4 flights diverted from Sea-Tac Airport due to fog

BOEING FIELD - Two United Airlines flights, one Air Canada flight and one other flight were diverted from landing at Sea-Tac International Airport to Boeing FieldTuesday night because of fog.

Sea-Tac Airport spokesman Perry Cooper said that at the time there was a 1000 foot ceiling at Sea-Tac, and other airlines flights landed at Sea-Tac normally.

Cooper told Q13FOX News that the decision to divert an aircraft from landing at one airport to another (under low visibility condition) is up to the airlines, and not Sea-Tac or the FAA. The aircraft, the pilot and crew must be certified to land under low visibility conditions, Cooper said.

United Airlines issued this statement on two of the flights diverted:

Two flights tonight diverted to Boeing Field near Seattle due to severe fog at Sea-Tac Airport. We provided ground transportation for our customers and their bags to their destinations, and we will reposition the aircraft in the morning.

- Flight 371 from Chicago to Seattle; Airbus 320
- Flight 407 from Denver to Seattle; Airbus 320

The flights were originally scheduled to land at Seattle at 8:20 pm and 9:04 pm, respectively.


Flight 539 from Houston to Seattle also diverted due to fog. That Airbus 320 flight diverted to San Francisco and we are providing hotel accommodations to our customers overnight.

This is a developing story and will be updated when more information is available.