Route profile
LAX→SAN
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Los Angeles to San Diego, 109 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 91% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 7,052 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
LAX → SAN arrives on time 85.9% of the time; the return trip, SAN → LAX, arrives on time 88.5% of the time, a 2.6-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
LAX → SAN spends 27.5 minutes on the ground on a 109-mile trip: 22.2 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at LAX and 5.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at SAN.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route has stayed remarkably steady year over year, a smaller swing than 100% of 5,368 comparable routes.
85.4% on time over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), against 85.4% in the 12 months before (2024-08 to 2025-07), virtually unchanged.
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 5,368 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where LAX to SAN differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
LAX to SAN is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 4 PM: 87.1% arrive on time, 12.4 points ahead of the 74.7% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 16.4 points.
LAX to SAN struggles most at 8 AM: 85.0% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 3.7 points behind the 88.7% on routes of similar length at the same hour.
LAX to SAN holds up on Tuesdays better than routes of similar length do: 91.3% on time to their 86.4%, a 4.9 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 9.7 points.
January is kinder to LAX to SAN than to routes of similar length: 87.2% on time against 81.3%, 5.9 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 8.1 points.
In October, LAX to SAN runs 4.1 points below routes of similar length, 82.4% on time to 86.5%.
LAX to SAN against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 4 PM departures | 87.1% | routes of similar length | 74.7% | +12.4 pts | 870 here, 2,781 there |
| Hour: 8 AM departures | 85.0% | routes of similar length | 88.7% | −3.7 pts | 894 here, 2,894 there |
| Weekday: Tuesday | 91.3% | routes of similar length | 86.4% | +4.9 pts | 1,020 here, 5,739 there |
| Month: January | 87.2% | routes of similar length | 81.3% | +5.9 pts | 553 here, 3,250 there |
| Month: October | 82.4% | routes of similar length | 86.5% | −4.1 pts | 575 here, 3,442 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 109 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 7 min early
Percentiles over 7,052 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SAN after arriving from LAX.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 31% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 8.4% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.2% | Low 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 0.51% of the time and diverts 0.10% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 7,009 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 7,052 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
LAX → SAN flights departing 9 PM–5 AM arrived on time 88.3% of the time, against 83.5% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 4.8 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 85.0% on time from 901 flights
- 9 AM: 84.4% on time from 1,212 flights
- 10 AM to 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 86.9% on time from 137 flights
- 1 PM: 90.6% on time from 128 flights
- 2 PM: 80.2% on time from 325 flights
- 3 PM: too few flights to score
- 4 PM: 87.1% on time from 870 flights
- 5 PM: 85.9% on time from 292 flights
- 6 PM: 85.1% on time from 746 flights
- 7 PM: 85.1% on time from 244 flights
- 8 PM: too few flights to score
- 9 PM: 85.3% on time from 628 flights
- 10 PM: 89.2% on time from 1,384 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why LAX → SAN runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
screening or terminal security incidents
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for LAX → SAN. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SkyWest Airlines | 6,798 | 85.8% | 0.51% | -7 min | 4.2% |
| United Airlines | 254 | 87.0% | 0.39% | -7 min | 3.2% |
SkyWest Airlines flew 96.4% of the 7,052 flights listed.
Carriers on this route performed within a couple of percentage points of each other.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 8.5 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 87.2%
- Feb: 85.1%
- Mar: 83.8%
- Apr: 90.3%
- May: 89.2%
- Jun: 82.5%
- Jul: 81.9%
- Aug: 90.0%
- Sep: 88.9%
- Oct: 82.4%
- Nov: 88.6%
- Dec: 81.6%
December is historically the weakest month and April the strongest, a spread of 8.7 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 89.8% from 186 flights
- August 2023: 91.3% from 186 flights
- September 2023: 93.7% from 175 flights
- October 2023: 88.1% from 186 flights
- November 2023: 92.0% from 176 flights
- December 2023: 88.6% from 168 flights
- January 2024: 89.3% from 178 flights
- February 2024: 86.0% from 165 flights
- March 2024: 89.0% from 184 flights
- April 2024: 90.0% from 180 flights
- May 2024: 85.5% from 186 flights
- June 2024: 72.8% from 180 flights
- July 2024: 74.2% from 186 flights
- August 2024: 88.1% from 185 flights
- September 2024: 83.1% from 178 flights
- October 2024: 73.1% from 186 flights
- November 2024: 86.9% from 176 flights
- December 2024: 79.3% from 172 flights
- January 2025: 89.5% from 181 flights
- February 2025: 80.8% from 168 flights
- March 2025: 83.1% from 177 flights
- April 2025: 87.7% from 203 flights
- May 2025: 94.3% from 229 flights
- June 2025: 85.4% from 205 flights
- July 2025: 89.5% from 209 flights
- August 2025: 90.5% from 211 flights
- September 2025: 89.9% from 209 flights
- October 2025: 85.6% from 208 flights
- November 2025: 86.9% from 193 flights
- December 2025: 77.4% from 187 flights
- January 2026: 83.0% from 197 flights
- February 2026: 88.1% from 185 flights
- March 2026: 79.7% from 202 flights
- April 2026: 93.2% from 207 flights
- May 2026: 87.1% from 224 flights
- June 2026: 88.0% from 209 flights
- July 2026: 74.4% from 215 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 85.4% against 85.4% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 7,052 LAX → 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