Layover and connection guides

What you can do with the time between flights at SEA: how long a connection really needs, how to move between concourses without leaving security, what a long layover can hold, and what to do when the connection is tight. Each guide answers one of those questions.

Looking for the listings themselves? They are on the Connecting flights page.

• A two-hour layover at SEA: what you can do

  Stay airside: the Link ride downtown is 39 minutes each way. What fits in two hours at each concourse, and which gates need the train.

  • Why leaving the airport doesn’t pay off
  • Check your gate first: A to D walk, N and S ride
  • What fits, concourse by concourse
  • Extras that fit in two hours
  • If your first flight lands from abroad
• An Eight-Hour Layover at SEA: Going Into Seattle by Link, Hour by Hour

  The adult Link fare is $3 each way, and the ride to Westlake takes 39 minutes. Plan the return train, security and bags before leaving SEA.

  • What the window holds
  • Decide at SEA, with your onward flight in view
  • Set the return train before the outbound train
  • Decide what to do with your bags
  • Go from baggage claim to Westlake
  • Where to spend the hours
  • Back at SEA
• Can You Leave Seattle Airport on a Layover? Bags, Security, Time

  Check your entry and baggage arrangements before leaving SEA. Link takes 39 minutes to Westlake. Allow for the station walk, train wait and security.

  • What the trip costs in minutes
  • Sort out your bags before you exit
  • Take Link into downtown
  • Find your gate
  • Sources
• Five Hours at Seattle Airport: Ride Link Downtown or Stay Airside

  Link takes 39 minutes to Westlake. Check the return train and security time before choosing downtown over SEA's food, lounges and quiet rooms.

  • Settle the gate before you settle in
  • Eat while you still have a choice
  • Spend the middle stretch on art and a walk
  • Find quiet without mistaking it for a bed
  • Is a lounge worth paying for?
  • Would leaving SEA be worth it?
• Getting between concourses at SEA: walk or train, every pair

  Walk between A, B, C and D at SEA. For N and S, find the right Underground line and station for your concourse pair.

  • Walking from A to D
  • Taking the train to N or S
  • If your connection has a complication
• How long a connection to book at Seattle airport

  Allow at least three hours after an international arrival at SEA. See the security and train moves your connection needs.

  • If both flights are domestic
  • Arriving from abroad takes a different route
  • When your connection starts to slip
  • Sources
• International to domestic connection at Seattle airport

  Landing at SEA from abroad and flying on? Collect bags, clear passport control, recheck, then screen again. Allow three hours.

  • First, check where you cleared U.S. passport control
  • Collect your bags, then meet CBP
  • Turn right for bag recheck
  • Clear security again and find your gate
  • If the connection is going wrong
  • Sources
• Overnight layover at Seattle airport

  Overnight at SEA: find a place to rest, compare hotel shuttles, or ride Link downtown before the last train.

  • What each choice costs
  • Stay airside: where to rest
  • Take a hotel when the night is long
  • If you’re connecting from an international flight
  • Going downtown: last train, night bus, taxi
  • Sources
• Quiet places at Seattle airport without a lounge

  SEA's sensory rooms are after security and open 4 a.m. to 12 a.m. See routes from each concourse and a place open after midnight.

  • Which sensory room can you reach from your gate
  • How to get in
  • When the rooms are closed
  • Other spaces, and what each one gives you
  • If another page sends you somewhere else
  • If you need sleep, not only quiet
  • Sources
• Things to do at Seattle airport

  What to do at SEA by concourse: shops, food, the Lookout at C, spa and quiet rooms, plus art, sleeping and a 5-hour layover.

  • How long you have decides the plan
  • Art: what the Port says and what travelers saw
  • Central Terminal: the widest choice
  • A Concourse: the calm one
  • B Concourse: planes close to the glass
  • C Concourse has the Lookout
  • D has fewer shops than A
  • N Concourse: the satellite with the shops
  • S Concourse: a short list
  • Where to rest, and where you can’t sleep
  • Flying early? What’s open at 4 a.m.
  • Before security, the choices are few
  • Five hours or more: stay, or ride downtown
  • Sources
• Which concourse is my airline at SEA?

  Alaska uses C, D and N at SEA. Delta uses A and B. United and Southwest use B. Check your gate before choosing a checkpoint.

  • Find your airline
  • Airlines on more than one concourse
  • Reaching your concourse
  • Where to check in
  • Connecting from an international flight
  • Sources