Route profile
DFW→SJC
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Dallas–Fort Worth to San Jose, 1,438 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 24% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,992 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
DFW → SJC arrives on time 72.9% of the time; the return trip, SJC → DFW, arrives on time 80.2% of the time, a 7.4-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
DFW → SJC spends 23.7 minutes on the ground on a 1,438-mile trip: 19.5 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DFW and 4.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at SJC.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where DFW to SJC differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DFW to SJC struggles most at 6 PM: 64.8% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 5.5 points behind the 70.3% on routes of similar length at the same hour.
Wednesday is the day DFW to SJC slips furthest against routes of similar length, 74.0% on time where they average 80.3%, 6.3 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 6.8 points.
In September, DFW to SJC runs 11.1 points below routes of similar length, 71.5% on time to 82.6%. Against all other routes the gap is 10.9 points.
Spirit Airlines’ flights on DFW to SJC arrive on time 71.2% of the time, 4.5 points below the 75.7% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 4.1 points.
DFW to SJC against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 6 PM departures | 64.8% | routes of similar length | 70.3% | −5.5 pts | 381 here, 108,796 there |
| Weekday: Wednesday | 74.0% | routes of similar length | 80.3% | −6.3 pts | 523 here, 217,272 there |
| Month: September | 71.5% | routes of similar length | 82.6% | −11.1 pts | 340 here, 121,707 there |
| Airline: Spirit Airlines | 71.2% | routes of similar length | 75.7% | −4.5 pts | 604 here, 62,487 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 1,438 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 DFW → SJC flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
DFW → SJC cancelled 60 of 3,992 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 67. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 96.7% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 69 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 60 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
58 cancellations, 96.7% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
2 cancellations, 3.3% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
0 cancellations, 0.0% 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.
60 coded cancellations were recorded on DFW → SJC; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
56 min late
against a median of 3 min early
Percentiles over 3,992 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SJC after arriving from DFW.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 43% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 26% | High risk |
| 60 min | 17% | High risk |
| 90 min | 9.3% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 5.0% | 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 1.50% of the time and diverts 0.08% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,929 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 56 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,992 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DFW → SJC flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 87.2% of the time, against 64.5% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 22.7 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 86.9% on time from 360 flights
- 9 AM: 77.7% on time from 688 flights
- 10 AM: 75.8% on time from 306 flights
- 11 AM: 76.9% on time from 837 flights
- 12 PM to 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 65.3% on time from 147 flights
- 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 71.7% on time from 120 flights
- 6 PM: 64.8% on time from 388 flights
- 7 PM: 63.8% on time from 590 flights
- 8 PM: 65.7% on time from 252 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why DFW → SJC 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 DFW → SJC. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on DFW → SJC, at 43.2%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 87.2% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 64.5%.
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 | 3,386 | 73.2% | 1.71% | -3 min | 9.2% |
| Spirit Airlines | 606 | 71.2% | 0.33% | -3 min | 10.8% |
American Airlines flew 84.8% of the 3,992 flights listed. American Airlines cancelled 1.71% of its flights here against 0.33% for Spirit Airlines.
American Airlines arrived on time 2.0 percentage points more often than Spirit Airlines on this route.
Other ways to fly Dallas–Fort Worth to San Francisco
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DFW→SFO Dallas–Fort Worth to San Francisco | 12,706 | 64.3% | 1.82% | 2 min | 36 |
| DFW→SJC this route Dallas–Fort Worth to San Jose | 3,992 | 72.9% | 1.50% | -3 min | 55 |
DFW → SJC is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 72.9% on time, against 64.3% for DFW → SFO.
Flying to SJC from the Dallas–Fort Worth area? Compare DFW, DAL for SJC, with the same test for what counts as a real difference.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 5.8 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 76.5%
- Feb: 80.7%
- Mar: 73.6%
- Apr: 74.1%
- May: 68.3%
- Jun: 65.3%
- Jul: 62.5%
- Aug: 70.8%
- Sep: 71.5%
- Oct: 81.0%
- Nov: 79.8%
- Dec: 76.7%
July is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 18.5 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 67.2% from 122 flights
- August 2023: 78.4% from 134 flights
- September 2023: 70.8% from 137 flights
- October 2023: 81.8% from 122 flights
- November 2023: too few flights to score (108)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (113)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (110)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (100)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (106)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (107)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (118)
- June 2024: too few flights to score (111)
- July 2024: 55.7% from 122 flights
- August 2024: too few flights to score (111)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (114)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (114)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (105)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (114)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (115)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (100)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (116)
- April 2025: 74.1% from 120 flights
- May 2025: too few flights to score (113)
- June 2025: 68.2% from 131 flights
- July 2025: 60.5% from 129 flights
- August 2025: too few flights to score (103)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (90)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (92)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (86)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (91)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (87)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (95)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (89)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (89)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (93)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (92)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (93)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 71.9% against 74.3% in the 12 months before — declining by 2.4 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,992 DFW → SJC 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