Route profile
IAH→SNA
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Houston to Santa Ana, 1,346 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 84% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,721 flights. How this is calculated
IAH → SNA arrives on time 83.5% of the time; the return trip, SNA → IAH, arrives on time 87.8% of the time, a 4.3-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
IAH → SNA spends 27.9 minutes on the ground on a 1,346-mile trip: 21.0 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at IAH and 6.9 minutes from touchdown to gate at SNA.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where IAH to SNA differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
IAH to SNA is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 7 PM: 88.4% arrive on time, 21.6 points ahead of the 66.8% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 20.6 points.
IAH to SNA holds up on Tuesdays better than routes of similar length do: 87.9% on time to their 80.8%, a 7.1 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 6.3 points.
December is kinder to IAH to SNA than to routes of similar length: 89.7% on time against 78.8%, 10.9 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 10.9 points.
United Airlines does better on IAH to SNA than on its routes of similar length: 83.5% on time here, 81.2% there, 2.3 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 3.6 points.
IAH to SNA against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 7 PM departures | 88.4% | routes of similar length | 66.8% | +21.6 pts | 232 here, 85,100 there |
| Weekday: Tuesday | 87.9% | routes of similar length | 80.8% | +7.1 pts | 529 here, 235,153 there |
| Month: December | 89.7% | routes of similar length | 78.8% | +10.9 pts | 300 here, 141,623 there |
| Airline: United Airlines | 83.5% | routes of similar length | 81.2% | +2.3 pts | 3,659 here, 311,883 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 1,346 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
30 min late
against a median of 7 min early
Percentiles over 3,721 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SNA after arriving from IAH.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 32% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 16% | High risk |
| 60 min | 9.9% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.0% | Some 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 0.81% of the time and diverts 0.86% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,659 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 30 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,721 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
IAH → SNA flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 88.0% of the time, against 77.1% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 10.9 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 8 AM: too few flights to score
- 9 AM: 87.7% on time from 1,064 flights
- 10 AM to 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 81.6% on time from 965 flights
- 1 PM to 3 PM: too few flights to score
- 4 PM: 71.0% on time from 139 flights
- 5 PM: 80.7% on time from 237 flights
- 6 PM: too few flights to score
- 7 PM: 88.4% on time from 233 flights
- 8 PM: 81.1% on time from 874 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why IAH → SNA 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
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for IAH → SNA. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 3,721 | 83.5% | 0.81% | -7 min | 5.1% |
Other ways to fly Houston to Los Angeles
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IAH→LAX Houston to Los Angeles | 16,491 | 82.8% | 1.01% | -8 min | 74 |
| IAH→SNA this route Houston to Santa Ana | 3,721 | 83.5% | 0.81% | -7 min | 78 |
IAH → SNA is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 83.5% on time, against 82.8% for IAH → LAX.
Flying to SNA from the Houston area? Compare IAH, HOU for SNA, with the same test for what counts as a real difference.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| UA1383 United Airlines | 9:30 AM | 823 | 87.4% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 8.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 84.5%
- Feb: 87.8%
- Mar: 87.2%
- Apr: 85.9%
- May: 74.4%
- Jun: 74.0%
- Jul: 71.8%
- Aug: 85.6%
- Sep: 90.2%
- Oct: 87.7%
- Nov: 87.2%
- Dec: 89.7%
July is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 18.4 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 67.8% from 121 flights
- August 2023: 86.2% from 124 flights
- September 2023: too few flights to score (117)
- October 2023: too few flights to score (93)
- November 2023: too few flights to score (90)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (93)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (113)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (112)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (118)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (90)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (102)
- June 2024: 68.4% from 120 flights
- July 2024: 59.8% from 124 flights
- August 2024: too few flights to score (111)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (90)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (93)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (89)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (118)
- January 2025: 84.3% from 120 flights
- February 2025: too few flights to score (108)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (117)
- April 2025: too few flights to score (90)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- June 2025: too few flights to score (90)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (90)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (89)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (93)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (84)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (93)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (90)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (93)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (90)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (91)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 87.5% against 85.4% in the 12 months before — improving by 2.1 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,721 IAH → SNA 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