Sea-Tac Warns Of Parking Shortage This Week

SEATTLE, WA - From Sea-Tac Airport: Parking in the Sea-Tac Airport garage and surrounding off-airport lots will be extremely challenging next week due to multiple school districts on spring break. Many families will be traveling through Sea-Tac Airport, so please consider taking other modes of transportation to the airport such as Link Light Rail if your travel plans permit it.

Explore these alternatives to driving, including public transit, rideshare providers, and taxis: https://www.portseattle.org/sea-tac/ground-transportation

Travel Tips for Getting to the Airport

Additionally, here are some great travel tips on how to get to airport:

Take Link Light Rail, a bus or shuttle to the airport — Public transportation is by far the best option if you want to stay out of a traffic jam. Use Link Light Rail to travel all the way to the airport or meet your party at one of the nearby stations. Tukwila and Angle Lake stations offer free short-term parking one stop away to avoid airport traffic headaches.

Plan Ahead — Not only getting to the airport but also picking up, dropping off, and getting through checkpoints. The busiest travel days will be Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday next week.

Arrive Early — Travelers are encouraged to leave plenty of time to get to the airport, check in for their flight, and clear security. Plan on arriving at the airport at least two hours in advance for a domestic flight, and three hours for international travel. To save time, it’s suggested that travelers check in for their flights and print boarding passes prior to arriving at the airport. Some airlines allow passengers to print luggage tags in advance. This saves time at the ticket counter.

Go Opposite — In the morning, drop off passengers on the Arrivals level. In the evenings, arrange to meet your passengers on the Departures level. Going opposite gets you out of the traffic crunch. Another example — many arriving passengers do not check bags so they are already on the Departures level when they exit, and easy to pick up. Peak traffic congestion often occurs on the Departure level from approximately 4:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. During the middle of the day, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., both Arrival and Departure drives experience backups. In the evenings, the Arrivals drive experiences heavy traffic from about 8:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.

Check for Roadway Construction Updates — WSDOT is currently in the process of its Revive I-5 Project and there could be possible traffic impacts, see all of the traffic and roadway construction alerts that could impact you getting to Sea-Tac Airport.

Port of Seattle Police officers patrol the Airport Expressway to prevent motorists from parking on the shoulder, and additional Traffic Support Specialists will be deployed on the Arrivals and Departure drives to assist with traffic flow. If you’re picking up passengers, make sure they are there before going to the drive. It will take some time for them to walk from the plane or pickup bags.