Route profile
AUS→SNA
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Austin to Santa Ana, 1,209 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 51% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 1,655 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
AUS → SNA arrives on time 74.6% of the time; the return trip, SNA → AUS, arrives on time 81.6% of the time, a 6.9-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
AUS → SNA spends 19.5 minutes on the ground on a 1,209-mile trip: 13.3 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at AUS and 6.2 minutes from touchdown to gate at SNA.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Reliability here swings unusually widely by season, a wider month-to-month spread than 98% of 3,357 comparable routes.
85.9% on time in a typical August, against 56.5% in June.
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 3,357 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where AUS to SNA differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
In June, AUS to SNA runs 15.2 points below routes of similar length, 56.5% on time to 71.7%. Against all other routes the gap is 16.2 points.
August is kinder to AUS to SNA than to routes of similar length: 85.9% on time against 74.9%, 11 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 9.4 points.
Southwest Airlines’ flights on AUS to SNA arrive on time 71.2% of the time, 4.7 points below the 75.9% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 6.2 points.
AUS to SNA against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month: June | 56.5% | routes of similar length | 71.7% | −15.2 pts | 124 here, 158,287 there |
| Month: August | 85.9% | routes of similar length | 74.9% | +11.0 pts | 163 here, 157,577 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 71.2% | routes of similar length | 75.9% | −4.7 pts | 1,080 here, 431,440 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 1,209 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
47 min late
against a median of 2 min early
Percentiles over 1,655 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SNA after arriving from AUS.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 44% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 24% | High risk |
| 60 min | 15% | High risk |
| 90 min | 7.1% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.1% | 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 0.36% of the time and diverts 0.06% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 1,648 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 47 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 1,655 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
AUS → SNA flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 82.2% of the time, against 69.2% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 13.0 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 8 AM: too few flights to score
- 9 AM: 79.5% on time from 146 flights
- 10 AM: 81.7% on time from 304 flights
- 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 81.3% on time from 124 flights
- 1 PM to 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 72.3% on time from 203 flights
- 4 PM: 68.5% on time from 289 flights
- 5 PM: 66.2% on time from 133 flights
- 6 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why AUS → SNA 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 → SNA. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on AUS → SNA, at 61.5%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 9 AM–12 PM departures arrived on time 82.2% of the time and 3–6 PM departures 69.2%.
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 | 1,083 | 71.2% | 0.18% | 1 min | 6.4% |
| American Airlines | 463 | 81.5% | 0.65% | -9 min | 10.2% |
Southwest Airlines flew 70.1% of the 1,546 flights listed.
American Airlines arrived on time 10.3 percentage points more often than Southwest Airlines on this route.
Other ways to fly Austin to Los Angeles
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUS→LAX Austin to Los Angeles | 12,819 | 80.2% | 0.61% | -7 min | 71 |
| AUS→SNA this route Austin to Santa Ana | 1,655 | 74.6% | 0.36% | -2 min | 66 |
AUS → LAX is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 80.2% on time, against 74.6% for AUS → SNA.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 10.4 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 71.2%
- Feb: no data
- Mar: 81.0%
- Apr: 64.5%
- May: 67.8%
- Jun: 56.5%
- Jul: 67.5%
- Aug: 85.9%
- Sep: 81.0%
- Oct: 79.6%
- Nov: 82.2%
- Dec: 77.1%
June is historically the weakest month and August the strongest, a spread of 29.4 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 69.3% against 76.3% in the 12 months before — declining by 7.0 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 1,655 AUS → SNA 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