Seattle Airport review by Alex George

5 April 2008   Customer Rating :

Immigration is smooth and hassle free. But coming out of the airport is terrible. The baggage claims are so confusing and the luggage carts are not free. You better carry US$3 in hand or travel with a companion. When I went alone I could neither get $3 change from some body nor any body is willing to look after luggage till I get change. This is ridiculous.

Seattle Airport review by L Pyne-Mercier

17 January 2008   Customer Rating :

Seattle residents pride themselves for being open to people and ideas from around the world. However, visitors arriving at Sea-Tac Airport could be forgiven for thinking otherwise. The airport has a terrible and confusing international arrivals system. In most airports, international visitors go through the following three steps on arrival - passport control, baggage claim, customs. Due to poor planning by the Port of Seattle, passengers arriving here need to go through several additional steps - passport control, baggage claim, customs, dropping bags on a second conveyor belt, riding an underground train to the main terminal, walking a distance to reclaim luggage and carrying luggage up and down escalators to reach the taxi stand. To make matters worse, while free luggage carts are initially made available to international visitors (a common courtesy in most airports), visitors are left to try to find US currency to rent luggage carts when they reclaim their luggage. This is most inhospitable to visitors who might lack US currency on arrival. At this point, there is little to do to remedy the situation, save to congratulate the Port of Seattle and its architects for a job very poorly done.

Seattle Airport review by Aden Hayes

4 December 2007   Customer Rating :

Just back from a mileage run that included SEA. Was there at 10:30 pm (mostly closed, but not nearly as closed as SAT at the same time), and again at 6 am. First, airport hotels. LOTS of them (a dozen or more) conveniently located on a single strip just outside the airport. Good deals on Priceline. I paid $60 at the Doubletree. You could actually walk to the hotels if you didn't have a lot of luggage, but the shuttles run frequently. Easy system for shuttles -- all on the same ring road through the airport. In the airport. Earlier comment that arrival / departure screens were few. I found the same thing -- you have to wander quite a ways to get your travel information. TSA was TSA. Here friendlier than EWR and JFK, but so are most provincial cities. There was an elite line that was barely working. Sleepy agent not interested in whether you are elite or not. Anyone who shows up can go through the elite line. What I liked: good shops (the Washington State souveniers store has nice things, there's a good bookstore) and food (Ivars open at 7 am for some excellent chowder). Airport is clean. What I didn't like: CO President's Club was a cracker box with nowhere to sit, even at 7 am. Should have checked out Alaska Air, but didn't have time.

Seattle Airport review by David Cox

11 September 2007   Customer Rating :

In transit from Calgary to Tokyo. A very disappointing airport. Very hard to find anywhere that accepted Canadian dollars. No wifi access in the terminal, although I was told that if you sit just outside the NWA business class lounge, you can sometimes get access.

Seattle Airport review by M Blanck

2 September 2007   Customer Rating :

Many airports much smaller than this one have taken the trouble to install "moving sidewalks" to increase both speed and comfort while transferring from one concourse to another for a connecting plane. SEA-TAC, instead, requires that we walk the equivalent of several city blocks, and even climb some little hills to remind us that we are, indeed, in Seattle, toting "carry-on" bags that are sometimes rather heavy. This gets old in a hurry! In the absence of moving sidewalks, couldn't they at least have trams stationed at each concourse to take people to the other concourses, and treat this as a normal way of moving from one part of the airport to another? (They do have a few little carts, generally used by handicapped people, but I'm talking about "mass transit"; i.e., trams parked in obvious places, ready for boarding by anyone - no matter how able-bodied.)

