SNA to DEN flight delays
Santa Ana, CA (SNA) Denver, CO (DEN) · 846 miles
327 flights · March 2025 – August 2026 · US Bureau of Transportation Statistics
79.19%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
0%
Cancelled
Share of scheduled flights
63 min
When late, late by
Average across delayed arrivals
14 min
Delay per flight
Averaged over every flight flown
What the record says about this route
Which airline you fly changes the odds here. United Airlines arrived on time 20.6 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 two directions do not behave alike. DEN to SNA arrives on time 12.5 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 — 327 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.
The Santa Ana to Denver route sits close to the middle of the record — neither notably punctual nor notably late.
Which airline should you fly on this route?
Over March 2025 – August 2026, United Airlines arrived on time most often on SNA to DEN. Southwest Airlines was late most often.
Every airline on SNA to DEN
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 | 176 | 86.78% | 0% | 69 min | A |
| Southwest Airlines | 133 | 66.15% | 0% | 59 min | D |
| Frontier Airlines | 18 | 100% | 0% | — | — |
The return leg
DEN to SNA Denver back to Santa Ana 66.67% on time DOther routes from Santa Ana
Common questions
Are flights from Santa Ana to Denver usually delayed?
79.19% of flights on the SNA to DEN route arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, so roughly 2 in every ten arrived late. That is about the same as the average route in this record.
Which airline is most on time from Santa Ana to Denver?
United Airlines, at 86.78% on time across 176 flights. The least punctual on the route was Southwest Airlines at 66.15%.
How often are SNA to DEN flights cancelled?
0% of scheduled flights did not operate — about 1 in every thousand. That is in the normal range.
When SNA to DEN flights are late, how late are they?
About 63 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 SNA to DEN 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 →