Seattle-Tacoma International Airport — Local services in SeaTac

This airport has notorious issues with escalators!!. Hello,, "Motion Sensors" like European airports. Your escalators don't need to be ON 24/7/365 days a year.) Update 10-4-2019....the dumbest group of Engineers work at this airport. There's always an escalator broken at the airport. Update 10-25-19: been at this airport every week of October and as usual escalators are down. Update 10-28-19: missed my buss ride thanks to another escalator broken. Update 11-5-19..... Same escalators still broken. Update 11-6-19:....as I crossed the sky bridge to go grab my shuttle bus. Once again broken escalator causing me to run all the way to Island 3 for bus Somebody talk to your escalator manager. Update 11-19-19: another business trip interrupted by be familiar inoperative escalators. Update 1-23-20: as usual an escalator is down. The escalator is out of service on the south end of the airport so I watch my ride go away and cost me 15 minutes of my time. SeaTac management cannot figure out how to fix their escalators permanently. Just a sea of stupid people....On subject of stupid, they are still remodeling the food court 5 years into it and the "coming soon Subway" in C gate is still NOT finished!!!!!! Update: 2-9-20..As usual escalators are broken by baggage claim number 15 and sure enough had to turn around and go back up to ticketing to get across to catch our shuttle bus to Doug Fox. Update: 2-13-20..You can definitely count on management at Sea-Tac probably being the dumbest group of people. Another escalator broke. But this time as soon as you get off the shuttle bus to go up to the sky bridge, but no have to run to the elevator. Welcome to SEA-Stupid Airport. Update 2-13-20: Uhhhhh? the food court with 5 years of remodeling is a joke. Update 2-15-20: Excellent job to the escalator Engineers. This escalator is broken for the third time in one year. You have guaranteed yourselves a job for life. UPDATE May 14, 2021..Subway is still not done in C- Gate, and the food court is still not completed, 6 years later these people can't figure it out, Singapore the size of Manhattan is built in 20 years but in the Last 5 years SEATAC Airport doesn't know how to finish repairs correct "the first time". UPDATE:.May 10, 2022: Welcome to the dumbest airport managers in the world. Across the sky Bridge from Alaska Airlines ticketing to the elevators & escalators,, the same escalators that break all the time are broken again. Managers here have 0 management skills or escalator managers here that do NOT know how to do their job. UPDATE:May 16, 2022: I have more grey hair since the last update. This time when coming off the train from S or N Gate going up to baggage claim below Alaska Air ticketing. Tremendous Level of Stupidness to a WHOLE NEW LEVEL. I travel the world, you would never see the same escalators broken over & over again. Especially far more advanced airports such as Munich Germany or Copenhagen. UPDATE: June 2022. Same escalators are broken again, whether it was last month last year or 3 years ago!!! UPDATE: End of June, 2022. Same escalators still broken, management here has earned first place for the dumbest group of people. UPDATE: JULY 1, 2022. THE S-GATE ESCALATORS ARE BROKEN!! FIRE AIRPORT MANAGEMENT!!! UPDATE: AUGUST 3, 2022. SAME escalators are still broken under Alaska check in. UPDATE: August 25,2022. CLEARLY THE VILLAGE IDIOTS ARE THE MANAGEMENT TEAM AT SEA-TAC... ESCALATORS STILL DOWN SAME ONES FROM A MONTH AGO l. UPDATE: 11-4-2022. Ditto from the above August post, the same escalators from August level 4 going down to shuttle service pickup are still broken,!!!! Now in N-gate escalator is also broken. UPDATE 1-23-23 . Same escalator by the skybridge from baggage claim up to Alaska ticketing is broken again. Update 2-9-23, escalator by the sky Bridge that was broken for 5 months was working is broken again. 4-5-23, escalator from train up to "N" gate level has been broken for a month. 6-4-23: escalator up to the Alaska in N gate is INOP. 10-27-23: Nothing has changed. Escalator to N...

At Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, the journey from military necessity to architectural statement mirrors the ascent of the Pacific Northwest itself—once remote, now essential. What began in 1942 as a hasty wartime solution has evolved through seven decades of ambition into an airport that doesn't merely process passengers but introduces them to a region's sensibilities through its spaces.

The original terminal, a modest 71,000-square-foot structure designed by Herman A. Moldenhour and dedicated in 1949, has long since disappeared beneath successive layers of expansion. Yet each architectural intervention—from NBBJ's formative work in the 1960s-70s to recent contributions by global firms like SOM, HOK, and the Miller Hull Partnership—has incrementally transformed utilitarian infrastructure into a cohesive expression of Northwest identity.

The most dramatic statement comes from SOM's 2022 International Arrivals Facility, anchored by a 780-foot aerial walkway spanning an active taxilane. This engineering feat transforms the typically mundane arrival process into a suspended moment of revelation as passengers drift above aircraft with panoramic views of Mount Rainier and the Cascade range. Governor Jay Inslee aptly described it as "a working piece of art," recognizing how the structure marries function with regional consciousness.

