The flat $28 charge for taxi travel between Sea-Tac airport and downtown Seattle will disappear during the freeway construction Aug 10-29 because of the hardship it would impose on taxi drivers. Instead, the meter will run; when speed drops below 15mph, the meter will switch from per-mile to per-minute. Bottom line is that taking a taxi north from the airport downtown will be more expensive than usual.

It will be more expensive taking a taxi from the airport to downtown, but because of the traffic, not because they've dropped the flat rate--that only normally applies to trips FROM downtown to the airport. I guess they are dropping it even though there's no southbound construction because due to the weird exclusivity arrangements that the port of Seattle has chosen to make, cabs that drop people off at the airport aren't allowed to pick them up--only STITA cabs have that right, and they can't take people TO the airport, only from the airport--so a roundtrip to the airport and back will take the driver longer than it usually does (i.e., the driver will sit in traffic longer than usual with his empty cab on the way back).

So would a van that services many downtown hotels from the airport be a better deal? We are to arrive in Seattle Sat. 8/11. Were planning a cab, but should we rethink?

That, or the Airporter bus that's $10-11 per person (but it only stops at certain hotels). I'd check relative rates with Shuttle Express--the Airporter might be less expensive and quicker, if it stops at or near your hotel.

I much prefer the Greyline hotel bus. It loops thru the major downtown hotels. It runs on a regular schedule, and think it's $10.25 pp or thereabouts.

I would usually use a taxi, except for the construction problem.

That flat rate was never for coming out of the airport. With Stita, as mentioned above, I usually give $35.

Why I don't like shuttles is going around picking people up and dropping them off, etc. I only tried it a couple times, but quickly decided any other option was better...

I even prefer Metro bus (if you don't have large luggage).

I second the Grayline hotel bus. If it does not go to your hotel, take it to one of the big chain hotels, where you can get a taxi to your hotel (if you have too much luggage to walk from the nearest stop). Takes some time, but it's cheap and easy. The shuttle costs almost as much as a taxi.