Sea-Tac horror stories

[smeck]

I've herd so many horror stories about Seattle/Tacoma airport. More specifically getting out of their on Sundays. I've herd it's a real zoo. I'm a bit concerned since American Air has changed my flight to a 11:50am departure time. Any input will be appreciated.

[FlyerTalker]

If you are a bit more specific about the information you want, I'll see what I can do.

 

Any airport can be a "zoo" under some conditions.

[smeck]

Talking about the line for security and porter check in. I've herd the lines are really long and it takes forever to get thru. Cruise air traffic taxing the airport beyond its capacity.

[FlyerTalker]

I am assuming that you are talking about a cruise that will end in Seattle. FYI, the distance from downtown to the airport is about 14 miles. As with any large influx of people, it's going to impact the system. I doubt if there is any airport that doesn't feel some effect when a cruise drops off one or two thousand pax dashing to leave town.

 

Checkin lines at curbside can be long, and there is not a lot of "depth" to the sidewalk, so the line can conflict with people heading inside. Often the lines inside go faster than the ones outside. Also, there is a $2/bag fee for curbside in SEA.

 

Use the ship's computer system to check-in online the day before your flight. With printed boarding passes, it's faster at the airport. Or use a kiosk check-in rather than an agent.

 

If you are on AA, you have a couple of advantages. AA only flies to ORD and DFW from SEA (along with one n/s to JFK). So there are fewer flights than on UA or AS, the two biggest carriers. Less likely to have the crowd at AA. AA also operates out of the new concourse A, and generally has shorter security lines.

 

If the flight times are really bad (and it was a significant change by AA) - call them and request a flight time that works for you. Those changes get made by a computer, and often you need human intervention to get them back to something that works. Be polite but firm, and if it really doesn't work, ask for your money back and book something else, with AA or elsewhere.

 

TIP: If you have a horrific line at security, try another checkpoint (there are three). Once past security, you can freely move to all concourse areas of the airport. This tip is mostly for folks on AS or UA, who get directed to the north checkpoint, and don't realize that they can use the center checkpoint or the south one.

[smeck]

Thank you very much for the detailed post. I appreciate the effort.

[kyriecat]

We were in Seattle last year for a vacation (not a cruise). When we arrived around 10 AM, the line through check in was horrible. It wrapped around the building. There was a sign up to allow at least 1 hour to get through security. We didn't realize at the time that the cruisers were heading home. When we were ready to fly home the next weekend, we arrived at the airport 3.5 hours before our flight, thinking it would be a mess again. It was around 2 PM. The crowds must have already flown out by then because it only took us about 15 minutes to checkin.

[pioneers]

I've herd so many horror stories about Seattle/Tacoma airport. More specifically getting out of their on Sundays. I've herd it's a real zoo. I'm a bit concerned since American Air has changed my flight to a 11:50am departure time. Any input will be appreciated.

 

It is horrible but I feel that in my case it was more the airline that the airport. I flew Delta (never again, I hope) and they are the most disorganized employees!!! They had us going from line to line. It was awful and I booked the flight myself and not through the airline. All I kept hearing from my husband and kids was, "Why didn't you book American Airlines?" They had small lines and quick service!

 

PS. My family still doesn't understand that I am not a travel agent!!!!:p

 

From that experience we now have decided to leave from any cruise a day later or more. The day I left SEA-TAC, several ships had passangers leaving. In our LONG LONG LONG line, there were passengers from NCL, Princess and Holland America. If you add the passengers, you can just imagine the mess!

[FlyerTalker]

TIP: Do an online checkin from the ship the day before. You can usually checkin 24 hours before your flight. This will give you a shot at changing your seats if anything has opened up, and you will have your boarding passes printed out. At the airport, you will NOT have to checkin - find the line that says something like "web checkin" or "xyz airline.com" or whatever the airline calls their online checkin. This is for luggage tagging/ID checking ONLY - since you already have your BP. Almost always a shorter process than waiting to get to the airport to handle everything.