HOK's Concourse D Annex demonstrates how even modest additions can elevate the passenger experience through thoughtful restraint. Its column-free interior and sleek, daylit pavilion create a sense of calm rarely found in transit infrastructure while achieving LEED v4 Silver certification—the first airport terminal in the U.S. to reach this environmental standard.

Currently under construction, the C Concourse Expansion by Miller Hull Partnership and Woods Bagot continues this trajectory with its sculptural central pillar and grand staircase clad in locally sourced Douglas fir. The design's embodied carbon reduction strategies and fossil-fuel-free systems for heating and hot water represent airport architecture's evolution from mere shelter to environmental stewardship.

Materials throughout these facilities deliberately reference the distinctive elements of the Pacific Northwest landscape—Douglas fir thresholds, terrazzo floors incorporating local stones, and biophilic elements that bring the outside in. The International Arrivals Facility features an exit path alongside a grove of evergreen trees, culminating in a landscaped creek with native ferns nestled between granite slabs.

Even dining and retail spaces have been reconceived as opportunities for cultural expression. Silhouette Design Architecture's award-winning concept for Connections Gourmet Market in Concourse C celebrates "Seattle's preeminent position in the Pan-Pacific cultural exchange," honoring Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Filipino culinary traditions within the terminal's contemporary framework.

These design choices have earned Sea-Tac recognition as a 4-Star Airport by Skytrax and its selection as Best Airport in North America for two consecutive years (2022-2023). More telling than awards, however, are passenger impressions. Reviews consistently praise the airport's visual coherence, abundant natural light, and intuitive navigation—proof that architectural ambition enhances rather than complicates the travel experience.

What distinguishes Sea-Tac's evolution is its prioritization of passenger well-being over spectacle. While many global airports have embraced ever more dramatic gestures, Sea-Tac's design language remains grounded in human scale and regional authenticity. Its architecture doesn't shout for attention but rather invites discovery, much like the understated beauty of the Pacific...

Very busy even at 5 am. My ticket had pre-arranged handicap assistance and upon asking a worker immediately after entering she was very helpful and too recommended if we had carry on bags only, to retrieve the boarding pass from our email or download the app of the airlines we purchased from and screen shooting the boarding passes. Having carry ons only, and doing this allows you to skip the first line and move on to TSA security. Having had the pre arranged handi cap assistance we were directed there, it was close, they then took my luggage and placed it under the cart and took me through security no waiting and then to the gate. My daughter and her 2 children flew a week later as we had a death and after watching recommended videos I told her to request TSA assistance due to my granddaughter having PTSD due to domestic violence and going back to where it occured caused her to be very anxious. *If any parent has a family member with any condition such as PTSD, Autism etc you can also make prior arrangements with the TSA website ( 72:hrs B4 your flight is needed as it is government ran security in every airport and the assistance has to be arranged through the TSA) after contacting them and telling your needs they document why it is requested etc and contact the TSA at the airport you are departing from and they will contact you and make arrangements to have a trained agent for these situations to assist you upon arriving at the airport to help this same wAy as so you, and others can have a peaceful trip through security as the lines are often long and slow moving and with a child or family member having PTSD, Autism, wheelchair dependency etc outburst can easily be avoided. I strongly suggest if you do not fly often as we do not to go to utube and watch the videos on what and how to pack in your carry ons including keeping to size regulations and what snacks are allowed if you have several layovers and are depending upon them to keep you from purchasing expensive airport food. No water bottles unless empty.when you pass through security and if they pour them out ask to retain the empty bottles and then fill them at water filling stations or the bathroom. *What is allowed in luggage not being a carry on is different than baggage going under the plan. I recommend watching videos specific to your airline and TSA Videos are also within it. TSA is your friend as they too want everything to move smoothly. * If you have layovers always remain within the secured area as to avoid having to again go through security unnecessarily and be set back on time and miss your connecting flight. SeaTac is a very large airport and utilizing the pre arranged handicap assistance when the ticket was bought and followed up with the TSA 72 HRS PRIOR (if needed) will save you an hour if not more in any large airport. Kudos to SeaTac as both my flight and my daughters several days later traveling single with 2 children were made much easier by knowing what TSA allows through security and how to be prepared and that assistance was there to help her if her daughter had an anxiety issue. As traveling single with 2 kids can be overwhelming in itself but knowing your child is prone to panic attacks can cause you to have to get out of line to attend to your child and another with all the luggage etc. It gave my daughter much peace since I was unable to fly with them and being handicapped it too helped her to know I was taken care of after she left when I flew earlier in the week. *Great airport. Ty SeaTac TSA and handicap assistance, Job...