Since Sea-Tac is our main departing airport in the Seattle area, I found the following article of interest. www.king5.com. "New concourse at Sea-Tac will be a different kind of experience."
Posted by
Twin Cities of MN
6462 posts
Hmmm, what I wish they would do is either extend the transit service to the airport so one could go earlier in the morning, or man the TSA gates so that anyone arriving late in the evening/early morning doesn't need to wait at the entrance to the airport. A few years back, I went to Seattle to visit my son. There was no mass transit in Seattle that would get me back to the airport in time for my early return flight and my son didn't have a car. So I decided to just go to the airport on the latest link of the day, around midnight, maybe later, and wait until early morning for my flight. I arrived to Sea tac to find out none of the TSA stations were open and there were LOTS of people roaming the front part of the airport looking for places to sit/lay until security opened and people could get to a more comfortable area. I have never run into that before at a major airport. People were actually sleeping on concrete in corners.
Posted by
Idaho, USA
7803 posts
Jules, if you run into that situation again, Shuttle Express is an excellent service to obtain a ride to the airport. (Their wait time at the airport is too long compared to other cities, though, if it’s a ride from the airport back to a residence or hotel.)
The news looks like we’re (Seattle) going to have the CDG cattle-mover buses. Yuck!
Posted by
Folsom
2734 posts
Lisbon has this. You disembark in the hinterlands then stand in a very wide bus as it winds it’s way to a terminal. Having flown through Sea-Tac I have to say they are focusing on the wrong problem. The lines for security are abysmal!
Posted by
OP
WA State
3961 posts
Jules, as Jean mentioned Shuttle Express is a good alternative. We have used their service for years. On the other hand light rail is available from Seattle, however it starts operating at 5 am. As far as the projected shuttle bus from terminal to plane, I too envision the poor experiences we have encountered at CDG! Time will tell.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA ☔️
6790 posts
The plans for Seatac expansion are a pipedream - by the time anything is done, the expansions will be 10 years behind what's needed. The region's visionary leaders are still busy trying to solve problems that were evident 30 years ago (and are failing). In the coming years Seatac is going to be a nightmare.
Posted by
San Francisco
14979 posts
My most recent time at SacTac was last Oct of 2017 when I had a choice of changing in Phoenix or SacTac to continue to London LHR on Br Air from SFO. I've been to SacTac a few times in past years, getting from there to downtown, the terminus, is easy and dirt cheap.
When I go to Seattle, I always stay at SacTac, much cheaper. Based on those good experiences I obviously chose to connect at SacTac instead of Phoenix, the layover at SacTac was 5 hrs.
Posted by
Twin Cities of MN
6462 posts
Good information. I think my flight must have been at 6am and 5am would have been cutting it way too close. Since my guess is that my son and his wife will move back to Seattle it is great to hear about this shuttle. He was pretty new to Seattle at that time so he wouldn't have known of it. I do love the link all the way into downtown from SeaTac and its my understanding that it actually goes to the university area now as well.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17427 posts
Yes, the Link light rail does go to the university now. It is a great service. We always use it to go to the airport, unless we have a super-early morning flight that can't be avoided. Then we book a Park and Fly room at the Crowne Plaza and go the night before. We leave our car there and pick it up when we return. You can walk tomthe Crowne Plaza from the airport; it is just across the street from the light rail station, and you cross via a skybridge.