Flight recommendation time

[Drbaw5]

is there a flight recommendation time for Seattle? I can only find the recommended times for Vancouver and just curious if a 1:45 flight home from Seattle airport will work for us on departure day. We will be doing a one way car rental. We will not be staying additional days after the cruise in Vancouver or Seattle.

 

[MUN]

is there a flight recommendation time for Seattle? I can only find the recommended times for Vancouver and just curious if a 1:45 flight home from Seattle airport will work for us on departure day. We will be doing a one way car rental. We will not be staying additional days after the cruise in Vancouver or Seattle.

Wow! I wouldn't do that. If I remember, it's a 3 hour drive from Vancouver to Seattle, plus you have to spend time getting the car at the the port, returning the car at the airport, border delay, traffic delay and airport security and check in. I think you are cutting it way too close. How about spending a night in Seattle after the cruise and getting a flight the next day?

MUN

 

[swimfin]

is there a flight recommendation time for Seattle? I can only find the recommended times for Vancouver and just curious if a 1:45 flight home from Seattle airport will work for us on departure day. We will be doing a one way car rental. We will not be staying additional days after the cruise in Vancouver or Seattle.

If you have to fly home the same day 1:45 is risking it. As MUN mentioned, there's many things to take into condsideration and your biggest hurdle will be the border crossing back into the U.S. There is a website with average wait times, yet the times I've done that drive from Seattle to Vancouver and back, the Canadian side into the US border entry is always SUPER long! I'm sure others can share, yet I'd fly home at night if you have to fly home the same day as debarkation.

 

[travelbug08]

I don't know what day of the week you're looking at, but weekday traffic between Vancouver and Seattle can be awful. The wait at the boarder could be an hour and you may have an extra hour of driving time on top of that if traffic is bad. A typical time is 2.5-3 hr drive crossing with Nexus. On a bad day, we left Vancouver at 5am on a Tuesday and did not arrive at Sea-tac until 9:45.

 

[tlprice]

I used to live in Washington and it can easily take 3 hours to get from Everett to SeaTac alone (43 miles). That is the one thing I don't miss at all from Washington--the traffic! Whenever I go back to visit, I am always quickly reminded of why I don't live there anymore.

 

[Drbaw5]

Wow! I wouldn't do that. If I remember, it's a 3 hour drive from Vancouver to Seattle, plus you have to spend time getting the car at the the port, returning the car at the airport, border delay, traffic delay and airport security and check in. I think you are cutting it way too close. How about spending a night in Seattle after the cruise and getting a flight the next day?

MUN

Thanks for your input!

 

[Drbaw5]

If you have to fly home the same day 1:45 is risking it. As MUN mentioned, there's many things to take into condsideration and your biggest hurdle will be the border crossing back into the U.S. There is a website with average wait times, yet the times I've done that drive from Seattle to Vancouver and back, the Canadian side into the US border entry is always SUPER long! I'm sure others can share, yet I'd fly home at night if you have to fly home the same day as debarkation.

Thank you for the input.

 

[Drbaw5]

I don't know what day of the week you're looking at, but weekday traffic between Vancouver and Seattle can be awful. The wait at the boarder could be an hour and you may have an extra hour of driving time on top of that if traffic is bad. A typical time is 2.5-3 hr drive crossing with Nexus. On a bad day, we left Vancouver at 5am on a Tuesday and did not arrive at Sea-tac until 9:45.

It will be a Monday.

 

[Drbaw5]

Does anyone know what time we will debark the ship?

 

[Geomom]

Does anyone know what time we will debark the ship?

The earliest is around 8AM if you're bringing your own luggage off the ship (express walkoff). They want everyone off the ship by 10AM--so that would be the latest--that's if you had late dining, went to second breakfast, and were in one of the last groups of luggage to be called (if you had Disney take your luggage the night before.)

 

[elvispursley]

We live in Seattle and traffic going south from Everett on average is easily well over 90 minutes just to get into downtown (Seatac, depending on traffic, could easily be another 30 minutes outside of downtown)!! Traffic going southbound starts up around noon because they shut the express lanes down going south around 11:00, making traffic going into downtown (and towards the airport) AWFUL!!. You could potentially go I-405 and save a few minutes but frequently traffic going south is just as bad. I would be way stressed out (plus Seatac has notoriously long TSA lines in the summer). Good luck!!

 

[JenPinks]

That's a bit close, we are doing the same thing as you are except our flight leaves at 10:50pm.

