The flight time from Chicago to Seattle is 4 hours, 30 minutes. See Data as Tables

Average Timeline

Leaves ORD Chicago, IL 1 minute early.
21 minutes taxiing out
3 hours, 56 minutes in the air
10 minutes taxiing in
Arrives SEA Seattle, WA 6 minutes early.

Flight Reliability By Airline ?

United
84%
Delta
83%
American
78%
Alaska
77%
Cancelled
Delayed*
Normal

Flight Summary

The flight time from Chicago to Seattle is 4 hours, 30 minutes. The time spent in the air is 3 hours, 56 minutes.

The flight distance from Chicago to Seattle is 1721 Miles.

Reverse Journey

Seattle to Chicago
3 hours, 57 minutes

Flight Time By Airline ?

United
4h 30m
Delta
4h 30m
Alaska
4h 30m
American
4h 32m
Taxiing Out
Air Time
Taxiing In

Flight Time by Time of Day ?

12AM06AM12PM06PM1h2h3h4h
Taxiing Out
Air Time
Taxiing In

Flights By Time of Day ?
(Average)

12AM06AM12PM06PM0.00.51.01.52.0

Flights Per Week

95

Distance

1721 Miles

Flights By Month ?

JFMAMJJASOND0200400

Flights By Day of Week ?
(Average)

MonTueWedThuFriSatSun051015

Flights By Airline ?
(Per Week)

Alaska
34
United
29
Delta
17
American
13

Frequently Asked Questions

How far is Chicago from Seattle by plane?

The distance from Chicago to Seattle by plane is 1721 Miles. This is the air distance on the most direct route taken by the vast majority of flights.

How long is the flight from Chicago to Seattle?

The flight time from Chicago to Seattle is 4 hours, 30 minutes. The time spent in the air is 3 hours, 56 minutes. These numbers are averages. In reality, it varies by airline with United being the fastest taking 4 hours, 30 minutes, and American the slowest taking 4 hours, 32 minutes.

What airlines fly from Chicago to Seattle?

American, United, Delta, and Alaska are the airlines with direct flights from Chicago to Seattle.

Does Southwest fly from Chicago to Seattle?

Southwest does not fly from Chicago (ORD) to Seattle (SEA). Keep in mind that Southwest may fly to other nearby airports, as they will often fly into smaller airpors instead of larger ones. This is because the costs are often lower to fly into smaller airports, and they pass the savings on to you.

Tables and Explanations

Data Source

Our information is computed from the latest available data from the US Department of Transportation.

Average Timeline Timeline Chart

The average timeline contains the median time a flight spends in 3 stages. The first of these three stages is taxiing out which includes the time from the flight leaving the gate to taking off. The second stage is in the air, which includes the time spent from the flight leaving the ground to touching back down at the end of it's journey. The last stage is taxiing in, which is from when the flight touches down to the flight arriving at it's gate.

The average timeline also estimates on average of when the flight will leave and arrive relative to it's stated departure time.

Leaves Chicago 1 minute early
Taxi Out Time 21 minutes
In the Air 236 minutes
Taxiing In 10 minutes
Arrives Seattle 6 minutes early

Flight Reliability Reliability Chart

The reliability of an airline measures how often the airline's flights on this route are cancelled or delayed more than 20 minutes. For example, from Chicago to Seattle, Alaska is 77% reliable, which means that Alaska flights are on time 77% of the time, and cancelled or delayed the remaining time.

Airline Normal Flights Arrival Delayed* Flight Cancelled
United 84% 15% 1%
Delta 83% 16% 1%
American 78% 21% 1%
Alaska 77% 22% 1%

Flight Time By Airline Flight Time By Airline Chart

Each airline takes a different amount of time to fly between Chicago and Seattle, this is due to different operational factors on the ground, as well as scheduling of planes. Each airline's flight time is split into three stages which are described above in the "Average Timeline" section. There are also miscellaneous operational issues which are included in the below total but are not accounted for in one of the three stages.

Airline Taxiing Out
(minutes)
In the Air
(minutes)
Taxiing In
(minutes)
Total
(minutes)
United 22 235 10 270
Delta 20 236 10 270
Alaska 22 236 10 270
American 21 236 12 272

Flights By Time of Day Flight Time By Day Chart

This one is pretty self explanatory, it represents the number of flights that leave the gate in a given hour of the day. The tricky thing here is that this is normally not a whole number since it is an average over 52 weeks. Partial numbers may indicate that a flight may be seasonal or may take off at different times due to different operational factors.

Time Count
7am 0.79
7pm 1.66
9pm 0.31
4pm 0.88
9am 1.22
3pm 0.54
8pm 0.63
11am 0
5pm 1.14
10am 0.46
2pm 1.05
11pm 0.01
6am 1.47
6pm 0.73
8am 1.14
1pm 1.45

Flights By Month Flights By Month Chart

The quantity of flights from Chicago to Seattle that take off in a given month of the year. This number changes because some flights are seasonal, and almost all flights have uneven demand througout the year.

Month Count
January 271
February 246
March 310
April 399
May 464
June 523
July 575
August 549
September 485
October 435
November 356
December 365

Flights By Day Of Week Flights By Day of Week Chart

The quantity of flights from Chicago to Seattle that take off on a given day of the week. Some routes only have enough demand to sustain a few trips a week, while others have many flights a day. This number is also an average across the year, and hence may not be a whole number.

Day Count
Monday 14.83
Tuesday 13.19
Wednesday 12.88
Thursday 14.46
Friday 14.46
Saturday 11.81
Sunday 14.1

Flight per Airline (per Week) Flights By Airline Chart

How many times an airline flies this route in a week. Different factors play into how often a carrier chooses to fly a given route including it's need to connect disparate routes, and demand.

Airline Flights per Week
Alaska 1
United 1
Delta 0
American 0

Flight Time By Time of Day Flight Time by Time of Day Chart

The total flight time varies by each hour of the day due to factors such as airport traffic. More flights leaving an airport may cause higher taxi in or taxi out times. See the description of the average timeline above for a deeper discussion of each of these times.

Time Taxi Out
(minutes)
In the Air
(minutes)
Taxi In
(minutes)
Total
(minutes)
7am 20 233 9 265
7pm 24 238 11 277
9pm 26 234 9 271
4pm 20 236 11 268
9am 22 235 11 270
3pm 21 238 10 271
8pm 23 234 10 271
11am 18 228 11 257
5pm 23 236 9 271
10am 20 235 11 268
2pm 20 237 9 269
11pm 29 252 8 290
6am 17 236 10 265
6pm 28 237 11 279
8am 23 236 11 274
1pm 21 234 9 267
* Delayed more than 20 minutes.
All data above is a median or mean as appropriate.