Seattle Airport review by M Sullivan

6 June 2007   Customer Rating :

SeaTac has been my home airport for about a year. Compared to other domestic US airports, SEA is probably one of the better ones I've been to. Concourse A, having been recently renovated, is modern and has plenty of shopping and restaurants. I mostly fly jetBlue and Delta out to JFK so this is the concourse where I spend most of my time. Concourses B, C, and D are older and more 1970s-like, but are serviceable and decent enough. Getting to the satellite concourses is a bit of a pain with the underground tram and all, but the good news there is that you don't have to exit/re-enter security to get there. Getting there and parking however are nightmares. The access road into the airport is being torn up to make way for light rail into Seattle. Not as bad as the Van Wyck into JFK, but expect long waits during peak travel times. Also, there is no reasonable on-airport long term parking lot. Instead, you have to park inside the upper levels of the parking garage across from the terminal and pay $22/day. Most opt to park off- airport for about $10/day depending on the lot.

Seattle Airport review by Giuseppe Gigliello

1 February 2007   Customer Rating : n/a

Arrived from Milan, via Heathrow. I found the belt system to get you baggage from South satellite to the terminal quite tricky. I had to roam in the Terminal for several minutes in order to find a screen telling me which belt to search for my belongings. Other thing is departing for a domestic flight, such as SEA-ATL as I experienced. Really quick procedures, nice and polite staff at the security screenings and especially at the check-in desks (Delta), very neat airport, good choice of food. It's also well provided by the king County public transportation system and not so far from downtown. Quite an agile airport to depart from.

Seattle Airport review by Jorgen Aberg

29 May 2006

I think Walter Mellon is too harsh on Sea-Tac airport. I arrived in SEA on a flight from Europe (travelled in economy) last week. Mind you, the immigration officer was not Mr Congeniality, but it was very quick. After the 5 minute wait for immigration, my bag was waiting for me at the conveyor belt. I had a domestic transfer, and there were several helpful people who made sure my bags were transferred. I would be thrilled if all US airports handling international flights were as smooth and efficient!

Seattle Airport review by Walter Mellon

24 October 2005

My home city is Seattle, and I frequently (7x/year) travel to Europe, and sometimes to Asia. Whenever possible I try to go through a decent international gateway airport such as SFO or EWR. The TSA and Immigration/Customs in SEA are by far the most offensive (and this is a tough standard) that I have seen anywhere in the US. These people DO vary from city-to-city. In Seattle (unlike the residents, who are generally quite nice) these folks are in some kind of Third Reich timewarp. Topping it off is SEA's unchallenged record as the slowest place to retrieve checked baggage. And as an international arrival, after waiting over 45 minutes for your bag, and getting treated like a criminal by Customs and sniffed by dogs, you have to GIVE UP YOUR BAGS again for another conveyor ride to nowhere. Amazingly despite having to take the mini-subway and a substantial walk through palatial empty new corridors with 80-ft ceilings, you STILL HAVE TO WAIT TEN MINUTES to get your bags. SEA is semi-tolerable for domestic flights, do whatever you can to avoid international travel in this unpleasant place.

Seattle Airport review by Masaki Oda

11 October 2005

B McDonald wrote about the design flaw of SEA-TAC. My comment is similar to his. I often make UA Int'l to UA domestic connection at Seattle which involves transfer from South Satellite (Where US Immigration and Customs are) to North Satellite. While it is not unusual for someone to switch terminals (like SFO, LAX or ORD), the same airline (UA) connection involves three airtrain rides. (the south satellite to the south side of the Main, the south side to the north side of main, and the north side of the main to the north satellite). This is always a painful moment in Seattle specially when the connection is tight. Can the airport authority make it simpler?

