Route profile
HNL→OAK
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Honolulu to Oakland, 2,409 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 93% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 2,882 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
HNL → OAK arrives on time 85.7% of the time; the return trip, OAK → HNL, arrives on time 81.0% of the time, a 4.8-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
HNL → OAK spends 24.6 minutes on the ground on a 2,409-mile trip: 17.9 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at HNL and 6.7 minutes from touchdown to gate at OAK.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route stays close to typical even on its worst days, a smaller gap than 95% of 4,598 comparable routes.
A typical arrival is 6 min early, and the worst tenth are only 28 minutes worse than that.
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 4,598 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where HNL to OAK differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
HNL to OAK is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 10 AM: 92.0% arrive on time, 14.1 points ahead of the 77.9% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 9.3 points.
HNL to OAK holds up on Sundays better than routes of similar length do: 88.3% on time to their 76.1%, a 12.2 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 13.5 points.
July is kinder to HNL to OAK than to routes of similar length: 92.2% on time against 70.4%, 21.8 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 22.5 points.
Southwest Airlines does better on HNL to OAK than on its routes of similar length: 90.8% on time here, 78.7% there, 12.1 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 13.4 points.
HNL to OAK against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 10 AM departures | 92.0% | routes of similar length | 77.9% | +14.1 pts | 338 here, 52,484 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 88.3% | routes of similar length | 76.1% | +12.2 pts | 410 here, 158,974 there |
| Month: July | 92.2% | routes of similar length | 70.4% | +21.8 pts | 308 here, 130,138 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 90.8% | routes of similar length | 78.7% | +12.1 pts | 1,734 here, 49,551 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 2,409 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
22 min late
against a median of 6 min early
Percentiles over 2,882 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at OAK after arriving from HNL.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 34% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 7.3% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 2.8% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 1.7% | 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 1.11% 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 2,844 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 22 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 2,882 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
HNL → OAK flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 92.7% of the time, against 80.0% for 12–3 PM departures, a gap of 12.7 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 92.7% on time from 356 flights
- 9 AM: too few flights to score
- 10 AM: 92.0% on time from 338 flights
- 11 AM: 87.2% on time from 534 flights
- 12 PM: 76.5% on time from 658 flights
- 1 PM: 80.0% on time from 231 flights
- 2 PM: 85.3% on time from 435 flights
- 3 PM: 89.2% on time from 195 flights
- 4 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why HNL → OAK runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
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 HNL → OAK. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 1,736 | 90.8% | 0.00% | -10 min | 2.0% |
| Hawaiian Airlines | 935 | 78.2% | 3.42% | -1 min | 4.3% |
| Alaska Airlines | 211 | 75.7% | 0.00% | 0 min | 4.8% |
Southwest Airlines flew 60.2% of the 2,882 flights listed. Hawaiian Airlines cancelled 3.42% of its flights here against 0.00% for Southwest Airlines.
Southwest Airlines arrived on time 15.1 percentage points more often than Alaska Airlines on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Sunday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 6.6 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 83.0%
- Feb: 88.0%
- Mar: 81.2%
- Apr: 82.5%
- May: 82.2%
- Jun: 88.9%
- Jul: 92.2%
- Aug: 89.1%
- Sep: 86.7%
- Oct: 85.7%
- Nov: 84.0%
- Dec: 83.1%
March is historically the weakest month and July the strongest, a spread of 11.0 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 82.3% against 87.1% in the 12 months before — declining by 4.8 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 2,882 HNL → OAK 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