Route profile
CLT→SNA
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Charlotte to Santa Ana, 2,099 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 29% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 1,119 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
CLT → SNA arrives on time 73.6% of the time; the return trip, SNA → CLT, arrives on time 88.7% of the time, a 15.1-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
CLT → SNA spends 26.1 minutes on the ground on a 2,099-mile trip: 19.5 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at CLT and 6.6 minutes from touchdown to gate at SNA.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where CLT to SNA differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
Sunday is the day CLT to SNA slips furthest against routes of similar length, 66.7% on time where they average 76.3%, 9.6 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 8.1 points.
In July, CLT to SNA runs 10.8 points below routes of similar length, 60.0% on time to 70.8%. Against all other routes the gap is 9.7 points.
American Airlines’ flights on CLT to SNA arrive on time 73.6% of the time, 4.5 points below the 78.1% it manages on its routes of similar length.
CLT to SNA against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weekday: Sunday | 66.7% | routes of similar length | 76.3% | −9.6 pts | 156 here, 143,202 there |
| Month: July | 60.0% | routes of similar length | 70.8% | −10.8 pts | 120 here, 117,136 there |
| Airline: American Airlines | 73.6% | routes of similar length | 78.1% | −4.5 pts | 1,098 here, 234,510 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 2,099 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.
CLT to SNA in context
This route against CLT and SNA as a whole, against similar routes from CLT, and against its own first year, July 2023 – July 2026.
Arriving at SNA, CLT to SNA is on time 73.6% of the time, 8.7 points worse than the airport’s other arrivals at SNA (82.3%, from 134,643 flights).
Airport comparisons take this route’s flights out of the airport total. Length means within 15% of this route’s distance, with at least 3 other routes from the same origin. On-time gaps are stated at 2 points and 2 standard errors, cancellation gaps at 0.5 points and 2 standard errors, and every group needs 750 flights. These are differences in the flights counted, not causes.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
54 min late
against a median of 2 min early
Percentiles over 1,119 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SNA after arriving from CLT.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 46% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 26% | High risk |
| 60 min | 18% | High risk |
| 90 min | 8.9% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.7% | 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 0.89% of the time and diverts 0.98% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 1,098 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 54 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 1,119 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Why CLT → 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 CLT → SNA. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on CLT → SNA, at 38.7%: 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 | 1,119 | 73.6% | 0.89% | -2 min | 9.2% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday 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 74.8% against 73.8% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 1,119 CLT → 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