Seattle Airport review by B McDonald

1 September 2005

The SeaTac airport, as it is called by locals, is full of design flaws from the 1960s and 1970s, and is a very complicated venue to navigate, especially when one is renting a car. On my flights with Air Canada incoming from Vancouver and outgoing to Toronto, I used the N terminal both times. The N terminal is very outdated and not clean whatsoever. It has a depressing atmosphere, stenching water closets, and insufficient dining outlets. To reach the main terminal to claim bags from N, passengers must take a Subway train. While it proves to be an efficient mode of transportation, there is definitely not adequate signage. Many passengers were confused as to where to get off and on. Furthermore, after bombings in the London Underground on 7th July, I cannot say that I feel particularly safe on any Subway anywhere, whether an airport or a large metropolitan area. Baggage claim is the most poorly designed that I have ever seen. First off, there are too many belts, and few of them are being used. With so many belts, it is necessary to have screens which inform passengers of which belt a particular flight's luggage can be found on. For our particular flight, the information was incorrect. The bags are dropped from a high level, and then tumbled down to the conveyor belt. If a passenger had any fragile articles, I am sure that they would be easily broken. Furthermore, the baggage cart system does not have sufficient instructions and I wasted $2 because it did not prompt me to push the cart out of the rack. The car rental process was by far the most complicated affair at SeaTac. After waiting in line for 25 minutes to deal with the single Avis agent, we had to find our gray Cadillac. This involved taking a glass elevator to the lower level, crossing the Skybridge into the parking garage, and then taking another elevator up to the rental car area. It seemed redundant to have to go down an elevator and then up an elevator. When returning home to Canada via the SeaTac airport, we were shocked that there were only two Air Canada agents checking passengers in for one 120-person flight and one 50-person flight. Fortuanately, due to our status with Air Canada, the United agent was able to assist us (as the flight that we were taking to Toronto, AC542, is code-shared with United). Had we not had this privilege, I sincerely believe that we would have missed the flight. This is because one must trek through the piteously disorganised airport after having checked in, through security and then onto the gate. Seattle is a city with many distinguished features that tourists enjoy, whether its location on the lovely Puget Sound or its gateway to Alaskan cruises. However, it needs to have a much more updated, fashionable, and logically-designed airport to appeal to me.

Seattle Airport review by Padraic Rowan

24 August 2005

Flew to Seattle from Chicago MDW with Southwest in July. It was very quiet when we disembarked the airplane, and it was easy to see where we were going. The bags were through in no time, and we were out of the airport in fifteen minutes. On our way back, we went through security very efficiently and spent some time in the main area, with a very large glass window and high ceilings. It was busy, but it didn't feel crowded. We then made our way to the gate and were onboard in no time. It was an easy airport to navigate around, and it had a great atmosphere.

Seattle Airport review by Chanson Kinney

13 April 2005

Seattle is my home city. The airport is under a massive renovation, which will be complete... eventually (around may/June '05). All of the concourses can be reached, once through security, without leaving the security area again/ The new A concourse (delta, frontier, american, ATA, independence air, southwest..etc) is very nice with many restaurants, but is very large and if you happen to be flying Delta you will be at the very end. It also has local artwork and very very high ceilings, which make you feel almost like you are outside. The B and C concourses (Alaska/Horizon, southwest, continental, america west) are merely okay. they have been renovated but arent as nice as the A concourse and get cramped during peak times, but they both have a nice assortment of restaurants and shops and are very easy to navigate. The D Concourse (alaska) is probably the worst terminal because of its lack of space and the fact that so many flights depart from it. There are a few restaurants but they get very crowded easily so i would recommend buying food elsewhere. The S concourse (northwest, Alaska/Horizon (international), British airways, asiana, EVA, Korean, china airlines (taiwan) , SAS, Aeroflot... etc) This is the international terminal and is also used for all northwest flights. It is like terminals B and C and has a nice assortment of shops and restaurants. It doesnt get very crowded because the flights are few and far between but there is not much to do so if you have a lot of time dont go out there although the trains are convenient and you can travel between hee and the manin terminal with ease. The N concourse (United, US airways, JetBlue) This is mainly used by united although Us airways and JetBlue operate out of here too. This terminal is almost exactly like the S concourse although it does have a nice massage parlor if you need one between flights. The main terminal at SEA is being remodeled and will be finished around may 2005. This new terminal will connect all of the concourses and will have many local shops and restaurants including Anthony's, Starbucks, Ivars, and many others. It will be much the same design as the A concourse and Will have large glass windows and great views of the Horizon air gates. When this (the pacific marketplace as it is also called) opens the airport will feel much more put together and less of a work in progress. One place to stay away from is the Check in counters. They get very crowded due to the TSA screening machines in the waiting areas so expect to be crowded especially during peak times. Overall Seatac will be a very nice airport when completed but until May wont be a good representation of the beautiful city it is in.

