SMF to DFW flight delays
Sacramento, CA (SMF) Dallas/Fort Worth, TX (DFW) · 1,431 miles
1,646 flights · January 2025 – August 2026 · US Bureau of Transportation Statistics
80.68%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
2.73%
Cancelled
Share of scheduled flights
90 min
When late, late by
Average across delayed arrivals
18 min
Delay per flight
Averaged over every flight flown
What the record says about this route
Cancellation, not delay, is the risk worth pricing here: 2.73% of scheduled flights never operated. A late flight still gets you there. A cancelled one leaves you rebooking, and on a route with few daily departures that can mean losing a day.
The shape of the lateness matters here. Flights on this route are not late often, but when they are late they are late by about 90 minutes — long enough to lose a connection or an evening. The on-time percentage looks reassuring and understates the consequence of being on the wrong flight.
The two directions do not behave alike. DFW to SMF arrives on time 14 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.
Only American 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 January 2025 – August 2026, American Airlines arrived on time most often on SMF to DFW. Flights ran closest to schedule in February and worst in July.
Every airline on SMF to DFW
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 1,646 | 80.68% | 2.73% | 90 min | C |
Month by month
Share of flights that arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, by month flown.
Other routes from Sacramento
Common questions
Are flights from Sacramento to Dallas/Fort Worth usually delayed?
80.68% of flights on the SMF to DFW 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 airlines fly from Sacramento to Dallas/Fort Worth?
Only American Airlines appears in the published record on this route, with 1,646 flights and 80.68% arriving on time.
How often are SMF to DFW flights cancelled?
2.73% of scheduled flights did not operate — about 27 in every thousand. That is high enough that cancellation, not delay, is the risk worth planning around.
What is the best month to fly Sacramento to Dallas/Fort Worth?
February, when 87.3% of flights arrived on time. The worst was July at 74.1%.
When SMF to DFW flights are late, how late are they?
About 90 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 SMF to DFW during January 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 →