Route profile
BWI→SAT
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Baltimore to San Antonio, 1,407 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 38% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 2,563 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
BWI → SAT arrives on time 73.2% of the time; the return trip, SAT → BWI, arrives on time 82.8% of the time, a 9.6-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
BWI → SAT spends 19.9 minutes on the ground on a 1,407-mile trip: 15.7 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at BWI and 4.2 minutes from touchdown to gate at SAT.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Which day you fly matters unusually much here, a wider weekday spread than 94% of 4,467 comparable routes.
79.8% on time on a typical Wednesday, against 64.9% on a Saturday.
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 4,467 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where BWI to SAT differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
BWI to SAT struggles most at 9 PM: 53.9% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 12.8 points behind the 66.7% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 15.6 points.
Saturday is the day BWI to SAT slips furthest against routes of similar length, 64.9% on time where they average 78.6%, 13.7 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 14.2 points.
In May, BWI to SAT runs 12.2 points below routes of similar length, 62.2% on time to 74.4%. Against all other routes the gap is 13.1 points.
Southwest Airlines’ flights on BWI to SAT arrive on time 73.3% of the time, 2.6 points below the 75.9% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 4.1 points.
BWI to SAT against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 9 PM departures | 53.9% | routes of similar length | 66.7% | −12.8 pts | 154 here, 36,121 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 64.9% | routes of similar length | 78.6% | −13.7 pts | 251 here, 219,942 there |
| Month: May | 62.2% | routes of similar length | 74.4% | −12.2 pts | 172 here, 141,282 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 73.3% | routes of similar length | 75.9% | −2.6 pts | 2,397 here, 379,377 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 1,407 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 2,563 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SAT after arriving from BWI.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 46% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 26% | High risk |
| 60 min | 16% | High risk |
| 90 min | 7.3% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.3% | 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 1.01% of the time and diverts 0.20% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 2,532 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 2,563 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
BWI → SAT flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 86.2% of the time, against 56.6% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 29.6 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 86.6% on time from 546 flights
- 9 AM: 82.5% on time from 207 flights
- 10 AM: 84.8% on time from 140 flights
- 11 AM to 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 59.7% on time from 139 flights
- 4 PM to 5 PM: too few flights to score
- 6 PM: 70.2% on time from 209 flights
- 7 PM: 63.2% on time from 387 flights
- 8 PM: 61.0% on time from 239 flights
- 9 PM: 53.9% on time from 156 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why BWI → SAT 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 BWI → SAT. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on BWI → SAT, at 41.3%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 86.2% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 56.6%.
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 | 2,427 | 73.3% | 1.03% | -2 min | 7.5% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Saturday the least, a gap of 14.9 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 70.8%
- Feb: 81.3%
- Mar: 79.9%
- Apr: 74.4%
- May: 62.2%
- Jun: 60.9%
- Jul: 60.4%
- Aug: 73.3%
- Sep: 82.1%
- Oct: 81.2%
- Nov: 83.6%
- Dec: 74.9%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 23.2 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 76.7% against 78.3% in the 12 months before — declining by 1.6 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 2,563 BWI → SAT 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