Seattle-Tacoma (SEA) has nonstop flights to around 140 destinations over the next twelve months, and ten of them are in East and Southeast Asia. San Francisco and Los Angeles reach more Asian cities, but every one on Seattle’s list is a shorter flight from Sea-Tac than from either of them. No airport in the lower 48 states has a shorter flight to any of the ten.
So for a group trip from different cities, a family reunion or a company offsite with people on both sides of the Pacific, Seattle often has the shortest crossing from the mainland. It is also the main way into Alaska from the lower 48. For a group entirely inside the US, it sits in the northwest corner of the map, and a central hub is usually fairer.
The numbers behind Sea-Tac
Sea-Tac has nonstop flights to around 140 destinations over the next twelve months. Figures are from Midway’s route data as of October 2026, counted for Sea-Tac alone and rounded to the nearest 5. Paine Field (PAE) in Everett, north of the city, also has scheduled flights, but Midway’s route data does not cover flights from it, so this guide covers Sea-Tac only.
Its list splits into around 100 cities in the US and around 40 outside it. The US side includes all four main Hawaiian islands (Honolulu, Maui, Kona and Lihue), each year-round on both Alaska Airlines and Delta. Outside the US, Canada has seven of the destinations and Mexico five.
Six of Sea-Tac’s destinations have no nonstop from any other US airport in Midway’s data. Four are small Alaska Airlines routes: Walla Walla and Yakima in eastern Washington, and Ketchikan and Sitka in southeast Alaska. The other two are Victoria in British Columbia, also on Alaska, and Chongqing in China, on Hainan Airlines.
Routes to Alaska and western Canada
Sea-Tac flies to five airports in Alaska: Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau and Ketchikan all year, and Sitka from May to September. No other airport outside Alaska has nonstops to more than two of them in Midway’s data, and no other airport in the lower 48 has a nonstop to Juneau or Ketchikan. So for a family reunion that includes someone in southeast Alaska, Seattle is usually the city they can reach without a change of plane.
Western Canada is the other short list. Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Edmonton and Kelowna all have year-round nonstops from Sea-Tac, mostly on Alaska, and Toronto runs all year on Air Canada and Alaska. Montreal runs only from May to September.
Routes across the Pacific
Sea-Tac’s ten Asian destinations all run in every month of the current schedules. They are Tokyo Narita and Haneda, Seoul, Taipei, Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing, Hong Kong, Manila and Singapore. Delta flies to five of them, Alaska to Narita and Seoul, and Asian airlines such as Korean Air, EVA Air, Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines cover the rest.
San Francisco (16), Los Angeles (15) and JFK (13) reach more cities in Asia. But every Asian city on Sea-Tac’s list is a shorter flight from Seattle than from San Francisco, by 5 to 80 minutes on the shortest schedule, and than from Los Angeles, by 35 minutes to about two hours. Tokyo Narita is about 10h10 from Seattle, Seoul and Taipei about 11h55, and Singapore about 16h20. The only US airports with shorter flights to any of the ten are Honolulu, Guam and Saipan, out in the Pacific.
Nothing in the data goes from Sea-Tac to South Asia, Oceania, South America or Africa. Vancouver (YVR), about 125 miles north across the Canadian border, reaches more than twice as many cities in Asia and Oceania, Delhi, Bangkok, Sydney and Auckland among them. The US–Asia meeting destinations guide covers the options on the other side.
Routes to Europe
Sea-Tac reaches 13 European cities. Seven run all year (London Heathrow, Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Munich, Reykjavik and Istanbul), while Athens, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Dublin, Helsinki and Rome run mostly in spring and summer. Alaska Airlines flies to five of them, including Athens, Rome and Reykjavik.
San Francisco and Los Angeles each reach more European cities, but every one Sea-Tac shares with them is a shorter flight from Seattle, by 30 to 100 minutes. Heathrow is about 9h25 from Seattle and Reykjavik about 7h30. Denver, further east, has a shorter flight to every European city it shares with Sea-Tac, and the East Coast is closer still, so for a group with most of its people in Europe the Boston guide is the better starting point.
Airlines at Sea-Tac
Alaska Airlines is listed on about four in five of Sea-Tac’s destinations and is the only airline on about three in ten. Delta is second, on a little under half, and on most of those routes Alaska flies too. Southwest has a shorter list, half of it in the West plus cities such as Chicago Midway, Baltimore and Nashville, while American and United fly mainly to their own hubs.
That puts Seattle closer to Atlanta, where Delta serves almost every route, than to Los Angeles, where no airline reaches half the list. So a group of Alaska or Delta flyers will find a long list of nonstops into Seattle, and someone loyal to United or American will often connect through one of that airline’s hubs.
