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The flight time from Seattle to Chicago is 3 hours, 56 minutes. See Data as Tables

Average Timeline

Leaves SEA Seattle, WA 2 minutes early.
19 minutes taxiing out
3 hours, 22 minutes in the air
13 minutes taxiing in
Arrives ORD Chicago, IL 5 minutes early.

Flight Reliability By Airline ?

United
86%
Delta
81%
American
80%
Alaska
79%
Cancelled
Delayed*
Normal

Flight Summary

The flight time from Seattle to Chicago is 3 hours, 56 minutes. The time spent in the air is 3 hours, 22 minutes.

The flight distance from Seattle to Chicago is 1721 Miles.

Reverse Journey

Chicago to Seattle
4 hours, 31 minutes

Flight Time By Airline ?

American
3h 54m
United
3h 55m
Delta
3h 57m
Alaska
3h 58m
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
35
United
29
Delta
17
American
13

Frequently Asked Questions

How far is Seattle from Chicago by plane?

The distance from Seattle to Chicago 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 Seattle to Chicago?

The flight time from Seattle to Chicago is 3 hours, 56 minutes. The time spent in the air is 3 hours, 22 minutes. These numbers are averages. In reality, it varies by airline with American being the fastest taking 3 hours, 54 minutes, and Alaska the slowest taking 3 hours, 58 minutes.

What airlines fly from Seattle to Chicago?

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

Does Southwest fly from Seattle to Chicago?

Southwest does not fly from Seattle (SEA) to Chicago (ORD). 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 Seattle 2 minutes early
Taxi Out Time 19 minutes
In the Air 202 minutes
Taxiing In 13 minutes
Arrives Chicago 5 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 Seattle to Chicago, American is 80% reliable, which means that American flights are on time 80% of the time, and cancelled or delayed the remaining time.

Airline Normal Flights Arrival Delayed* Flight Cancelled
United 86% 13% 1%
Delta 81% 19% 0%
American 80% 19% 1%
Alaska 79% 21% 0%

Flight Time By Airline Flight Time By Airline Chart

Each airline takes a different amount of time to fly between Seattle and Chicago, 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)
American 16 201 14 234
United 18 202 12 235
Delta 21 201 13 237
Alaska 21 202 13 238

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
10am 1.45
10pm 0.79
6am 1.01
0am 0.46
4pm 0.04
7am 1.99
11pm 1.37
7pm 0
6pm 1.06
5am 0.16
2pm 0.58
8am 0.55
12pm 0.82
5pm 1.15
11am 1.06
9am 0.03
1pm 1.07

Flights By Month Flights By Month Chart

The quantity of flights from Seattle to Chicago 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 282
February 259
March 311
April 398
May 460
June 519
July 566
August 551
September 483
October 435
November 357
December 366

Flights By Day Of Week Flights By Day of Week Chart

The quantity of flights from Seattle to Chicago 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 14.42
Tuesday 13.08
Wednesday 12.96
Thursday 14.58
Friday 14.83
Saturday 11.83
Sunday 14.21

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)
10am 19 203 17 241
10pm 18 199 8 227
6am 19 202 15 238
0am 14 200 9 225
4pm 18 201 9 229
7am 20 203 14 239
11pm 16 201 7 226
7pm 22 198 6 226
6pm 20 200 8 230
5am 15 198 14 228
2pm 21 204 19 247
8am 22 203 17 246
12pm 23 203 21 250
5pm 20 200 8 229
11am 22 201 16 242
9am 24 203 12 241
1pm 17 202 23 244
* Delayed more than 20 minutes.
All data above is a median or mean as appropriate.