Secrets of Sea-Tac
The Best Nonstop Flights from Seattle
Three of Sea-Tac's newest direct flights, and three other airports you should be using.
SEA > HKG
From: Sea-Tac
To: Hong Kong
Duration: 13 hours, 45 minutes
Delta’s Seattle 2014 expansions have meant nonstop flights to major hubs like Paris, Amsterdam, and Shanghai, plus this one on an Airbus A330 whose business-class seats fold down completely flat for the long haul. Hong Kong has Taoist temples, night markets, skyscrapers, and a Disney park all crammed into a tiny corner on China’s coast.
SEA > CUN
Image: Photopixel
From: Sea-Tac
To: Cancun
Duration: 5 hours, 45 minutes
Alaska and Delta both added the east coast Mexican destination in recent years, useful for getting your spring break on or making a connecting flight to the suddenly hot Caribbean destination just a short hop away: Cuba.
SEA > BNA
Image: Aceshot
From: Sea-Tac
To: Nashville
Duration: 4 hours, 35 minutes
The day Alaska Airlines launched Music City service in September 2015, the inaugural flight’s pilot, also a member of a Northwest men’s chorus, serenaded the passengers. It’s hard—and inadvisable—to avoid live music in Nashville, be it the taping of the Grand Ole Opry broadcast or the classic singer-songwriter haunt the Bluebird Cafe.
KCI > ESD
Orcas Island
Image: seastock
From: Seattle's King County International
To: Eastsound, Orcas Island
Duration: 40 minutes
Though Kenmore Air is best known for the floatplanes that soar from Lake Union, the scrappy small-plane airline also flies wheeled Cessnas from the airstrip everyone calls Boeing Field. In the time it takes to cross the floating bridge at rush hour, you could be in the San Juans, tossing back homemade ice cream sandwiches and beer at Island Hoppin’ Brewery.
BLI > KOA
Image: Marty Wakat
From: Bellingham International
To: Kona, Hawaii
Duration: 6 hours, 40 minutes
Alaska announced the brand-new seasonal route in April; it’ll start when the Bellingham-to-paradise flights kick off again in November. The Big Island destination is popular with snorkelers; just 20 minutes south of the airport, Kahaluu State Park has a shallow bay and a hearty sea turtle population.
YVR > AKL
Image: Panuvat Ueachananon
From: BC's Vancouver International
To: Auckland, New Zealand
Duration: 13 hours, 45 minutes
You can’t get to Australia or New Zealand from Sea-Tac, so rather than a Los Angeles layover, consider a three-hour drive to Vancouver, then a nonstop on Air New Zealand’s 777. The Kiwis are still getting mileage out of the country’s Lord of the Rings film locations, which mix well with glacier-hopping, skydiving adventure travel.
