Route profile
AUS→SJC
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Austin to San Jose, 1,476 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 68% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,942 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
AUS → SJC arrives on time 76.4% of the time; the return trip, SJC → AUS, arrives on time 79.8% of the time, a 3.3-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
AUS → SJC spends 17.7 minutes on the ground on a 1,476-mile trip: 13.6 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at AUS and 4.1 minutes from touchdown to gate at SJC.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Every airline on this route performs about the same, a narrower carrier gap than 95% of 2,692 comparable routes.
Southwest Airlines (76.5% on time) and SkyWest Airlines (75.4%) are close together here.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Ranked against every other route with the same kind of figure and at least 2,692 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where AUS to SJC differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
AUS to SJC is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 12 PM: 86.1% arrive on time, 7.5 points ahead of the 78.6% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 6.7 points.
AUS to SJC struggles most at 5 PM: 64.9% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 4.6 points behind the 69.5% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 4.9 points.
Sunday is the day AUS to SJC slips furthest against routes of similar length, 71.5% on time where they average 75.7%, 4.2 points lower.
In June, AUS to SJC runs 10 points below routes of similar length, 62.0% on time to 72.0%. Against all other routes the gap is 10.7 points.
AUS to SJC against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 12 PM departures | 86.1% | routes of similar length | 78.6% | +7.5 pts | 201 here, 91,772 there |
| Hour: 5 PM departures | 64.9% | routes of similar length | 69.5% | −4.6 pts | 416 here, 95,553 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 71.5% | routes of similar length | 75.7% | −4.2 pts | 501 here, 211,500 there |
| Month: June | 62.0% | routes of similar length | 72.0% | −10.0 pts | 292 here, 122,953 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 1,476 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
39 min late
against a median of 2 min early
Percentiles over 3,942 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SJC after arriving from AUS.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 43% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 23% | High risk |
| 60 min | 13% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.7% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 2.8% | 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 0.25% of the time and diverts 0.05% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,930 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 39 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,942 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
AUS → SJC flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 93.6% of the time, against 63.2% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 30.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 94.2% on time from 603 flights
- 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 92.1% on time from 190 flights
- 9 AM: 85.9% on time from 128 flights
- 10 AM: too few flights to score
- 11 AM: 86.0% on time from 179 flights
- 12 PM: 86.1% on time from 201 flights
- 1 PM: 75.6% on time from 214 flights
- 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 73.0% on time from 270 flights
- 4 PM: 66.5% on time from 335 flights
- 5 PM: 64.9% on time from 416 flights
- 6 PM: 66.3% on time from 197 flights
- 7 PM: 68.9% on time from 120 flights
- 8 PM: 64.8% on time from 451 flights
- 9 PM: 63.2% on time from 356 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why AUS → SJC runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
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 AUS → SJC. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on AUS → SJC, at 63.1%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 93.6% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 63.2%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 3,613 | 76.5% | 0.25% | -3 min | 5.9% |
| SkyWest Airlines | 326 | 75.4% | 0.31% | 1 min | 6.2% |
Southwest Airlines flew 91.7% of the 3,939 flights listed.
Carriers on this route performed within a couple of percentage points of each other.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 11.5 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 81.9%
- Feb: 74.8%
- Mar: 80.3%
- Apr: 79.0%
- May: 67.3%
- Jun: 62.0%
- Jul: 69.6%
- Aug: 80.3%
- Sep: 78.4%
- Oct: 80.2%
- Nov: 81.6%
- Dec: 83.0%
June is historically the weakest month and December the strongest, a spread of 21.0 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 71.7% from 166 flights
- August 2023: 79.8% from 174 flights
- September 2023: 74.2% from 134 flights
- October 2023: 78.8% from 137 flights
- November 2023: 78.4% from 139 flights
- December 2023: 84.4% from 141 flights
- January 2024: too few flights to score (112)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (96)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (100)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (108)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (104)
- June 2024: too few flights to score (99)
- July 2024: too few flights to score (106)
- August 2024: too few flights to score (101)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (98)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (97)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (99)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (101)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (91)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (97)
- April 2025: too few flights to score (105)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (107)
- June 2025: too few flights to score (107)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (111)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (96)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (95)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (94)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (94)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (86)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (83)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (97)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (101)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (104)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (87)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (89)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 73.8% against 81.9% in the 12 months before — declining by 8.1 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,942 AUS → 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