insisting on only one particular airline?  Or insisting on only nonstop flights from Seattle to City X?