Route profile
EWR→SAN
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Newark to San Diego, 2,425 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 32% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 4,910 flights. How this is calculated
EWR → SAN arrives on time 77.6% of the time; the return trip, SAN → EWR, arrives on time 81.7% of the time, a 4.1-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
EWR → SAN spends 32.5 minutes on the ground on a 2,425-mile trip: 26.9 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at EWR and 5.5 minutes from touchdown to gate at SAN.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where EWR to SAN differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
EWR to SAN struggles most at 8 PM: 56.6% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 13.1 points behind the 69.7% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 10.8 points.
EWR to SAN is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 11 AM: 88.8% arrive on time, 11.1 points ahead of the 77.7% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 7.8 points.
March is kinder to EWR to SAN than to routes of similar length: 87.0% on time against 79.1%, 7.9 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 9.1 points.
In July, EWR to SAN runs 7.3 points below routes of similar length, 63.2% on time to 70.5%. Against all other routes the gap is 6.5 points.
Alaska Airlines’ flights on EWR to SAN arrive on time 68.7% of the time, 7.4 points below the 76.1% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 9.3 points.
EWR to SAN against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 8 PM departures | 56.6% | routes of similar length | 69.7% | −13.1 pts | 244 here, 35,750 there |
| Hour: 11 AM departures | 88.8% | routes of similar length | 77.7% | +11.1 pts | 206 here, 50,813 there |
| Month: March | 87.0% | routes of similar length | 79.1% | +7.9 pts | 370 here, 86,421 there |
| Month: July | 63.2% | routes of similar length | 70.5% | −7.3 pts | 585 here, 129,400 there |
| Airline: Alaska Airlines | 68.7% | routes of similar length | 76.1% | −7.4 pts | 967 here, 170,414 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 2,425 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 EWR → SAN flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
EWR → SAN cancelled 96 of 4,910 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 51. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 71.9% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 71 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 96 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.
69 cancellations, 71.9% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
19 cancellations, 19.8% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
8 cancellations, 8.3% 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.
96 coded cancellations were recorded on EWR → SAN; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
53 min late
against a median of 9 min early
EWR → SAN has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 9 min early, but the worst tenth are 62 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 4,910 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SAN after arriving from EWR.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 35% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 22% | High risk |
| 60 min | 15% | High risk |
| 90 min | 8.7% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 5.8% | 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 1.96% of the time and diverts 0.63% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 4,783 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 53 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 4,910 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
EWR → SAN flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 90.4% of the time, against 65.0% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 25.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 90.8% on time from 808 flights
- 7 AM: 90.2% on time from 257 flights
- 8 AM: 88.2% on time from 148 flights
- 9 AM: 77.7% on time from 475 flights
- 10 AM: 82.9% on time from 211 flights
- 11 AM: 88.8% on time from 206 flights
- 12 PM to 3 PM: too few flights to score
- 4 PM: 74.2% on time from 872 flights
- 5 PM: 74.1% on time from 693 flights
- 6 PM: 70.7% on time from 436 flights
- 7 PM: 64.1% on time from 364 flights
- 8 PM: 56.6% on time from 254 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why EWR → SAN runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s 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 EWR → SAN. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on EWR → SAN, at 46.3%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 90.4% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 65.0%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 3,906 | 79.9% | 1.69% | -10 min | 7.8% |
| Alaska Airlines | 1,004 | 68.7% | 2.99% | -3 min | 12.8% |
United Airlines flew 79.6% of the 4,910 flights listed. Alaska Airlines cancelled 2.99% of its flights here against 1.69% for United Airlines.
United Airlines arrived on time 11.2 percentage points more often than Alaska Airlines on this route.
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 7.9 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 82.5%
- Feb: 80.2%
- Mar: 87.0%
- Apr: 82.6%
- May: 75.7%
- Jun: 71.6%
- Jul: 63.2%
- Aug: 78.0%
- Sep: 83.4%
- Oct: 80.1%
- Nov: 77.2%
- Dec: 79.6%
July is historically the weakest month and March the strongest, a spread of 23.8 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 54.5% from 155 flights
- August 2023: 80.3% from 155 flights
- September 2023: 82.6% from 150 flights
- October 2023: 84.8% from 152 flights
- November 2023: too few flights to score (118)
- December 2023: 91.9% from 124 flights
- January 2024: too few flights to score (100)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (102)
- March 2024: 83.1% from 125 flights
- April 2024: 82.5% from 148 flights
- May 2024: 69.3% from 153 flights
- June 2024: 71.4% from 150 flights
- July 2024: 57.0% from 155 flights
- August 2024: 74.5% from 155 flights
- September 2024: 81.3% from 150 flights
- October 2024: 78.6% from 150 flights
- November 2024: too few flights to score (117)
- December 2024: 68.4% from 124 flights
- January 2025: too few flights to score (98)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (100)
- March 2025: 86.2% from 124 flights
- April 2025: too few flights to score (118)
- May 2025: 68.7% from 137 flights
- June 2025: 72.2% from 136 flights
- July 2025: 69.9% from 154 flights
- August 2025: 79.1% from 155 flights
- September 2025: 86.3% from 143 flights
- October 2025: 76.6% from 145 flights
- November 2025: too few flights to score (118)
- December 2025: 77.7% from 124 flights
- January 2026: too few flights to score (99)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (100)
- March 2026: 91.9% from 124 flights
- April 2026: 86.6% from 120 flights
- May 2026: 90.2% from 135 flights
- June 2026: 71.1% from 144 flights
- July 2026: 72.0% from 153 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 80.1% against 75.4% in the 12 months before — improving by 4.7 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 4,910 EWR → 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