SEAAirport Guide

Delayed or lost baggage at SEA: airline offices, phone lines and what to do first

Bag missing at SEA? The airport can't track it. Find your airline's baggage office by carousel, its phone line, and who to call when it isn't the airline.

A long row of unclaimed suitcases of many colors lined up along a wall in the baggage service area at Seattle-Tacoma airport.
Unclaimed bags, SEA

Still at the carousel without your checked bag? Tell your airline. SEA can’t see its tracking system. Start at your airline’s baggage office on the baggage claim level, or use its contact listed on the Port of Seattle’s airline baggage page.

Your first steps at baggage claim

  1. Find your domestic baggage carousel. SEA’s directory lists Alaska at Carousels 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 and 16. Delta’s are 2 through 6, Southwest’s are 10 and 11, and United’s is 9. Frontier’s is 7, Hawaiian’s is 2, and JetBlue’s is 3. Aer Lingus and Sun Country use Carousel 2, Air Canada uses 9, and American uses 13. Check your flight’s claim display before heading there. Our baggage claim guide has more on the claim area.
  2. If your bag hasn’t appeared, find your airline in the office table below. Tell its staff your flight and bag tag number. If you can’t find staff, use the airline contact on the Port of Seattle’s baggage page before you leave.
  3. Ask the airline to record the missing bag and give you a reference you can keep. Confirm the address and phone number it should use if the bag turns up. Ask how to check progress and what to do if you need essentials before delivery.

Keep the bag tag you showed the airline and any messages it sends. At baggage claim, show your airline any damage and ask how to report it.

Where are the airline baggage offices at SEA?

The Port of Seattle’s airport map identifies these airline baggage service offices on Level 3, the Main Terminal baggage claim level, before security. American’s office is by Carousel 16, while the Port of Seattle’s airport directory assigns its domestic bags to Carousel 13.

Airline Mapped baggage office Contact listed by the Port
Delta Air Lines By Carousel 6 800-325-8224
Air Canada By Carousel 9 1-888-689-2247
United Airlines By Carousel 9 1-800-335-2247
Southwest Airlines By Carousel 10 1-800-435-9792
Alaska Airlines By Carousel 14 1-877-815-8253
American Airlines By Carousel 16 800-433-7300

The Port of Seattle’s baggage contact list also includes Frontier, Hawaiian, JetBlue and international airlines. Don’t go to an airline’s departure gate or check-in counter on the assumption that it handles missing bags.

Can’t find the mapped office? Ask for directions at the information desk in the Gina Marie Lindsey Arrivals Hall near Checkpoint 1. It’s on the baggage claim level, before security.

International arrivals collect bags in the International Arrivals Facility at Claims 18 to 24. The airport map places the offices above on the Main Terminal claim level. If your bag is missing in the International Arrivals Facility, ask your airline’s staff where to report it or use the Port of Seattle’s contact list.

After you’ve reported the bag

Ask your airline for its claim deadline, delivery plans and what it will cover. Ask which receipts it wants for essentials you need before delivery.

If you need toiletries before leaving SEA, 7-Eleven is by Baggage Claim 15, before security. Our 7-Eleven listing gives its hours as 24 hours daily.

Urban Market also sells toiletries before security, by Bag Claim 7 on the Main Terminal baggage claim level. Our Urban Market listing gives its hours as 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

If the bag was left somewhere else

Last place you had it First contact
On the aircraft Your airline. The Port of Seattle says airlines handle items left on planes.
In the terminal or at a TSA checkpoint SEA Airport Lost and Found. File its free online report through the Port of Seattle’s page.
In an airport taxi Curbside Management at 206-708-6504, as listed on the Port of Seattle’s taxi lost-and-found page.
Contents missing from a checked bag Tell your airline. TSA’s lost-and-found page also covers items missing from checked baggage and explains its claim process for loss or damage during screening.

SEA Lost and Found is across from Carousel 13 on the baggage claim level, near Door 18. It opens daily from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Pacific and closes on Martin Luther King Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. Call SEA Lost and Found at (206) 787-5312. The Port of Seattle says checkpoint items reach that office the following business day. You’ll get a confirmation email right away, another update three days later, then weekly updates for a month. Staff contact you if they find a match. Don’t pay a third-party site to file a SEA lost-property report.

Sources