Route profile
ATL→SJC
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Atlanta to San Jose, 2,116 miles.
Right now
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Route reliability
July 2023 – July 2026
Better than 91% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 2,632 flights. How this is calculated
ATL → SJC arrives on time 85.8% of the time; the return trip, SJC → ATL, arrives on time 92.6% of the time, a 6.8-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
ATL → SJC spends 20.8 minutes on the ground on a 2,116-mile trip: 16.5 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at ATL and 4.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at SJC.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where ATL to SJC differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
ATL to SJC is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 7 PM: 85.2% arrive on time, 17 points ahead of the 68.2% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 17.4 points.
ATL to SJC holds up on Wednesdays better than routes of similar length do: 90.9% on time to their 81.1%, a 9.8 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 10.1 points.
June is kinder to ATL to SJC than to routes of similar length: 87.8% on time against 74.3%, 13.5 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 15.1 points.
Delta Air Lines does better on ATL to SJC than on its routes of similar length: 85.8% on time here, 81.6% there, 4.2 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 4.3 points.
ATL to SJC against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 7 PM departures | 85.2% | routes of similar length | 68.2% | +17.0 pts | 473 here, 42,550 there |
| Weekday: Wednesday | 90.9% | routes of similar length | 81.1% | +9.8 pts | 363 here, 139,844 there |
| Month: June | 87.8% | routes of similar length | 74.3% | +13.5 pts | 246 here, 90,533 there |
| Airline: Delta Air Lines | 85.8% | routes of similar length | 81.6% | +4.2 pts | 2,605 here, 253,967 there |
Each comparison pools the flights of other routes, with this route’s own left out. Similar length means within 15% of this route’s 2,116 miles, with at least 5 such routes. A bucket is set against the most comparable group that has enough flights: similar length, then the same origin (at least 3 routes), then all other routes. Hours, weekdays and months appear only where both sides have 120 completed flights, and airlines where both have 600. The gap must be at least 2 points and 2 standard errors, and only the largest gap each way is kept per measure. These are differences in the flights counted, not causes.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
24 min late
against a median of 8 min early
Percentiles over 2,632 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SJC after arriving from ATL.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 31% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 7.6% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 3.8% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.0% | Low risk |
This is one leg of a connection. Gate changes and the next flight's own schedule matter too. And a connection can fail before delay is even the question — this route cancels 0.95% of the time and diverts 0.08% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 2,605 arrivals on this route that landed later than the connection time less 30 minutes to reach the next gate.
The worst tenth of arrivals on this route land at least 24 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 2,632 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
ATL → SJC flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 91.0% of the time, against 80.9% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 10.1 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 86.7% on time from 162 flights
- 9 AM: 91.7% on time from 833 flights
- 10 AM to 3 PM: too few flights to score
- 4 PM: 79.5% on time from 172 flights
- 5 PM: 81.7% on time from 294 flights
- 6 PM: too few flights to score
- 7 PM: 85.2% on time from 476 flights
- 8 PM: 81.0% on time from 488 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why ATL → SJC runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
screening or terminal security incidents
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for ATL → SJC. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Airlines on this route
Carriers with at least 200 flights, by the airline that operated each one.
| Carrier | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Severe |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 2,632 | 85.8% | 0.95% | -8 min | 3.9% |
Other ways to fly Atlanta to San Francisco
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ATL→SFO Atlanta to San Francisco | 10,076 | 72.6% | 0.84% | -1 min | 59 |
| ATL→SJC this route Atlanta to San Jose | 2,632 | 85.8% | 0.95% | -8 min | 83 |
ATL → SJC is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 85.8% on time, against 72.6% for ATL → SFO.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 9.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 85.4%
- Feb: 83.9%
- Mar: 87.9%
- Apr: 91.2%
- May: 81.3%
- Jun: 87.8%
- Jul: 75.6%
- Aug: 81.0%
- Sep: 89.6%
- Oct: 90.6%
- Nov: 86.3%
- Dec: 93.4%
July is historically the weakest month and December the strongest, a spread of 17.8 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 86.1% against 85.1% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 2,632 ATL → SJC flight records from the US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, covering July 2023 – July 2026. Late means 15 or more minutes past scheduled arrival; cancelled and diverted flights are left out of on-time rates.
Full methodology · Data sources · Report a problem
Related research: How Long a Layover Needs to Be · Two Airlines on One Route · Best Time of Day to Fly From Major US Airports
Analysis last recomputed