Route profile
BUR→OAK
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Burbank to Oakland, 325 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 89% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 9,487 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
BUR → OAK arrives on time 86.6% of the time; the return trip, OAK → BUR, arrives on time 84.4% of the time, a 2.2-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
BUR → OAK spends 19.4 minutes on the ground on a 325-mile trip: 13.7 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at BUR and 5.8 minutes from touchdown to gate at OAK.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route holds up about the same all year, a steadier seasonal pattern than 95% of 3,357 comparable routes.
91.3% on time in its best month (January) against 81.6% in its worst (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 BUR to OAK differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
BUR to OAK is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 4 PM: 83.6% arrive on time, 9.9 points ahead of the 73.7% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 12.9 points.
BUR to OAK holds up on Saturdays better than routes of similar length do: 91.9% on time to their 82.3%, a 9.6 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 12.8 points.
July is kinder to BUR to OAK than to routes of similar length: 83.5% on time against 73.2%, 10.3 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 13.8 points.
Southwest Airlines does better on BUR to OAK than on its routes of similar length: 86.8% on time here, 81.0% there, 5.8 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 9.4 points.
BUR to OAK against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 4 PM departures | 83.6% | routes of similar length | 73.7% | +9.9 pts | 610 here, 70,032 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 91.9% | routes of similar length | 82.3% | +9.6 pts | 992 here, 131,401 there |
| Month: July | 83.5% | routes of similar length | 73.2% | +10.3 pts | 1,033 here, 121,532 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 86.8% | routes of similar length | 81.0% | +5.8 pts | 8,974 here, 365,746 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 325 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.
Why BUR → OAK flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
BUR → OAK cancelled 144 of 9,487 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 66. The reason filed most often was the airline, 56.9% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 116 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 144 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
82 cancellations, 56.9% of the total.
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
55 cancellations, 38.2% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
7 cancellations, 4.9% of the total.
A terminal evacuation, a security breach, screening equipment failure, or screening queues over 29 minutes.
0 cancellations, 0.0% of the total.
Reason codes are the operating airline’s own filing with US DOT, not an independent finding of fault. With only one or two carriers on the route, the split mostly reflects how they file. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
144 coded cancellations were recorded on BUR → OAK; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
23 min late
against a median of 10 min early
Percentiles over 9,487 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at OAK after arriving from BUR.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 25% | High risk |
| 45 min | 13% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 8.2% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 3.9% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.1% | 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 1.52% of the time and diverts 0.01% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 9,342 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 23 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 9,487 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
BUR → OAK flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 96.9% of the time, against 78.1% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 18.8 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 97.6% on time from 939 flights
- 8 AM: 95.9% on time from 743 flights
- 9 AM: 93.9% on time from 694 flights
- 10 AM: 93.3% on time from 554 flights
- 11 AM: 89.6% on time from 772 flights
- 12 PM: 88.7% on time from 559 flights
- 1 PM: 87.2% on time from 530 flights
- 2 PM: 85.1% on time from 453 flights
- 3 PM: 79.6% on time from 683 flights
- 4 PM: 83.6% on time from 612 flights
- 5 PM: 81.0% on time from 731 flights
- 6 PM: 79.5% on time from 676 flights
- 7 PM: 77.7% on time from 704 flights
- 8 PM: 77.4% on time from 807 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why BUR → OAK 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 BUR → OAK. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on BUR → OAK, at 76.4%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 96.9% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 78.1%.
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 | 9,113 | 86.8% | 1.51% | -10 min | 3.9% |
| Spirit Airlines | 374 | 82.1% | 1.60% | -7 min | 7.1% |
Southwest Airlines flew 96.1% of the 9,487 flights listed.
Southwest Airlines arrived on time 4.7 percentage points more often than Spirit Airlines on this route.
Other ways to fly Los Angeles to San Francisco
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LAX→SFO Los Angeles to San Francisco | 34,819 | 69.3% | 0.67% | -1 min | 55 |
| LAX→SJC Los Angeles to San Jose | 15,597 | 86.5% | 0.35% | -9 min | 87 |
| SNA→SFO Santa Ana to San Francisco | 13,797 | 71.6% | 1.26% | -3 min | 54 |
| BUR→OAK this route Burbank to Oakland | 9,487 | 86.6% | 1.52% | -10 min | 81 |
LAX → SJC is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 86.5% on time, against 71.6% for SNA → SFO.
Flying to OAK from the Los Angeles area? Compare BUR, LAX, SNA, ONT for OAK, with the same test for what counts as a real difference.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 11.9 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 91.3%
- Feb: 88.3%
- Mar: 87.2%
- Apr: 88.3%
- May: 87.1%
- Jun: 81.6%
- Jul: 83.5%
- Aug: 87.2%
- Sep: 85.7%
- Oct: 86.0%
- Nov: 88.7%
- Dec: 85.5%
June is historically the weakest month and January the strongest, a spread of 9.7 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 81.3% from 291 flights
- August 2023: 83.6% from 294 flights
- September 2023: 88.8% from 290 flights
- October 2023: 89.2% from 283 flights
- November 2023: 91.8% from 260 flights
- December 2023: 87.8% from 268 flights
- January 2024: 89.8% from 259 flights
- February 2024: 88.6% from 237 flights
- March 2024: 85.0% from 233 flights
- April 2024: 89.8% from 247 flights
- May 2024: 85.3% from 262 flights
- June 2024: 84.4% from 272 flights
- July 2024: 85.1% from 279 flights
- August 2024: 86.9% from 284 flights
- September 2024: 81.8% from 296 flights
- October 2024: 87.4% from 302 flights
- November 2024: 89.6% from 290 flights
- December 2024: 85.9% from 267 flights
- January 2025: 91.8% from 268 flights
- February 2025: 88.3% from 250 flights
- March 2025: 90.7% from 276 flights
- April 2025: 86.2% from 266 flights
- May 2025: 88.6% from 266 flights
- June 2025: 82.4% from 255 flights
- July 2025: 85.9% from 257 flights
- August 2025: 91.4% from 257 flights
- September 2025: 86.6% from 254 flights
- October 2025: 80.6% from 256 flights
- November 2025: 84.4% from 240 flights
- December 2025: 82.4% from 232 flights
- January 2026: 92.3% from 209 flights
- February 2026: 87.8% from 201 flights
- March 2026: 85.2% from 219 flights
- April 2026: 89.1% from 213 flights
- May 2026: 87.6% from 219 flights
- June 2026: 76.9% from 213 flights
- July 2026: 81.9% from 222 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 85.5% against 87.1% in the 12 months before — declining by 1.6 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 9,487 BUR → OAK 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