 

[FigmentSpark]

We live in Seattle and traffic going south from Everett on average is easily well over 90 minutes just to get into downtown (Seatac, depending on traffic, could easily be another 30 minutes outside of downtown)!! Traffic going southbound starts up around noon because they shut the express lanes down going south around 11:00, making traffic going into downtown (and towards the airport) AWFUL!!. You could potentially go I-405 and save a few minutes but frequently traffic going south is just as bad. I would be way stressed out (plus Seatac has notoriously long TSA lines in the summer). Good luck!!

This is me being naive... why do they shut down the express lanes?

 

[elvispursley]

This is me being naive... why do they shut down the express lanes?

Ah--they can only go one direction at a time . This reeks hell on traffic, especially for days when there are baseball/football games in the city. So going southbound into the city, the express lanes are open going southbound to help "relieve" congestion for rush-"hour" going into the city. But at 11:00, they close the lanes for a short period of time, a DOT truck drives it to make sure no care is lurking somewhere in the lanes (portions are "double decker" and run under the main lines") and then will open back up around noon for northbound traffic. The lanes really do ease congestion for the direction they're running, but Seattle has a major infrastructure issue and it isn't feasible to build express lanes going in both directions. Oh, and I forgot to mention, that if one is driving around during the summer--expect road work to be happening on the freeways as a regular occurrence with lane closures (when you have rain 9 months out of the year, you have to take advantage of the good weather to work on the roads sometime)!! We will hopefully have light-rail up and running in the next few years, which will hopefully alleviate Seattle's horrific traffic epidemic (at least in parts of the city). Way more of an explanation that you wanted

 

[xlxo]

fyi.... Quick Shuttle has a 9am, 10am or 10:45am bus on their schedule to have you at the SeaTac around 1:30pm, 3:15pm, 4:25pm. I'll let other comment on how reliable they are to meet the schedule.

http://www.quickcoach.com/schedule.htm

 

[Drbaw5]

fyi.... Quick Shuttle has a 9am, 10am or 10:45am bus on their schedule to have you at the SeaTac around 1:30pm, 3:15pm, 4:25pm. I'll let other comment on how reliable they are to meet the schedule.

http://www.quickcoach.com/schedule.htm

Another option is a 2:55 departure flight. I haven't booked it yet but I'm leaning towards it. If quick shuttle can make it on a schedule then we should be able to by car, right? Or do they have some kind of priority at the border?

 

[xlxo]

Monday morning delays at the border should be minor. The bus does have a priority lane to the crossing, but then everyone on the bus needs to be processed by US border control. Unloading a full bus of luggage and reloading will take time. Contact Quick shuttle for advise on how close they make their SeaTac schedule and what is a comfortable time for an afternoon flight.

What time does one need to be at the airport preflight?

 

[Weedy]

Why not fly out of Vancouver?

 

[MunFam]

I also think you are cutting it too close. I have crossed through 4 different Canadian/US Crossings. As others mentioned, getting back in to the States takes FOREVER...and Im an American.

I guess the bigger question you need to ask yourself by trying to make an early afternoon flight..."what will we do if we miss our flight?" If you have status and booked a better category, you may be able to get on the next flight...if you book a cheap category, you may be out a $200 change fee per ticket or the tickets may be forfeited completely and you will have to buy new tickets. Also, will your tickets be covered on your travel insurance if you do miss your flight?

And the travel agent in me says...be aware that the airlines CAN change departure times...typically up to 90 minutes (earlier or later) without having to compensate you or put you on a different flight...and since airlines say to be there two hours early...it covers their tail when they make the change. You simply need to get your butt on that flight and there is nothing you can do about it unless you pay for a different flight. Occasionally, an airline will work with you...but sometimes they will not. We have status on Delta and they changed our flights on Thanksgiving day...it extended our layover by 3, so a 7 hour layover in Atlanta on THANKSGIVING...we left 90 minutes early...and then layover and then left 90 minutes late. We got a few days notice and that was it. I was pissed...I have an IATA and status and there was nothing they could do for me. They even oversold the flights...and well, you know how that can go.

 

[MUN]

Another option is a 2:55 departure flight. I haven't booked it yet but I'm leaning towards it. If quick shuttle can make it on a schedule then we should be able to by car, right? Or do they have some kind of priority at the border?

I remember it took awhile to get our rental car at the Vancouver terminal. It wasn't a big deal for us because we were spending 2 nights in Seattle prior to our flight back home. However, if I had an afternoon flight that day in Seattle, I would have been nervous. I also remember a big line of cars to cross the border back into the US and a huge line for security at the Seattle airport.