Two hours seems tight. It looks like most of the direct flights from SEA to Bozeman are on Alaska Air, which is primarily a North American airline, so it’s unlikely they’ll have any sort of arrangement with whatever airline you’re using for your international portion. If that’s the case, you’ll have to clear Customs, collect checked bags, recheck your bags with Alaska, and go back through security. I’ve never arrived internationally at SEA but with it being Alaska Air’s home airport they may have a whole concourse to themselves so you’ll have to get from wherever you’re arrive to another part of the airport.
Now, none of that may be the case but even if bags were being checked through, no terminal change, etc., I’d still want 3 hours for US Customs just in case you’re arriving at a busy time.
I’m also concerned about arriving on time given that I would be flying against the jet stream. Would clearing customs etc be quicker if I were travelling on an internal flight? Washington DC to Seattle in this case, arriving 16:18 and departing for Bozeman at 18:57. That option would give me more time at Seattle.
Several places of interest are near each other in DC proper at the National Mall (we say it *mawl *here, in case you have to ask for help); you could touch on a good 2-3 in that time or 2 in-depth while taking unhurried time to eat and stroll. It could give you a good idea of how to spend those weeks in DC/NoVA after the eclipse. Please, do not wade in the World War II Memorial.
I don’t think I’d worry about the jet stream. I’m pretty sure the airlines take that into consideration with their estimated flight times. You will need to clear customs wherever your first stop is in the US. If it’s DC, you’ll clear customs there and then continue on a domestic flight.
I would look into flying into one of those and then onto Bozeman. It looks like Seattle has a lot but I would bet that many of those are code shares with other airlines, so the total amount looks inflated. No direct flights from DC but there are from Newark if you want to enter on the east coast. Keep in mind you don’t have to fly into DC even though you want to stop on the way home. Take a look at Google Flights and use the multi-stop option to see what works.
I wish that had been my experience, I landed in New York a month ago and had a very similar experience to that reported by author Memory Fox in the press here in Australia:
I was taken aside by heavily armed men, my Australian passport confiscated, not allowed to touch my belongings and anyone who moved in the room was yelled at. It was frightening.
I am a white woman in my sixties with zero criminal record, no contact with anyone vaguely suspicious in terms of ethnicity or religion, never been to any country other than the US, UK and France … dull as dishwater. The questions led me to believe it was because I had a new passport. It had just been renewed. I can’t come up with any other theory.
Very scary. Mind you, the rest of the time in the US was fantastic including The Met in NYC and Smithsonian in DC and the reception of Americans to my book tour.
Just allow time for immigration to take a few extra hours and frighten you a bit.
I’m hoping most of the posts in this thread are tongue in cheek. The OP is freaking from the UK…they aren’t going to have any real issues coming into the US. Here are the arrival stats for Europe to the US for last year (and I’ve seen nothing indicating they have taken a sharp nose dive even with all the Trump silliness). Looks to me as if the average monthly arrival is between 800k to 1 million (from Europe alone), with several months a hell of a lot larger than that. Want to take a guess how many arrivals there are in North Korea on the average month?
