Route profile
DTW→SAT
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Detroit to San Antonio, 1,214 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 72% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 2,883 flights. How this is calculated
DTW → SAT arrives on time 80.6% of the time; the return trip, SAT → DTW, arrives on time 89.0% of the time, an 8.4-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
DTW → SAT spends 23.5 minutes on the ground on a 1,214-mile trip: 17.3 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DTW and 6.2 minutes from touchdown to gate at SAT.
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 100% of 5,368 comparable routes.
80.6% on time over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), against 80.6% 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 DTW to SAT differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DTW to SAT is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 4 PM: 80.0% arrive on time, 11.1 points ahead of the 68.9% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 9.3 points.
DTW to SAT holds up on Thursdays better than routes of similar length do: 81.4% on time to their 75.9%, a 5.5 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 4.6 points.
June is kinder to DTW to SAT than to routes of similar length: 80.8% on time against 71.6%, 9.2 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 8.1 points.
DTW to SAT against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 4 PM departures | 80.0% | routes of similar length | 68.9% | +11.1 pts | 125 here, 116,814 there |
| Weekday: Thursday | 81.4% | routes of similar length | 75.9% | +5.5 pts | 419 here, 291,432 there |
| Month: June | 80.8% | routes of similar length | 71.6% | +9.2 pts | 255 here, 157,667 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 1,214 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
36 min late
against a median of 7 min early
Percentiles over 2,883 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SAT after arriving from DTW.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 34% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 18% | High risk |
| 60 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.0% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.1% | 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 0.83% of the time and diverts 0.21% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 2,853 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 36 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 2,883 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DTW → SAT flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 85.9% of the time, against 74.1% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 11.8 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 86.0% on time from 1,020 flights
- 9 AM to 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 82.8% on time from 199 flights
- 1 PM: 81.1% on time from 428 flights
- 2 PM to 3 PM: too few flights to score
- 4 PM: 80.0% on time from 126 flights
- 5 PM to 7 PM: too few flights to score
- 8 PM: 72.8% on time from 858 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why DTW → SAT runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for DTW → SAT. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 2,850 | 80.5% | 0.84% | -7 min | 6.0% |
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 7.5 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 71.2%
- Feb: 84.7%
- Mar: 83.7%
- Apr: 82.6%
- May: 72.0%
- Jun: 80.8%
- Jul: 74.7%
- Aug: 83.7%
- Sep: 82.0%
- Oct: 88.1%
- Nov: 86.1%
- Dec: 80.0%
January is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 16.9 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 80.6% against 80.6% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 2,883 DTW → 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