Route profile
CLT→SMF
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Charlotte to Sacramento, 2,244 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 8% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 1,249 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
CLT → SMF arrives on time 68.9% of the time; the return trip, SMF → CLT, arrives on time 86.6% of the time, a 17.6-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
CLT → SMF spends 24.2 minutes on the ground on a 2,244-mile trip: 18.7 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at CLT and 5.5 minutes from touchdown to gate at SMF.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Reliability on this route has improved unusually sharply over the past year, a bigger swing than 93% of 5,368 comparable routes.
80.0% on time over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), against 69.6% in the 12 months before (2024-08 to 2025-07), a change of 10.4 points.
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 SMF differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
CLT to SMF struggles most at 7 PM: 55.3% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 13.3 points behind the 68.6% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 12.5 points.
Tuesday is the day CLT to SMF slips furthest against routes of similar length, 67.8% on time where they average 82.2%, 14.4 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 13.8 points.
In July, CLT to SMF runs 27.9 points below routes of similar length, 42.6% on time to 70.5%. Against all other routes the gap is 27.1 points.
American Airlines’ flights on CLT to SMF arrive on time 68.9% of the time, 10 points below the 78.9% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 6.2 points.
CLT to SMF against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 7 PM departures | 55.3% | routes of similar length | 68.6% | −13.3 pts | 275 here, 47,175 there |
| Weekday: Tuesday | 67.8% | routes of similar length | 82.2% | −14.4 pts | 171 here, 155,914 there |
| Month: July | 42.6% | routes of similar length | 70.5% | −27.9 pts | 148 here, 136,487 there |
| Airline: American Airlines | 68.9% | routes of similar length | 78.9% | −10.0 pts | 1,229 here, 241,871 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 2,244 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
72 min late
against a median of 0 min early
CLT → SMF has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 0 min early, but the worst tenth are 72 minutes worse than that. If the trip has something unmissable at the end of it, the median is the wrong number to plan against.
Percentiles over 1,249 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SMF after arriving from CLT.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 48% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 31% | Likely to miss |
| 60 min | 20% | High risk |
| 90 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 7.3% | Some 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 1.36% of the time and diverts 0.24% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 1,229 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 72 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 1,249 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Why CLT → SMF 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 → SMF. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on CLT → SMF, at 49.7%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late.
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 | 1,249 | 68.9% | 1.36% | 0 min | 12.4% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 11.6 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 80.0% against 69.6% in the 12 months before — improving by 10.4 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 1,249 CLT → SMF 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