SMF to SAN flight delays
Sacramento, CA (SMF) San Diego, CA (SAN) · 480 miles
5,182 flights · January 2025 – August 2026 · US Bureau of Transportation Statistics
73.26%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
0.93%
Cancelled
Share of scheduled flights
49 min
When late, late by
Average across delayed arrivals
15 min
Delay per flight
Averaged over every flight flown
What the record says about this route
Which airline you fly changes the odds here. Alaska Airlines arrived on time 14.5 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.
The season swings this route hard. In March it ran 18.1 points more punctual than in June — a difference bigger than the one between the best and worst airlines on most routes. If the date is flexible, it is worth more than the carrier.
This route does worse than its own airport. SMF as a whole runs 7.5 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.
This is one of the heavily flown routes in the record — 5,182 flights in the period. Frequency is itself a form of insurance: when a flight goes wrong there is another one within hours, which is not true of the thin routes elsewhere on this site.
Which airline should you fly on this route?
Over January 2025 – August 2026, Alaska Airlines arrived on time most often on SMF to SAN. Southwest Airlines was late most often. Flights ran closest to schedule in March and worst in June.
Every airline on SMF 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 | 3,810 | 70.93% | 0.55% | 48 min | D |
| SkyWest Airlines | 1,187 | 78.98% | 1.77% | 54 min | C |
| Alaska Airlines | 185 | 85.47% | 3.24% | 38 min | C |
Month by month
Share of flights that arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, by month flown.
The return leg
SAN to SMF San Diego back to Sacramento 76.44% on time COther routes from Sacramento
Common questions
Are flights from Sacramento to San Diego usually delayed?
73.26% of flights on the SMF to SAN 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.
Which airline is most on time from Sacramento to San Diego?
Alaska Airlines, at 85.47% on time across 185 flights. The least punctual on the route was Southwest Airlines at 70.93%.
How often are SMF to SAN flights cancelled?
0.93% of scheduled flights did not operate — about 9 in every thousand. That is in the normal range.
What is the best month to fly Sacramento to San Diego?
March, when 80.7% of flights arrived on time. The worst was June at 62.6%.
When SMF to SAN flights are late, how late are they?
About 49 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 SAN 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 →