The flight time from Washington to Seattle is 5 hours, 39 minutes. See Data as Tables

Average Timeline

Leaves IAD Washington, DC 1 minute early.
18 minutes taxiing out
5 hours, 7 minutes in the air
10 minutes taxiing in
Arrives SEA Seattle, WA 10 minutes early.

Flight Reliability By Airline ?

Alaska
87%
United
86%
Delta
79%
Cancelled
Delayed*
Normal

Flight Summary

The flight time from Washington to Seattle is 5 hours, 39 minutes. The time spent in the air is 5 hours, 7 minutes.

The flight distance from Washington to Seattle is 2306 Miles.

Reverse Journey

Seattle to Washington
4 hours, 52 minutes

Flight Time By Airline ?

Alaska
5h 38m
United
5h 38m
Delta
5h 40m
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

43

Distance

2306 Miles

Flights By Month ?

JFMAMJJASOND0100200

Flights By Day of Week ?
(Average)

MonTueWedThuFriSatSun0246

Flights By Airline ?
(Per Week)

Alaska
16
United
16
Delta
9

Frequently Asked Questions

How far is Washington from Seattle by plane?

The distance from Washington to Seattle by plane is 2306 Miles. This is the air distance on the most direct route taken by the vast majority of flights.

How long is the flight from Washington to Seattle?

The flight time from Washington to Seattle is 5 hours, 39 minutes. The time spent in the air is 5 hours, 7 minutes. These numbers are averages. In reality, it varies by airline with Alaska being the fastest taking 5 hours, 38 minutes, and Delta the slowest taking 5 hours, 40 minutes.

What airlines fly from Washington to Seattle?

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

Does Southwest fly from Washington to Seattle?

Southwest does not fly from Washington (IAD) 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 Washington 1 minute early
Taxi Out Time 18 minutes
In the Air 307 minutes
Taxiing In 10 minutes
Arrives Seattle 10 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 Washington to Seattle, Alaska is 87% reliable, which means that Alaska flights are on time 87% of the time, and cancelled or delayed the remaining time.

Airline Normal Flights Arrival Delayed* Flight Cancelled
Alaska 87% 13% 0%
United 86% 13% 1%
Delta 79% 19% 2%

Flight Time By Airline Flight Time By Airline Chart

Each airline takes a different amount of time to fly between Washington 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)
Alaska 18 306 10 338
United 18 306 10 338
Delta 16 310 10 340

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
8am 0.91
10pm 0.25
5pm 1.96
6pm 0.66
7pm 0.51
4pm 0.07
7am 1.36
12pm 0.19
9am 0.2

Flights By Month Flights By Month Chart

The quantity of flights from Washington 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 131
February 127
March 154
April 150
May 183
June 234
July 257
August 279
September 242
October 219
November 145
December 129

Flights By Day Of Week Flights By Day of Week Chart

The quantity of flights from Washington 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 6.31
Tuesday 5.94
Wednesday 6.1
Thursday 6.31
Friday 6.4
Saturday 5.85
Sunday 6.37

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 0
United 0
Delta 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)
8am 17 306 11 338
10pm 17 301 8 327
5pm 20 309 10 343
6pm 18 307 10 339
7pm 18 307 11 342
4pm 22 304 8 335
7am 15 308 10 337
12pm 18 301 10 331
9am 17 300 11 333
* Delayed more than 20 minutes.
All data above is a median or mean as appropriate.