The flight time from Detroit to Seattle is 4 hours, 46 minutes. See Data as Tables

Average Timeline

Leaves DTW Detroit, MI 1 minute early.
16 minutes taxiing out
4 hours, 17 minutes in the air
11 minutes taxiing in
Arrives SEA Seattle, WA 13 minutes early.

Flight Reliability By Airline ?

United
100%
Delta
91%
Alaska
85%
Cancelled
Delayed*
Normal

Flight Summary

The flight time from Detroit to Seattle is 4 hours, 46 minutes. The time spent in the air is 4 hours, 17 minutes.

The flight distance from Detroit to Seattle is 1927 Miles.

Reverse Journey

Seattle to Detroit
4 hours, 11 minutes

Flight Time By Airline ?

Delta
4h 45m
Alaska
4h 50m
United
5h 12m
Taxiing Out
Air Time
Taxiing In

Flight Time by Time of Day ?

12AM06AM12PM06PM1h2h3h4h5h
Taxiing Out
Air Time
Taxiing In

Flights By Time of Day ?
(Average)

12AM06AM12PM06PM0.00.51.01.52.0

Flights Per Week

39

Distance

1927 Miles

Flights By Month ?

JFMAMJJASOND050100150200

Flights By Day of Week ?
(Average)

MonTueWedThuFriSatSun0246

Flights By Airline ?
(Per Week)

Delta
29
Alaska
9
United
0

Frequently Asked Questions

How far is Detroit from Seattle by plane?

The distance from Detroit to Seattle by plane is 1927 Miles. This is the air distance on the most direct route taken by the vast majority of flights.

How long is the flight from Detroit to Seattle?

The flight time from Detroit to Seattle is 4 hours, 46 minutes. The time spent in the air is 4 hours, 17 minutes. These numbers are averages. In reality, it varies by airline with Delta being the fastest taking 4 hours, 45 minutes, and United the slowest taking 5 hours, 12 minutes.

What airlines fly from Detroit to Seattle?

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

Does Southwest fly from Detroit to Seattle?

Southwest does not fly from Detroit (DTW) 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 Detroit 1 minute early
Taxi Out Time 16 minutes
In the Air 257 minutes
Taxiing In 11 minutes
Arrives Seattle 13 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 Detroit to Seattle, Alaska is 85% reliable, which means that Alaska flights are on time 85% of the time, and cancelled or delayed the remaining time.

Airline Normal Flights Arrival Delayed* Flight Cancelled
United 100% 0% 0%
Delta 91% 8% 1%
Alaska 85% 14% 1%

Flight Time By Airline Flight Time By Airline Chart

Each airline takes a different amount of time to fly between Detroit 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)
Delta 15 255 11 285
Alaska 18 260 10 290
United 18 255 39 312

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
9pm 0
5pm 0
8pm 0.41
12pm 0.99
8am 0.98
11am 0.01
7am 0.37
7pm 0.91
6am 0.25
6pm 0.42
3pm 0.11
4pm 1.1

Flights By Month Flights By Month Chart

The quantity of flights from Detroit 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 139
February 116
March 141
April 138
May 171
June 224
July 238
August 223
September 200
October 157
November 144
December 154

Flights By Day Of Week Flights By Day of Week Chart

The quantity of flights from Detroit 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 5.92
Tuesday 5.23
Wednesday 5.25
Thursday 5.87
Friday 5.94
Saturday 5.1
Sunday 6.02

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
Delta 1
Alaska 0
United 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)
9pm 22 272 6 300
5pm 11 262 32 305
8pm 15 255 11 283
12pm 15 254 13 285
8am 17 258 12 288
11am 16 253 26 295
7am 18 255 10 285
7pm 17 259 11 289
6am 13 252 12 279
6pm 16 261 10 292
3pm 18 264 7 294
4pm 15 256 11 284
* Delayed more than 20 minutes.
All data above is a median or mean as appropriate.