Route profile
LAX→OAK
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Los Angeles to Oakland, 337 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 89% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 8,954 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
LAX → OAK arrives on time 83.2% of the time; the return trip, OAK → LAX, arrives on time 83.4% of the time.
LAX → OAK spends 18.5 minutes on the ground on a 337-mile trip: 12.6 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at LAX and 5.9 minutes from touchdown to gate at OAK.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where LAX to OAK differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
LAX to OAK struggles most at 9 PM: 59.4% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 11.5 points behind the 70.9% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 10.1 points.
LAX to OAK is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 2 PM: 85.2% arrive on time, 7.8 points ahead of the 77.4% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 10.6 points.
LAX to OAK holds up on Mondays better than routes of similar length do: 84.3% on time to their 79.2%, a 5.1 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 7.1 points.
July is kinder to LAX to OAK than to routes of similar length: 79.5% on time against 73.5%, 6 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 9.8 points.
SkyWest Airlines does better on LAX to OAK than on its routes of similar length: 91.3% on time here, 81.5% there, 9.8 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 10 points.
LAX to OAK against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 9 PM departures | 59.4% | routes of similar length | 70.9% | −11.5 pts | 229 here, 35,337 there |
| Hour: 2 PM departures | 85.2% | routes of similar length | 77.4% | +7.8 pts | 528 here, 58,898 there |
| Weekday: Monday | 84.3% | routes of similar length | 79.2% | +5.1 pts | 1,374 here, 164,621 there |
| Month: July | 79.5% | routes of similar length | 73.5% | +6.0 pts | 989 here, 118,913 there |
| Airline: SkyWest Airlines | 91.3% | routes of similar length | 81.5% | +9.8 pts | 855 here, 139,907 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 337 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.
Why LAX → OAK flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
LAX → OAK cancelled 74 of 8,954 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 121. The reason filed most often was the airline, 78.4% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 154 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 74 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
58 cancellations, 78.4% of the total.
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
15 cancellations, 20.3% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
1 cancellation, 1.4% of the total.
A terminal evacuation, a security breach, screening equipment failure, or screening queues over 29 minutes.
0 cancellations, 0.0% of the total.
Reason codes are the operating airline’s own filing with US DOT, not an independent finding of fault. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
74 coded cancellations were recorded on LAX → OAK; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
29 min late
against a median of 8 min early
Percentiles over 8,954 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at OAK after arriving from LAX.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 30% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 16% | High risk |
| 60 min | 9.5% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.2% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.1% | 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 0.02% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 8,878 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 29 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 8,954 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
LAX → OAK flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 95.0% of the time, against 65.0% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 30.0 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 96.6% on time from 722 flights
- 7 AM: 95.1% on time from 416 flights
- 8 AM: 93.5% on time from 729 flights
- 9 AM: 88.7% on time from 694 flights
- 10 AM: 86.5% on time from 538 flights
- 11 AM: 87.9% on time from 472 flights
- 12 PM: 83.6% on time from 476 flights
- 1 PM: 82.3% on time from 358 flights
- 2 PM: 85.2% on time from 532 flights
- 3 PM: 78.9% on time from 554 flights
- 4 PM: 78.4% on time from 506 flights
- 5 PM: 78.4% on time from 539 flights
- 6 PM: 74.8% on time from 499 flights
- 7 PM: 76.8% on time from 751 flights
- 8 PM: 70.7% on time from 713 flights
- 9 PM: 59.4% on time from 229 flights
- 10 PM: 75.0% on time from 120 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why LAX → OAK 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 LAX → OAK. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on LAX → OAK, at 63.4%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 95.0% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 65.0%.
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 | 7,424 | 82.6% | 0.96% | -9 min | 4.0% |
| SkyWest Airlines | 858 | 91.3% | 0.12% | -9 min | 3.0% |
| Spirit Airlines | 672 | 79.0% | 0.30% | -8 min | 8.1% |
Southwest Airlines flew 82.9% of the 8,954 flights listed.
SkyWest Airlines arrived on time 12.3 percentage points more often than Spirit Airlines on this route.
Other ways to fly Los Angeles to San Francisco
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LAX→SFO Los Angeles to San Francisco | 34,819 | 69.3% | 0.67% | -1 min | 55 |
| LAX→SJC Los Angeles to San Jose | 15,597 | 86.5% | 0.35% | -9 min | 87 |
| SNA→SFO Santa Ana to San Francisco | 13,797 | 71.6% | 1.26% | -3 min | 54 |
| LAX→OAK this route Los Angeles to Oakland | 8,954 | 83.2% | 0.83% | -8 min | 81 |
LAX → SJC is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 86.5% on time, against 71.6% for SNA → SFO.
Flying to OAK from the Los Angeles area? Compare LAX, SNA, BUR, ONT for OAK, with the same test for what counts as a real difference.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 10.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 85.1%
- Feb: 83.8%
- Mar: 83.4%
- Apr: 83.8%
- May: 81.1%
- Jun: 75.6%
- Jul: 79.5%
- Aug: 82.0%
- Sep: 86.7%
- Oct: 85.1%
- Nov: 87.2%
- Dec: 85.0%
June is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 11.6 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 79.4% from 378 flights
- August 2023: 77.2% from 394 flights
- September 2023: 87.7% from 366 flights
- October 2023: 81.2% from 372 flights
- November 2023: 88.1% from 340 flights
- December 2023: 83.5% from 351 flights
- January 2024: 79.9% from 330 flights
- February 2024: 83.2% from 294 flights
- March 2024: 78.0% from 328 flights
- April 2024: 85.5% from 349 flights
- May 2024: 80.6% from 290 flights
- June 2024: 75.0% from 268 flights
- July 2024: 77.0% from 275 flights
- August 2024: 85.6% from 290 flights
- September 2024: 87.2% from 273 flights
- October 2024: 92.7% from 262 flights
- November 2024: 90.4% from 210 flights
- December 2024: 88.9% from 191 flights
- January 2025: 92.3% from 183 flights
- February 2025: 90.0% from 172 flights
- March 2025: 91.9% from 198 flights
- April 2025: 90.0% from 192 flights
- May 2025: 90.4% from 200 flights
- June 2025: 85.3% from 185 flights
- July 2025: 81.5% from 183 flights
- August 2025: 86.4% from 184 flights
- September 2025: 84.0% from 181 flights
- October 2025: 82.1% from 197 flights
- November 2025: 81.9% from 184 flights
- December 2025: 83.9% from 180 flights
- January 2026: 87.3% from 158 flights
- February 2026: 78.3% from 154 flights
- March 2026: 84.0% from 169 flights
- April 2026: 73.4% from 169 flights
- May 2026: 71.4% from 176 flights
- June 2026: 65.6% from 163 flights
- July 2026: 81.7% from 165 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 80.1% against 88.8% in the 12 months before — declining by 8.7 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 8,954 LAX → 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