Route profile
HNL→SJC
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Honolulu to San Jose, 2,417 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 94% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,510 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
HNL → SJC arrives on time 84.5% of the time; the return trip, SJC → HNL, arrives on time 85.0% of the time.
HNL → SJC spends 23.6 minutes on the ground on a 2,417-mile trip: 19.1 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at HNL and 4.5 minutes from touchdown to gate at SJC.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route holds up about the same all year, a steadier seasonal pattern than 99% of 3,357 comparable routes.
88.6% on time in its best month (August) against 81.2% in its worst (January).
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 3,357 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where HNL to SJC differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
HNL to SJC is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 9 AM: 95.3% arrive on time, 15.1 points ahead of the 80.2% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 11 points.
HNL to SJC struggles most at 3 PM: 63.1% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 12.2 points behind the 75.3% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 9.6 points.
HNL to SJC holds up on Sundays better than routes of similar length do: 84.6% on time to their 76.0%, a 8.6 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 9.8 points.
July is kinder to HNL to SJC than to routes of similar length: 86.3% on time against 70.4%, 15.9 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 16.6 points.
Southwest Airlines does better on HNL to SJC than on its routes of similar length: 91.7% on time here, 78.7% there, 13 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 14.3 points.
HNL to SJC against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 9 AM departures | 95.3% | routes of similar length | 80.2% | +15.1 pts | 190 here, 73,060 there |
| Hour: 3 PM departures | 63.1% | routes of similar length | 75.3% | −12.2 pts | 187 here, 45,912 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 84.6% | routes of similar length | 76.0% | +8.6 pts | 508 here, 158,488 there |
| Month: July | 86.3% | routes of similar length | 70.4% | +15.9 pts | 431 here, 129,659 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 91.7% | routes of similar length | 78.7% | +13.0 pts | 1,773 here, 49,512 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 2,417 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
24 min late
against a median of 6 min early
Percentiles over 3,510 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SJC after arriving from HNL.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 35% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 15% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 7.4% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 3.3% | 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 0.46% of the time and diverts 0.14% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,489 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 24 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,510 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
HNL → SJC flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 93.5% of the time, against 69.0% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 24.5 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 93.5% on time from 833 flights
- 9 AM: 95.3% on time from 190 flights
- 10 AM: too few flights to score
- 11 AM: 88.8% on time from 223 flights
- 12 PM: 82.0% on time from 818 flights
- 1 PM: 78.3% on time from 629 flights
- 2 PM: 82.3% on time from 516 flights
- 3 PM: 63.1% on time from 189 flights
- 4 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why HNL → SJC 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 → SJC. 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 | 1,777 | 91.7% | 0.06% | -9 min | 1.6% |
| Hawaiian Airlines | 894 | 78.2% | 0.45% | -1 min | 4.1% |
| Alaska Airlines | 839 | 75.8% | 1.31% | -3 min | 6.8% |
Southwest Airlines flew 50.6% of the 3,510 flights listed. Alaska Airlines cancelled 1.31% of its flights here against 0.06% for Southwest Airlines.
Southwest Airlines arrived on time 15.9 percentage points more often than Alaska Airlines on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 4.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 81.2%
- Feb: 85.4%
- Mar: 82.7%
- Apr: 84.8%
- May: 85.4%
- Jun: 82.3%
- Jul: 86.3%
- Aug: 88.6%
- Sep: 85.7%
- Oct: 83.6%
- Nov: 85.3%
- Dec: 81.4%
January is historically the weakest month and August the strongest, a spread of 7.4 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 83.1% from 124 flights
- August 2023: 85.5% from 124 flights
- September 2023: too few flights to score (116)
- October 2023: 88.4% from 122 flights
- November 2023: too few flights to score (116)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (119)
- January 2024: 77.6% from 123 flights
- February 2024: too few flights to score (114)
- March 2024: 87.1% from 124 flights
- April 2024: 80.7% from 120 flights
- May 2024: 80.5% from 124 flights
- June 2024: 79.2% from 120 flights
- July 2024: 86.9% from 124 flights
- August 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (112)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (112)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (99)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (106)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (96)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (84)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (100)
- April 2025: too few flights to score (65)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (62)
- June 2025: too few flights to score (86)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (66)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (60)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (60)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (65)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (73)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (65)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (56)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (61)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (60)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (62)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (88)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (93)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 82.7% against 85.6% in the 12 months before — declining by 2.9 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,510 HNL → 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