Best time to fly out of Seattle Paine (PAE)
Seattle Paine did not fly enough departures in this window to split the day into time bands. Not enough flights to say. A percentage needs at least 100 flights behind it before it is worth printing; anything thinner is noise wearing a decimal point. These are historical odds, not forecasts. The records say what happened on this schedule over three years; they know nothing about tomorrow’s thunderstorm.
Data through June 2026 · Bureau of Transportation Statistics
On-time rate by hour and day
On this page, “on time” means a departure that pushed back less than 15 minutes behind its scheduled time — the Bureau of Transportation Statistics definition, and the one airlines are held to.
| Departure time | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before 6am | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 6–8am | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 8–10am | 91 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 10am–12pm | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 12–2pm | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2–4pm | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 4–6pm | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 6–8pm | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 8–10pm | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 10pm–12am | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
Not enough flights to say — fewer than 100 in this window.
The year at PAE
July was the hard month at PAE: 80.2% of departures left on time, across 174 flights. April was the easy one at 91.2%. Each month pools three years of that month, so a single bad week does not decide it.
| Month | Share departures that left on time | Flights |
|---|---|---|
| January | 83.6% | 368 |
| February | 87.4% | 368 |
| March | 86.7% | 430 |
| April | 91.2% | 374 |
| May | 90.7% | 228 |
| June | 87.9% | 232 |
| July | 80.2% | 174 |
| August | 81.8% | 140 |
| September | 86.3% | 131 |
| October | 90.3% | 176 |
| November | 84.3% | 249 |
| December | 83.6% | 339 |
Airlines at PAE
Every airline with at least 100 departures from PAE, busiest first. These are that airline’s departures from this airport only — its record across the country sits on its own page.
| Airline | Left on time | Typical delay | Cancelled | Departures |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska Airlines | 87.4% | 55 min | 1.6% | 3,045 |
| Frontier Airlines | 68.1% | 100 min | 0.6% | 164 |
What delays out of PAE were put down to
Airlines file a reason with every arrival running 15 minutes late or more. Across 469 flights that departed PAE and ran 15 minutes late or more, the delay minutes break down with 43.3% put down to late-arriving aircraft and 30.8% to air traffic & airport volume.
- Late-arriving aircraft 43.3%
- Airline operations 23.1%
- Air traffic & airport volume 30.8%
- Severe weather 2.7%
- Security 0.1%
Late-arriving aircraft is the knock-on category: the plane came in late, so it went out late again. It is why a 7am problem in Newark is still a problem in Denver at dinnertime, and why it is usually the biggest slice on the bar.
If you are connecting through PAE
Of 3,210 scheduled arrivals into PAE, 82.6% reached the gate less than 15 minutes behind schedule. Of the 495 arrivals that ran late, 60.2% were no more than 45 minutes behind — which is the difference between a tight connection and a new boarding pass.
Work out a specific layover — pick the airport and the minutes you have, and the tool reads the same arrival records back as a share.
Busiest routes out of PAE
Ranked by flights, with the share that arrived on time at the far end. Where a route carries enough flights for a page of its own the chip goes there; otherwise it goes to the destination airport.
PAE in one number
Seattle Paine (PAE)
Rank 234 of 363 US airports by departures. Steadiest stretch of the day: 8–10am. Hardest month: July.
Questions about PAE
- What is the worst month to fly out of PAE?
- July: 80.2% of the departures that flew left on time, with 174 scheduled. April was the other end of the year at 91.2%. Each figure pools three years of that calendar month.
- Which airline is most on time at PAE?
- Alaska Airlines — 87.4% of its 3,045 departures from PAE left on time. Frontier Airlines sat at the other end at 68.1% over 164 flights. Only airlines with at least 100 departures here are ranked.
- How often are flights cancelled at PAE?
- 1.6% of scheduled departures were cancelled over July 2023 through June 2026. Cancellations are counted against everything scheduled, not against everything that flew — a rate that looks small still adds up to real people in a rebooking line.