Seattle Airport review by M Moore

15 February 2005

Seattle's SeaTac airport is a work in progress. When I moved to Seattle in 2003 from Portland, I was disappointed by the airport here. Portland's PDX is a jewel: it's beautiful, comfortable, tidy, and convenient; plus, the restaurants are outstanding and there are very good shopping options (what's not to like about browsing an outpost of the famous Powell's bookstore while you're waiting for your flight?). SeaTac, though? Something of a mess. The confusion begins on SR 518, because it's easy to misread the exit sign for the access road, end up in the wrong lane, and find yourself lost in suburbia. The weird spiral parking garages are all right, as architectural excrescences go, but again, it's not always clear how to get to the skybridges connecting them with the terminals. How many airports were designed to keep passengers from actually finding them? Again, better signage would be helpful here. Inside, one's first impression is "dark and cavernous": given how much of the year Seattle's skies are grey, more effort should have been put into bringing light into this area. You go either upstairs to the check-in counters (not bad), or downstairs to baggage claim (the layout's sensible but it's just too dark). Once you've checked in, your experience largely depends on which terminal your flight departs from; some are better than others. The new South Terminal exemplifies everything SeaTac ought to be: light, airy, roomy, and there are good places to eat. More seating is needed, though. The other terminals are pleasantly drab. Overall, they're quite clean (and the renovated restrooms are a big step in the right direction) but the restaurants and shops offer very little, and the lack of seating and electrical outlets is problematic. Service to domestic destinations is good (being the base of Alaska Airlines, one of the US's best carriers, is a nice bonus). However, international flights are limited for a city of this size and stature; there ought to be more service to Mexico, Asia, and Europe. Granted, the Port's renovation projects will do much to

Seattle Airport review by M Johnson

7 February 2005

Current food concession options behind security at SeaTac are very poor. If you anticipate having to wait out a connecting flight for a few hours, it would be wise to check out your eating options before getting on the plane bound for Seattle. The airport is working on a new food area in the central terminal behind security but that project appears to be many months away from opening. Even when this opens, it will be a very long walk from the ends of the A, B, C and D concourses, where most of the gates are located. The Port of Seattle and Seattle in general wants to offer itself up as a "with-it" location. SeaTac Airport really misses the boat.

Seattle Airport review by R Hill

8 December 2004

One positive thing about the new South Terminal at SEATAC is variety of food vendors (Manchu Wok) and low prices. The airport vendors were required to have prices competitive with their other locations. The rest of the airport has until late 2005 before they have to lower their prices to normal.

Seattle Airport review by H Nguyen

14 November 2004

The South Terminal of SEA feels more like a bus station than it does an airport. The customs process from immigration to luggage claim to re-checking luggage is frustratingly disorganized and further aggravated by unhelpful airport staff (of which there was 1). Transiting through SEA is not much of an experience, because there isn't much offered to passengers. Being the first time flying to SEA, I honestly thought that the city would have an airport befitting of the beauty of the city. I was wrong.

Seattle Airport review by G Ignacio

19 July 2004

Like most other US airports, SEA-TAC pays little regard to passenger comfort and convenience. The new South terminal is light and airy, though with not much to offer in terms of food and shopping - there are three places to buy food and a couple of newstand-type stores. SEA offers adequate service but don't expect much if you're coming from one of the nice airports in Europe or Asia. One thing to note is that curbside departure level always has bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Seattle Airport review by M Devor

8 December 2003

Sea-Tac is a very nice airport and am surprised by some of these comments. Someone said security is lax - lines for security were terrible and security here is now intense. Bring a book and prepare to wait in line forever.  The airport itself is quite nice, efficient, and attractive. Everything is under one roof and with modern trains to/from some of the gates. The negative, since 9/11, is all the TSA crap all over the place. There were previously decent seating areas near the check in counters. Those have now all been removed for the TSA monster machines. Lines for check in chaotic and walking through the terminal I was bumping into people - there is just no standing room. The airport is one big construction site, so we should be patient. Once you are airside it works great. Good airport hotels, most notably the Doubletree with a great view of the planes. Prices could come down and customs officers could be friendly. Hint, go via Vancouver and do a pre-clear in Canada.

