Side note: Anyone in the greater area north of Seattle, Paine Field is a breath of fresh air compared to SeaTac.
Small airports rock if they fly direct to where you want to go.
Small airports rock if they fly direct to where you want to go.
My local airport only has 2 direct flight destinations, both of which are major hubs. So almost all trips have a layover. We're located a 2-4 hour drive from 4 much larger airports. By the time you factor in our tiny airport never having a security wait and the 10 minute drive to get there, it takes a lot of layover time to match driving to a bigger city and arriving there 2 hours early. By the time you factor in gas, parking, etc - the price is about the same too (that is tickets cost more, but overall trip cost is equalish).
Definitely worth it for everyone to look at though - just because the flight itself may be cheaper from a bigger airport doesn't mean the overall trip cost will be less, and the small airport experience is generally much nicer than the large airport one for ticketing and security.
Ubers are expensive but only ~20% more than SeaTac with a Cap Hill starting point.
All things considered, Paine Field is my first choice airport for the area.
Security and the whole "get to the gate" process is just so easy at Paine Field that it's hard to go back if your flight works out there.
No lounges is a downside though.