SEA to SMF flight delays
Seattle, WA (SEA) Sacramento, CA (SMF) · 605 miles
408 flights · March 2025 – August 2026 · US Bureau of Transportation Statistics
83.82%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
0%
Cancelled
Share of scheduled flights
46 min
When late, late by
Average across delayed arrivals
9 min
Delay per flight
Averaged over every flight flown
What the record says about this route
Which airline you fly changes the odds here. SkyWest Airlines arrived on time 16.8 points more often than Southwest Airlines over the same period on the same route — same airports, same weather, same air traffic control. A gap that survives all of that is about how the two airlines are run.
This route does better than its own airport. Departures from SEA overall run 9.5 points less punctual than this particular one — so whatever congestion SEA has, this route is largely escaping it.
The two directions do not behave alike. SMF to SEA arrives on time 5.9 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 thin route — 408 flights across the whole period. On a route this infrequent a cancellation is far more costly than the rate suggests, because the next departure may not be the same day.
Which airline should you fly on this route?
Over March 2025 – August 2026, SkyWest Airlines arrived on time most often on SEA to SMF. Southwest Airlines was late most often.
Every airline on SEA to SMF
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SkyWest Airlines | 155 | 92.26% | 0% | 37 min | A |
| Alaska Airlines | 147 | 80.95% | 0% | 38 min | B |
| Southwest Airlines | 106 | 75.47% | 0% | 60 min | C |
The return leg
SMF to SEA Sacramento back to Seattle 77.89% on time BOther routes from Seattle
Common questions
Are flights from Seattle to Sacramento usually delayed?
83.82% of flights on the SEA to SMF route arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, so roughly 2 in every ten arrived late. That is better than the average route in this record.
Which airline is most on time from Seattle to Sacramento?
SkyWest Airlines, at 92.26% on time across 155 flights. The least punctual on the route was Southwest Airlines at 75.47%.
How often are SEA to SMF flights cancelled?
0% of scheduled flights did not operate — about 1 in every thousand. That is in the normal range.
When SEA to SMF flights are late, how late are they?
About 46 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 SEA to SMF 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 →