abhimanyusodhi

Hello There,

I, along with my family will be travelling from Vancouver, BC to catch our international flight from SeaTac, Seattle, WA. We will be crossing the border in our personal vehicle and will be having our luggage for our 18 day trip. While coming back, we will be landing in Seatac and then crossing back over to Canada in the same way. Can someone please share there experiences in terms for the following:
1. Does carrying luggage impact the border crossing time? We often cross over to go for shopping at the Costco in Bellingham, WA and have never seen delays (apart from traffic line-ups)
2. What will be a good time to leave from Vancouver for a flight departing at 4:00 PM from Seatac?
3. Are there any concerns with regards to crossing over from Canada to US for taking flights? We are Canadian citizens and have our onward and return tickets.

Thanks in advance

Moderator1

Welcome to Fodors. We moved you thread from Travel Tips to the United States forum and added a tag for Washington State

suze

2. What will be a good time to leave from Vancouver for a flight departing at 4:00 PM from Seatac?

I would leave first thing in the morning as soon as you are up and have a bite to eat. You'd want to allow 3-4 hours for the drive. You want to be at SeaTac 2-3 hours before your departing flight.

I guess I'm a little confused... are you are using your personal vehicle and parking it at the airport?

Gardyloo

Many thousands of people cross the border every year to fly in/out of SEA. You should not experience any greater delays at the border than normal. The US border people are very familiar with Canadians heading to Seatac, just as the Canadian ones are familiar with US citizens heading to YVR or to cruise terminals.

When is your trip? Obviously things at Blaine can be much busier in the tourist season than during the winter, and if your flight departing SEA is at 4 PM, I'd definitely leave as early in the day as you can. You'll need to navigate Seattle area traffic, take the time to park and get to the airport, check-in and security, etc.

So working backward, I'd try to be "airside" (past security) a good 90 minutes before your flight, so 90m + 60m (parking, security, check-in) + 180m for the drive + say 40m at the border and 30m for a buffer = 400m or 7 hours roughly. If your flight is at 4 PM, that means on the road by 9 AM. Hopefully that would give enough time for the Massey Tunnel under the Fraser to resume full two-way traffic (as opposed to the single southbound lane during the morning rush) and for things to stabilize at either the Peace Arch or the Pacific Highway crossings. If you want to add some time for lunch en route, you can do the math.

abhimanyusodhi

Thanks; yes, I am using my personal vehicle and have booked a spot at a parkade near Seatac