DAL to SAN flight delays
Dallas, TX (DAL) San Diego, CA (SAN) · 1,182 miles
136 flights · March 2025 – August 2026 · US Bureau of Transportation Statistics
49.62%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
1.47%
Cancelled
Share of scheduled flights
53 min
When late, late by
Average across delayed arrivals
29 min
Delay per flight
Averaged over every flight flown
What the record says about this route
Flights from Dallas to San Diego arrive late more often than they arrive on time. At this rate lateness is the normal outcome, not the exception, and the schedule is better read as an aspiration than a plan.
The two directions do not behave alike. SAN to DAL arrives on time 7.8 points more often than the outbound. Delay accumulates through the flying day, so whichever direction is scheduled later tends to carry the worse record — which is an argument for booking the morning departure if the choice exists.
Only Southwest Airlines flies this route in the published record, so there is no choice to weigh — the route's figures and the airline's are the same figures.
Which airline should you fly on this route?
Over March 2025 – August 2026, Southwest Airlines arrived on time most often on DAL to SAN.
Every airline on DAL to SAN
Ranked by how many flights each one operated. A carrier with fewer than 100 flights in the period is listed but not graded.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Avg delay | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 136 | 49.62% | 1.47% | 53 min | F |
The return leg
SAN to DAL San Diego back to Dallas 57.46% on time FOther routes from Dallas
Common questions
Are flights from Dallas to San Diego usually delayed?
49.62% of flights on the DAL to SAN route arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, so roughly 5 in every ten arrived late. That is worse than the average route in this record.
Which airlines fly from Dallas to San Diego?
Only Southwest Airlines appears in the published record on this route, with 136 flights and 49.62% arriving on time.
How often are DAL to SAN flights cancelled?
1.47% of scheduled flights did not operate — about 15 in every thousand. That is in the normal range.
When DAL to SAN flights are late, how late are they?
About 53 minutes on average across the flights that arrived more than 15 minutes behind schedule.
What these figures do and do not tell you
Everything on this page is counted from the flights that actually operated on DAL to SAN during March 2025 – August 2026, as reported by the airlines to the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics. "On time" is the federal definition: arriving at the gate within 15 minutes of the scheduled time.
A route's record is a description of the past, not a forecast. Weather, air traffic control and the aircraft's earlier flights that day drive most delays, and none of them are predictable from a historical rate. What the record does tell you is whether this route runs late more often than others, and which carrier on it has the better history — which is the part you can actually act on when you book.
Cancellations are counted separately from delays because they are a different problem for a traveller: a late flight still gets you there. How the grade is calculated →