Route profile
HOU→SAN
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Houston to San Diego, 1,313 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 67% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 2,706 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
HOU → SAN arrives on time 77.3% of the time; the return trip, SAN → HOU, arrives on time 73.9% of the time, a 3.4-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
HOU → SAN spends 17.5 minutes on the ground on a 1,313-mile trip: 12.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at HOU and 4.8 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 HOU to SAN differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
HOU to SAN struggles most at 2 PM: 62.0% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 10.9 points behind the 72.9% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 12.6 points.
HOU to SAN is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 6 PM: 78.7% arrive on time, 9.7 points ahead of the 69.0% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 10.1 points.
August is kinder to HOU to SAN than to routes of similar length: 86.6% on time against 75.8%, 10.8 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 10.1 points.
In May, HOU to SAN runs 7.9 points below routes of similar length, 65.9% on time to 73.8%. Against all other routes the gap is 9.4 points.
HOU to SAN against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 2 PM departures | 62.0% | routes of similar length | 72.9% | −10.9 pts | 150 here, 99,842 there |
| Hour: 6 PM departures | 78.7% | routes of similar length | 69.0% | +9.7 pts | 164 here, 114,823 there |
| Month: August | 86.6% | routes of similar length | 75.8% | +10.8 pts | 194 here, 141,750 there |
| Month: May | 65.9% | routes of similar length | 73.8% | −7.9 pts | 211 here, 144,116 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 1,313 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
37 min late
against a median of 3 min early
Percentiles over 2,706 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SAN after arriving from HOU.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 42% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 22% | High risk |
| 60 min | 13% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.4% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 2.4% | 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 0.67% of the time and diverts 0.44% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 2,676 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 37 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 2,706 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
HOU → SAN flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 90.0% of the time, against 61.3% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 28.7 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 90.7% on time from 263 flights
- 7 AM: 86.1% on time from 152 flights
- 8 AM: 88.2% on time from 448 flights
- 9 AM: 92.0% on time from 174 flights
- 10 AM to 12 PM: too few flights to score
- 1 PM: 68.2% on time from 153 flights
- 2 PM: 62.0% on time from 151 flights
- 3 PM: too few flights to score
- 4 PM: 66.1% on time from 166 flights
- 5 PM: 77.6% on time from 159 flights
- 6 PM: 78.7% on time from 165 flights
- 7 PM: 65.7% on time from 175 flights
- 8 PM: 67.5% on time from 195 flights
- 9 PM: 61.8% on time from 159 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why HOU → SAN runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
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 HOU → SAN. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on HOU → SAN, at 43.1%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 9 AM–12 PM departures arrived on time 90.0% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 61.3%.
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 | 2,706 | 77.3% | 0.67% | -3 min | 5.7% |
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: 83.2%
- Feb: 86.5%
- Mar: 82.2%
- Apr: 75.2%
- May: 65.9%
- Jun: 64.3%
- Jul: 64.9%
- Aug: 86.6%
- Sep: 86.0%
- Oct: 82.0%
- Nov: 84.7%
- Dec: 79.2%
June is historically the weakest month and August the strongest, a spread of 22.3 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 76.3% against 77.7% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 2,706 HOU → 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