SEAAirport Guide

Currency Exchange at Seattle Airport: Whether to Use the Booths

SEA has three ICE booths with conflicting hours. Online rates show a $30.51 gap per $100; the Link fare into Seattle is $3.

The curved glass front of the International Arrivals Facility at Seattle-Tacoma airport.
International Arrivals Facility, SEA

ICE’s three SEA booths buy and sell foreign notes. If you need dollars after landing, you’ll find ATMs before security.

Find the right booth

The Port of Seattle’s airport map, its Explore SEA directory and ICE give different hours for the three booths.

Booth on the Port of Seattle’s airport map Port of Seattle map hours Port of Seattle’s Explore SEA hours ICE office hours
Delta Ticketing, before security Daily, 5:15 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. 7:15 a.m. to 8:45 p.m. Daily, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Near Gate A3, after security Daily, 9:15 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. 9:15 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Daily, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Near Gate S1, after security in the S Concourse Daily, 9:15 a.m. to 8:45 p.m. 7:15 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Daily, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

All three listings agree on 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The early and late hours are less certain, especially at ticketing and S1. Don’t count on them without checking the ICE office page or calling 206-248-0401.

ICE places its ticketing booth beside Checkpoint 2. Its A booth is by Gates A4 and A5. In S, look across from duty free. If you are still outside security, use the ticketing booth. For the A booth, Checkpoints 1, 2 and 3 are closest to A and S. Checkpoint 1 opens from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m., Checkpoint 2 from 4 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Checkpoint 3 from 4 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. If those are closed, Checkpoint 4 is open 24 hours. All checkpoints give access to all gates. After screening, walk toward A3. For S1, take the SEA Underground Blue Line from A Station or B Station to S Station.

Decide before you join the line

Leaving SEA and need foreign notes? ICE lists Canadian dollars, euros, pounds and more than 60 currencies, but its online rate page doesn’t offer a purchase order for every currency shown. Canadian dollars, euros, pounds, yen and Mexican pesos have an Order option. Argentine pesos, Belize dollars, East Caribbean dollars, Honduran lempiras, Israeli shekels, Moroccan dirhams, Nepalese rupees, Nicaraguan córdobas, Trinidad and Tobago dollars and Tunisian dinars are listed without a purchase Order option. Several invite you to ask for an email when the currency returns. Check the page for your currency before going to the booth.

An online reservation has no reservation fee. Order on ICE’s site and collect your currency at the booth before you travel. If you’d rather buy at the counter, ask what you’ll receive after any fees. ICE says counter and phone rates can differ from its online rates.

Arriving with foreign notes? ICE’s rate page also quotes what it pays when you sell foreign notes. Ask for the dollar amount after any counter fees before you hand over the notes.

Only need dollars? The Port of Seattle maps 12 ATMs. Eight are past security. The ATM listing includes two machines at baggage claim, one by Bag Claim 3. Another sits behind Delta check-in on the ticketing level. Wings Financial has an ATM at the AOB mezzanine. The Port of Seattle’s airport map labels the other machines US Bank. Already through security? A Concourse has ATMs by Gates A5 and A9. You’ll find others by B1 and D2. N10 and S3 have one each. The Central Terminal has one by Hudson and another by Sub Pop near the C and D exit. There is no ATM by the C gates.

The examples below use ICE’s online Click & Collect rates, before any counter fee. The first amount is the approximate rate equivalent of $100. The last column shows what ICE’s posted buyback rate would pay for that amount.

Currency $100 at the online rate Selling that amount back pays
Canadian dollars C$120.21 about $69.49
Euros €74.72 about $69.49
British pounds £64.08 about $69.49
Japanese yen about ¥13,348 about $69.49
Mexican pesos Mex$1,521.44 about $69.49

That’s a gap of about $30.51 per $100, or 30.5% of the original dollars, before any counter fee. These are examples from the posted online rates, not a promise of what a booth will quote.

Heading into Seattle? From baggage claim, find carousel 16 and go up one floor to the skybridge level. Cross Skybridge 6, then turn left through the parking garage on Level 4 to SeaTac/Airport Station. The adult one-way fare on Sound Transit’s Link is $3. Our Link light rail guide shows how to pay and which stop to use downtown.

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