SMF to LAX flight delays
Sacramento, CA (SMF) Los Angeles, CA (LAX) · 373 miles
522 flights · March 2025 – August 2026 · US Bureau of Transportation Statistics
84.26%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
0.19%
Cancelled
Share of scheduled flights
48 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 23.4 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 SMF overall run 9.9 points less punctual than this particular one — so whatever congestion SMF has, this route is largely escaping it.
This is a thin route — 522 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.
Flights from Sacramento to Los Angeles keep to schedule more reliably than most. On a route this punctual the day you fly matters more than the airline you pick.
Which airline should you fly on this route?
Over March 2025 – August 2026, SkyWest Airlines arrived on time most often on SMF to LAX. Southwest Airlines was late most often.
Every airline on SMF to LAX
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 | 336 | 93.15% | 0% | 63 min | A |
| Southwest Airlines | 152 | 69.74% | 0% | 44 min | C |
| Frontier Airlines | 30 | 55.17% | 3.33% | 32 min | — |
| Delta Air Lines | 4 | 100% | 0% | — | — |
The return leg
LAX to SMF Los Angeles back to Sacramento 82.5% on time BOther routes from Sacramento
Common questions
Are flights from Sacramento to Los Angeles usually delayed?
84.26% of flights on the SMF to LAX 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 Sacramento to Los Angeles?
SkyWest Airlines, at 93.15% on time across 336 flights. The least punctual on the route was Southwest Airlines at 69.74%.
How often are SMF to LAX flights cancelled?
0.19% of scheduled flights did not operate — about 2 in every thousand. That is in the normal range.
When SMF to LAX flights are late, how late are they?
About 48 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 LAX 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 →