ORD to SBA flight delays
Chicago, IL (ORD) Santa Barbara, CA (SBA) · 1,803 miles
86 flights · July 2024 – July 2026 · US Bureau of Transportation Statistics
66.28%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
0%
Cancelled
Share of scheduled flights
57 min
When late, late by
Average across delayed arrivals
20 min
Delay per flight
Averaged over every flight flown
What the record says about this route
The two directions do not behave alike. SBA to ORD arrives on time 19.2 points less 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.
This is a late route. Flights from Chicago to Santa Barbara miss their scheduled arrival often enough that a tight connection at the far end is a connection at risk.
This route does worse than its own airport. ORD as a whole runs 9.2 points more punctual than these flights, which points at something specific to the route — the time of day it is scheduled, or the aircraft that feed it — rather than the airport.
Every airline on ORD to SBA
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 86 | 66.28% | 0% | 57 min | — |
Month by month
Share of flights that arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, by month flown.
The return leg
SBA to ORD Santa Barbara back to Chicago 47.06% on time —Other routes from Chicago
Common questions
Are flights from Chicago to Santa Barbara usually delayed?
66.28% of flights on the ORD to SBA route arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, so roughly 3 in every ten arrived late. That is worse than the average route in this record.
How often are ORD to SBA flights cancelled?
0% of scheduled flights did not operate — about 1 in every thousand. That is in the normal range.
When ORD to SBA flights are late, how late are they?
About 57 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 ORD to SBA during July 2024 – July 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 →