Route profile
CLT→SAN
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Charlotte to San Diego, 2,077 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 49% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 4,863 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
CLT → SAN arrives on time 75.8% of the time; the return trip, SAN → CLT, arrives on time 81.1% of the time, a 5.3-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
CLT → SAN spends 25.3 minutes on the ground on a 2,077-mile trip: 18.5 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at CLT and 6.8 minutes from touchdown to gate at SAN.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route has stayed remarkably steady year over year, a smaller swing than 92% of 5,368 comparable routes.
78.0% on time over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), against 78.5% in the 12 months before (2024-08 to 2025-07), virtually unchanged.
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 5,368 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where CLT to SAN differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
CLT to SAN struggles most at 8 PM: 46.3% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 21 points behind the 67.3% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 21.1 points.
Friday is the day CLT to SAN slips furthest against routes of similar length, 72.6% on time where they average 77.6%, 5 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 3.6 points.
In May, CLT to SAN runs 10.3 points below routes of similar length, 66.7% on time to 77.0%. Against all other routes the gap is 8.6 points.
American Airlines’ flights on CLT to SAN arrive on time 75.8% of the time, 2.5 points below the 78.3% it manages on its routes of similar length.
CLT to SAN against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 8 PM departures | 46.3% | routes of similar length | 67.3% | −21.0 pts | 149 here, 28,130 there |
| Weekday: Friday | 72.6% | routes of similar length | 77.6% | −5.0 pts | 705 here, 141,404 there |
| Month: May | 66.7% | routes of similar length | 77.0% | −10.3 pts | 424 here, 83,780 there |
| Airline: American Airlines | 75.8% | routes of similar length | 78.3% | −2.5 pts | 4,804 here, 235,841 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 2,077 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 5 min early
Percentiles over 4,863 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SAN after arriving from CLT.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 41% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 23% | High risk |
| 60 min | 15% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 7.4% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.0% | 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 0.74% of the time and diverts 0.47% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 4,804 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 4,863 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
CLT → SAN flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 86.2% of the time, against 62.8% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 23.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 87.6% on time from 679 flights
- 8 AM: 84.7% on time from 672 flights
- 9 AM: 84.8% on time from 272 flights
- 10 AM: too few flights to score
- 11 AM: 81.2% on time from 975 flights
- 12 PM to 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 77.5% on time from 121 flights
- 4 PM: 66.5% on time from 853 flights
- 5 PM: 69.7% on time from 120 flights
- 6 PM: 66.2% on time from 722 flights
- 7 PM: 63.6% on time from 121 flights
- 8 PM: 46.3% on time from 154 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why CLT → SAN 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 CLT → SAN. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on CLT → SAN, at 40.7%: 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 6–9 PM departures 62.8%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 4,863 | 75.8% | 0.74% | -5 min | 7.6% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 6.1 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 76.9%
- Feb: 77.9%
- Mar: 81.4%
- Apr: 76.8%
- May: 66.7%
- Jun: 72.4%
- Jul: 64.5%
- Aug: 74.4%
- Sep: 80.9%
- Oct: 80.8%
- Nov: 84.0%
- Dec: 79.7%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 19.5 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 68.7% from 148 flights
- August 2023: 73.7% from 154 flights
- September 2023: 79.3% from 125 flights
- October 2023: 84.8% from 145 flights
- November 2023: 79.7% from 138 flights
- December 2023: too few flights to score (113)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (115)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (114)
- March 2024: 78.9% from 124 flights
- April 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- May 2024: 45.3% from 151 flights
- June 2024: 72.3% from 149 flights
- July 2024: 52.8% from 150 flights
- August 2024: 72.9% from 145 flights
- September 2024: 80.3% from 135 flights
- October 2024: 77.2% from 148 flights
- November 2024: 86.9% from 130 flights
- December 2024: 78.3% from 148 flights
- January 2025: 83.8% from 141 flights
- February 2025: 78.1% from 128 flights
- March 2025: 79.2% from 152 flights
- April 2025: 83.6% from 146 flights
- May 2025: 78.0% from 150 flights
- June 2025: 74.3% from 150 flights
- July 2025: 70.9% from 152 flights
- August 2025: too few flights to score (111)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (119)
- October 2025: 80.2% from 131 flights
- November 2025: too few flights to score (98)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (105)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (98)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (109)
- March 2026: 86.1% from 137 flights
- April 2026: 73.8% from 123 flights
- May 2026: 79.0% from 124 flights
- June 2026: 70.0% from 120 flights
- July 2026: 65.3% from 121 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 78.0% against 78.5% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 4,863 CLT → SAN 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