Seattle Airport review by M Hartt

20 October 2003

Flew into SEA over the summer coming from the East Coast (DCA-ORD-SEA) and was unimpressed, to be honest. Airport was dark, overly crowded, baggage claim area had no markings that day to indicate which luggage was where, and had huge piles of luggage just sitting around on the floor, etc. Leaving SEA had a red-eye scheduled for 11:30pm (left more like 12:30am, US Airways' fault). The entire terminal was dead, the little store was open but there was no real food to be had, just chips and 2.50$ bottles of soda. Not a horrible airport, but just very underwhelming.

Seattle Airport review by Kate Hewitt

11 September 2003

I must agree with the comments by Jeffrey Sarver about Sea-Tac. After a long tiring flight, via London, from the Middle East, maybe I was just being over-emotional, but the exceptionally rude customs and immigration staff really got to me! I have no problems with extra security, and welcome it, in fact, but the rude manner in which I was searched, and spoken to, made me wish I had never chosen to holiday in the US. I have read in the forum where people have complained about rude service in Dubai, Bahrain, Doha, Abu Dhabi, etc, but I have never experienced the same level of discourteous behavior in any of these airports. The airport itself was adequate, if slightly old and grubby looking. If not for friends nearby, I would not fly into/out of Seattle again, and may choose Portland instead, as I understand this is a much nicer, friendlier airport.

Seattle Airport review by R Warner

3 July 2003

I've come and gone from the Sea-Tac airport since I was a kid some 25 years ago. It was the first place I ever saw pay toilets, which I am pleased they no longer have :) Seriously, though, it is a crowded airport at all hours. I've been there early in the morning through late at night and it's always busy and crowded. The cafes close too early for the most part. But, there is always something open. I like the family bathrooms. They are small, but private. The last time I was there was a year ago and everything was under construction. I remember one experience I had last June (2002). They had two buses running to shuttle us to the terminal. I had just flown in from Pittsburgh and there were probably 200 people on our flight, so we had to pack like sardines onto the bus. I was on the last bus, with the flight crew. That was inconvenient. Security is fairly lax, as in most of the larger airports. I thought it was funny, though, when boarding a flight when I had a bottle of water I'd purchased at the gift shop and the security guard had me take a drink to make sure it wasn't anything toxic. That's the only thing they did as far as security.

Seattle Airport review by Jeffrey Sarver

25 June 2003

There are a wide variety of US airlines serving Seattle and several international carriers. The airport itself is large but convenient with many pleasant waiting areas. It has a particularly "northwest" feel about it being made of what appears to be stone (really textured cement I expect) but leaving one with the sense of sitting amongst pillars of rock. The two satellite terminals (one for United and one for Northwest, both also used by international carriers as well) are easily accessed by a clean and frequent-running monorail (underground), a very efficient means of transportation between terminal building and gateside. The staff are generally friendly. The restaurants and such amenities that the traveller requires are outstanding. The shops are very good, some of them offering rather expensive "northwest" and "native" artwork, not just the usual airport junk. The baggage claim area is huge and easy to manoever through and the parking garages are just across the road, reached by over-head walkways, covered so you don't get wet. SeaTac is one of the very best airports I know and I would use it without hesitation to transit between Europe and Asia if one is going in that direction. An overnight (or two) in Seattle would be a very attractive plus to that itinerary. I recommend those of you tired of those extremely long trips from London to the Far East to consider BA to Seattle, then JAL to Tokyo and beyond. The jet-lag is less killing flying east I've found. The only snag to this airport, as it is at all US airports now, is the officious Federal employees who often-enough do their best to make one feel like your back in the USSR! Well, it's only the USSA but it's still annoying. If you're going to frisk me...SMILE. Not SeaTac's fault however.

IMPORTANT NOTE