SEAAirport Guide

Picking Someone Up at SEA: Cell Phone Lot, Arrivals Drive and Garage

Wait free in SEA's cell phone lot (2623 S. 170th St, 200 spaces, 20-minute limit). The arrivals drive is busiest 8 p.m. to midnight. The garage is $8 an hour.

A car with its trunk open and hazard lights on at the arrivals curb at Seattle-Tacoma airport at dusk.
Arrivals curb, SEA

Wait in the free cell phone lot at 2623 S. 170th Street, then drive to the arrivals drive when your passenger has their bags and texts you a door number. The lot has 200 spaces and a 20-minute limit, so pull in when the wait is short, not at touchdown.

Cell phone lot, garage or curb

Where Cost How you meet Pick it when
Cell phone lot Free Your passenger texts when the bags are in hand The wait fits inside the lot’s limit
General Parking garage $8.00 an hour You park, cross a skybridge and meet in the arrivals hall The wait might run long, as an international arrival can

The cell phone lot

The lot sits directly across from the S. 170th Street exit of the Airport Expressway, and its Wi-Fi is free. Doug Fox Parking, a paid lot, has a nearby address at 2626 South 170th Street, so put 2623 in your map.

The Port’s rules for the lot:

  • Stay with your vehicle.
  • Sitting in the car past the limit, or leaving it unattended past the limit, makes it an unauthorized vehicle. The Port tows unauthorized vehicles 24 hours a day at the owner’s expense.
  • A taxi, a ride-app car or any commercial use is unauthorized. If your passenger is taking Uber or Lyft, our app rideshare page shows where those rides meet.

For a lot pickup:

  1. Get the flight number and follow it on the Port’s Dropping Off/Picking Up page, which has an arrivals search and links a Meeting International Arriving Passengers page.
  2. Ask your passenger to text when they’re heading to baggage claim.
  3. Pull into the lot then.
  4. Have your passenger text a door number once they have their bags.
  5. Drive to that door. The Port says passengers are picked up outside baggage claim.

If the wait runs past 20 minutes, move to the garage and pay by the hour instead of risking a tow.

The arrivals drive and its busy hours

Arrivals is the lower drive, on the baggage claim level. The Port says it’s often congested from 8 p.m. to midnight, and traffic also rises around weekends, holidays and summer travel. Text your door number early on those evenings, since every car is competing for the same curb.

Accessible loading zones have blue signs at least every 100 feet on both drives. The entire Arrivals Drive has a zero curb. If your passenger needs help, call the Ground Transportation Information Booth at (206) 787-5906.

Meeting inside from the garage

General Parking is on garage floors 1 to 3 and 5 to 8. Floor 4 is Reserved Parking, a separate product. Sensors and LED lights show which stalls are open. Pay at the exit lanes, or with a card at the pay machines on Floor 4. General Parking costs $37 a day or $222 a week, per our General Parking listing.

The skybridges cross from garage Level 4 into the terminal, one level above baggage claim. Go down one level, then wait in the Gina Marie Lindsey Arrivals Hall, near Checkpoint 1 on the baggage claim level.

To meet an arrival past security, the free SEA Visitor Pass lets people who aren’t flying that day go through Checkpoint 4. Apply online on the day or up to seven days ahead. The Port issues 300 passes a day, first come, first served, with entry from 5 a.m. and last entry at 9 p.m. Don’t request one to meet an unaccompanied minor. Arrange that pickup with the airline.

You can wait with a coffee or snack on the main terminal’s baggage claim level, before security. Starbucks (Baggage Claim) at Bag Claim 6 is listed daily from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Urban Market at Bag Claim 7 is listed daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. 7-Eleven at Baggage Claim 15 is listed open 24 hours daily.

Meeting an international arrival

Bags come out at carousels 18 to 24 in the International Arrivals Facility. Passengers exiting to Seattle head left after passport control and take the ramp down into the main terminal. The Port’s video names that spot as where friends and family meet. The Gina Marie Lindsey Arrivals Hall is at the very south end of the baggage claim level, near the international airlines. Search “International Arrivals Meeting Point” on the airport’s interactive map for directions. The airport’s map places Door 00 near the international arrivals exit. Passengers arriving from Dublin or from Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, Toronto or Vancouver clear U.S. passport control before they fly, and the Port says they can be met at their arrival gate instead.

For a passenger using the facility, ask for two texts: one when bags are in hand and one after passport control. One commenter under the Port’s video warned it’s a long walk from the gate. If you use the lot for this arrival, pull in after the second text.

An international passenger comes out 60 minutes or more after landing

For passengers using the International Arrivals Facility, the Port says clearing U.S. Customs and Border Protection typically takes 60 or more minutes. It can take longer when several flights arrive at once. Track the flight online or in the flySEA app to see whether its passengers are still in customs or have just landed.

Sources

Pages on this site:

Official pages:

Traveler video:

  • Port of Seattle, “International Arrivals at SEA | A Step-by-Step Guide” and its comments