See which destinations your group can reach from Seattle. Enter everyone’s departure airports and Midway lists the cities all of them reach nonstop. It does not cover Paine Field, so anyone flying from Everett should check that airport’s schedules.
Routes that change with the season
About one in seven of Sea-Tac’s destinations do not run in every month of the next twelve. The number running in any one month barely changes over the year. What changes is where the flights go.
Summer brings six of the European cities, Montreal and Sitka from May to September, and Houston Hobby from June to August. Winter brings Cancún, Belize City, Liberia in Costa Rica and Fort Myers, plus Vail and Hayden (for Steamboat Springs) from December to March.
So for a group date several months out, check the month before assuming a route exists. Midway’s month filter shows the destinations that run in the month you pick, and it cannot tell you whether an airline will add or drop a route after the schedules it has. Southwest’s flights to Chicago Midway and Dallas Love Field, for example, are not yet scheduled for September 2027, the last month in the data.
A worked example
Take a group flying from Atlanta, Tokyo Haneda and Anchorage. They share 14 destinations in Midway’s data, from Seattle, Vancouver and San Francisco to Minneapolis, Chicago, Honolulu and Frankfurt. Counted as total time in the air, Vancouver is the shortest at about 17h35 across the three flights, and Seattle is second at about 18h05.
Vancouver’s flight from Atlanta runs seven months and its flight from Anchorage five, so all three routes exist only from May to September. Seattle has all three in every month, and Delta flies all three. Its longest leg is about 9h05 from Haneda, against 8h50 to Vancouver and 9h20 to San Francisco, so outside the summer Seattle is the shortest option, with Minneapolis next at about 19h00.
See also: Seattle–Atlanta meeting points and Tampa–Seattle, or browse the full city-pair meeting points hub for every pair.
Flight times from Sea-Tac
Shortest scheduled time from SEA in Midway’s data:
| To | Flight time |
|---|---|
| Portland (PDX) | 0h 54m |
| Vancouver (YVR) | 1h 07m |
| San Francisco (SFO) | 2h 16m |
| Las Vegas (LAS) | 2h 30m |
| Denver (DEN) | 2h 39m |
| Los Angeles (LAX) | 2h 55m |
| Anchorage (ANC) | 3h 44m |
| Dallas (DFW) | 3h 50m |
| Chicago (ORD) | 4h 01m |
| Atlanta (ATL) | 4h 39m |
| New York (JFK) | 5h 19m |
| Boston (BOS) | 5h 19m |
| Honolulu (HNL) | 6h 10m |
| Reykjavik (KEF) | 7h 30m |
| London (LHR) | 9h 25m |
| Tokyo (NRT) | 10h 10m |
| Seoul (ICN) | 11h 55m |
| Taipei (TPE) | 11h 55m |
| Dubai (DXB) | 14h 15m |
| Singapore (SIN) | 16h 20m |
Times are the shortest monthly schedule over the next twelve months. Flights toward Seattle take a different time, mostly because of prevailing winds.
Planning a group meeting in Seattle
Getting around. Sea-Tac is south of the city, between Seattle and Tacoma. The Link light rail runs from the airport to downtown, Capitol Hill and the University District, so most of a group can reach a central hotel without a car. Amtrak Cascades trains from King Street Station reach Portland and Vancouver, and ferries cross Puget Sound to Bainbridge Island.
Seasons. From October to April Seattle is often grey and wet, and snow is rare but disruptive when it comes. Summers are mostly dry, and they also have the most European routes from Sea-Tac. From May to September Alaska cruise ships sail from Seattle, and their passengers fill downtown hotels around sailing days.
Budget. Seattle is rarely a cheap meeting city. Downtown hotels cost the most in summer and in cruise season. Staying along the light rail line, outside downtown, usually costs less and keeps the airport one train away.
Who meets in Seattle
Groups spanning the Pacific. The strongest case. Sea-Tac’s year-round Asian list covers Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Manila and Singapore, and each of those flights is shorter than from San Francisco or Los Angeles. The US–Asia meeting destinations guide covers the planning on both sides.
Groups with family in Alaska or western Canada. Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau and Ketchikan all have year-round nonstops to Sea-Tac, as do Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary and Edmonton. Amtrak and the ferries also let part of a Pacific Northwest group come without flying.
Groups spread across the US. It works for the West. For a group spread across the whole country, the East Coast half flies more than five hours each way, and a central city such as Denver or Chicago is probably fairer. The split-coasts offsite guide compares them.
Groups that include India or Australia. Sea-Tac has no route to either. San Francisco, Los Angeles or Vancouver reaches far more of Asia and Oceania, so a group with someone in Delhi or Sydney will probably meet there instead.
Seattle’s case rests on the Pacific and on Alaska. It does not settle Seattle against Vancouver, a short drive or train ride away across the border with a longer Asian list, so check both before picking.