Route profile
HNL→SAN
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Honolulu to San Diego, 2,614 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 81% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 5,061 flights. How this is calculated
HNL → SAN arrives on time 81.2% of the time; the return trip, SAN → HNL, arrives on time 72.2% of the time, a 9.0-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
HNL → SAN spends 25.4 minutes on the ground on a 2,614-mile trip: 18.7 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at HNL and 6.6 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 HNL to SAN differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
HNL to SAN struggles most at 11 PM: 67.1% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 13 points behind the 80.1% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 12 points.
HNL to SAN is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 2 PM: 86.8% arrive on time, 12.6 points ahead of the 74.2% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 12.2 points.
July is kinder to HNL to SAN than to routes of similar length: 83.0% on time against 70.6%, 12.4 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 13.3 points.
In December, HNL to SAN runs 5.7 points below routes of similar length, 72.6% on time to 78.3%. Against all other routes the gap is 6.2 points.
Southwest Airlines does better on HNL to SAN than on its routes of similar length: 88.3% on time here, 81.0% there, 7.3 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 10.9 points.
HNL to SAN against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 11 PM departures | 67.1% | routes of similar length | 80.1% | −13.0 pts | 243 here, 40,679 there |
| Hour: 2 PM departures | 86.8% | routes of similar length | 74.2% | +12.6 pts | 478 here, 24,983 there |
| Month: July | 83.0% | routes of similar length | 70.6% | +12.4 pts | 569 here, 99,469 there |
| Month: December | 72.6% | routes of similar length | 78.3% | −5.7 pts | 424 here, 66,300 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 88.3% | routes of similar length | 81.0% | +7.3 pts | 2,239 here, 37,767 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 2,614 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
28 min late
against a median of 4 min early
Percentiles over 5,061 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SAN after arriving from HNL.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 41% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 18% | High risk |
| 60 min | 9.0% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.1% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.5% | 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 0.43% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 4,997 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 28 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 5,061 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
HNL → SAN flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 87.5% of the time, against 73.9% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 13.6 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 84.7% on time from 145 flights
- 8 AM: 87.9% on time from 1,282 flights
- 9 AM to 10 AM: too few flights to score
- 11 AM: 83.6% on time from 411 flights
- 12 PM: 73.4% on time from 869 flights
- 1 PM: 80.8% on time from 852 flights
- 2 PM: 86.8% on time from 484 flights
- 3 PM to 8 PM: too few flights to score
- 9 PM: 85.8% on time from 229 flights
- 10 PM: 71.3% on time from 415 flights
- 11 PM: 67.1% on time from 251 flights
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why HNL → SAN 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 → SAN. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 2,252 | 88.3% | 0.13% | -8 min | 2.3% |
| Alaska Airlines | 1,559 | 77.8% | 2.18% | -2 min | 5.6% |
| Hawaiian Airlines | 1,250 | 72.5% | 0.40% | 2 min | 6.5% |
Southwest Airlines flew 44.5% of the 5,061 flights listed. Alaska Airlines cancelled 2.18% of its flights here against 0.13% for Southwest Airlines.
Southwest Airlines arrived on time 15.8 percentage points more often than Hawaiian Airlines on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| AS892 Alaska Airlines | 11:04 AM | 718 | 81.2% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 5.2 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 74.9%
- Feb: 86.0%
- Mar: 75.6%
- Apr: 82.3%
- May: 83.4%
- Jun: 80.5%
- Jul: 83.0%
- Aug: 87.0%
- Sep: 86.7%
- Oct: 83.0%
- Nov: 79.3%
- Dec: 72.6%
December is historically the weakest month and August the strongest, a spread of 14.4 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 84.7% from 124 flights
- August 2023: 86.0% from 124 flights
- September 2023: 87.5% from 120 flights
- October 2023: 85.5% from 124 flights
- November 2023: 86.7% from 120 flights
- December 2023: 87.1% from 124 flights
- January 2024: 76.6% from 124 flights
- February 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- March 2024: 89.5% from 124 flights
- April 2024: 89.2% from 120 flights
- May 2024: 89.5% from 124 flights
- June 2024: 75.2% from 138 flights
- July 2024: 78.3% from 155 flights
- August 2024: 88.4% from 155 flights
- September 2024: 83.2% from 150 flights
- October 2024: 85.0% from 155 flights
- November 2024: 87.2% from 150 flights
- December 2024: 75.8% from 155 flights
- January 2025: 73.8% from 129 flights
- February 2025: too few flights to score (112)
- March 2025: 82.1% from 123 flights
- April 2025: 70.3% from 120 flights
- May 2025: 75.8% from 124 flights
- June 2025: 83.0% from 135 flights
- July 2025: 84.1% from 145 flights
- August 2025: 86.4% from 147 flights
- September 2025: 89.9% from 140 flights
- October 2025: 78.7% from 146 flights
- November 2025: 63.4% from 133 flights
- December 2025: 57.6% from 155 flights
- January 2026: 74.5% from 156 flights
- February 2026: 86.3% from 140 flights
- March 2026: 59.4% from 155 flights
- April 2026: 86.4% from 150 flights
- May 2026: 84.7% from 152 flights
- June 2026: 83.3% from 146 flights
- July 2026: 85.1% from 151 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 77.9% against 81.0% in the 12 months before — declining by 3.1 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 5,061 HNL → 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