Traveling through Sea-Tac Airport this holiday season? Prepare for mass crowds
Dec 20, 2024, 6:11 AM
Travelers wait in line for their flights at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. (Photo: Stephen Brashear, Getty Images)
(Photo: Stephen Brashear, Getty Images)
‘Tis the season for big crowds at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac).
More than two million passengers are expected to go through the airport between now and Jan. 2, with Friday being the busiest day as more than 172,000 people either arriving, departing or connecting at Sea-Tac are expected. While this won’t be a record holiday travel season, 2024 is expected to be a record year overall with more than 52 million passengers.
“Little bit more than we saw last year in 2023, but about 5% below what our record numbers were in 2019,” Perry Cooper, Senior Manager of Media Relations with the Port of Seattle, said. “But for those of us that are travelers going through the airport, you’re not going to notice the difference. It’s just a number. It’s still going to be busy.”
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Sea-Tac is encouraging drivers to use the south entrance off International Boulevard and 182nd Street for faster access. The airport also has the SEA Spot Saver to reserve a security line spot, and has numerous public transportation options to get passengers to the airport.
“Getting here early is always the biggest thing,” Cooper said. “A lot of folks are aware that we’ve opened up a big section on the north end of the terminal, so really excited for that.”
Cooper also recommends flyers to arrive two hours early before a domestic flight and three hours before an international flight. Sea-Tac is additionally offering 90 minutes of free parking in the general parking lot Dec. 20-27 to help alleviate the airport congestion. The free parking window runs from 8 p.m. to midnight.
“It’s going to look like, in the long run, that the pandemic was just a bump in the road,” Cooper added. “Maybe a dip in the road is the better description.”
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More information on SeaTac, including travel tips this holiday season, can be found on its relaunched website.
Contributing: Frank Lenzi, KIRO Newsradio
Frank Sumrall is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read his stories here and you can email him here.
