Route profile
LAX→SAT
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Los Angeles to San Antonio, 1,211 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 76% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 6,320 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
LAX → SAT arrives on time 81.8% of the time; the return trip, SAT → LAX, arrives on time 86.0% of the time, a 4.2-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
LAX → SAT spends 22.3 minutes on the ground on a 1,211-mile trip: 16.6 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at LAX and 5.7 minutes from touchdown to gate at SAT.
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 97% of 3,357 comparable routes.
86.9% on time in its best month (September) against 78.0% in its worst (July).
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 LAX to SAT differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
LAX to SAT is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 6 PM: 78.1% arrive on time, 10.4 points ahead of the 67.7% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 9.6 points.
LAX to SAT struggles most at 7 AM: 81.0% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 7.2 points behind the 88.2% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 6.8 points.
LAX to SAT holds up on Fridays better than routes of similar length do: 82.3% on time to their 75.6%, a 6.7 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 6.1 points.
June is kinder to LAX to SAT than to routes of similar length: 81.0% on time against 71.6%, 9.4 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 8.3 points.
Spirit Airlines does better on LAX to SAT than on its routes of similar length: 84.6% on time here, 73.8% there, 10.8 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 9.4 points.
LAX to SAT against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 6 PM departures | 78.1% | routes of similar length | 67.7% | +10.4 pts | 1,583 here, 126,305 there |
| Hour: 7 AM departures | 81.0% | routes of similar length | 88.2% | −7.2 pts | 142 here, 169,225 there |
| Weekday: Friday | 82.3% | routes of similar length | 75.6% | +6.7 pts | 947 here, 294,592 there |
| Month: June | 81.0% | routes of similar length | 71.6% | +9.4 pts | 526 here, 157,885 there |
| Airline: Spirit Airlines | 84.6% | routes of similar length | 73.8% | +10.8 pts | 831 here, 131,402 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 1,211 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
34 min late
against a median of 6 min early
Percentiles over 6,320 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SAT after arriving from LAX.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 35% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 18% | High risk |
| 60 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.0% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.8% | 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 0.38% of the time and diverts 0.16% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 6,286 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 34 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 6,320 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
LAX → SAT flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 86.3% of the time, against 77.0% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 9.3 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 81.0% on time from 142 flights
- 8 AM: 86.6% on time from 557 flights
- 9 AM: 88.2% on time from 1,658 flights
- 10 AM: 81.3% on time from 596 flights
- 11 AM: 74.0% on time from 155 flights
- 12 PM: 78.5% on time from 191 flights
- 1 PM: 77.0% on time from 123 flights
- 2 PM: 82.1% on time from 204 flights
- 3 PM: too few flights to score
- 4 PM: 78.9% on time from 142 flights
- 5 PM: 76.7% on time from 517 flights
- 6 PM: 78.1% on time from 1,597 flights
- 7 PM: 71.2% on time from 193 flights
- 8 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why LAX → SAT 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 LAX → SAT. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 2,124 | 83.2% | 0.42% | -7 min | 6.7% |
| SkyWest Airlines | 1,627 | 87.9% | 0.25% | -8 min | 4.4% |
| Southwest Airlines | 1,301 | 70.3% | 0.08% | 3 min | 5.2% |
| Spirit Airlines | 841 | 84.6% | 1.07% | -8 min | 6.3% |
| American Airlines | 427 | 81.0% | 0.23% | -7 min | 11.7% |
Delta Air Lines flew 33.6% of the 6,320 flights listed.
SkyWest Airlines arrived on time 17.6 percentage points more often than Southwest Airlines on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| DL2686 Delta Air Lines | 6:59 PM | 689 | 81.1% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 5.0 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 81.6%
- Feb: 84.1%
- Mar: 79.6%
- Apr: 84.4%
- May: 81.0%
- Jun: 81.0%
- Jul: 78.0%
- Aug: 81.7%
- Sep: 86.9%
- Oct: 82.9%
- Nov: 80.1%
- Dec: 82.2%
July is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 8.9 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 73.2% from 205 flights
- August 2023: 75.2% from 204 flights
- September 2023: 80.5% from 169 flights
- October 2023: 73.9% from 188 flights
- November 2023: 76.2% from 172 flights
- December 2023: 76.8% from 181 flights
- January 2024: 75.4% from 168 flights
- February 2024: 87.1% from 164 flights
- March 2024: 74.5% from 185 flights
- April 2024: 78.5% from 181 flights
- May 2024: 81.6% from 186 flights
- June 2024: 78.8% from 198 flights
- July 2024: 77.5% from 193 flights
- August 2024: 90.8% from 174 flights
- September 2024: 91.6% from 166 flights
- October 2024: 84.3% from 179 flights
- November 2024: 89.6% from 174 flights
- December 2024: 85.9% from 185 flights
- January 2025: 89.0% from 158 flights
- February 2025: 85.6% from 132 flights
- March 2025: 83.2% from 174 flights
- April 2025: 89.0% from 181 flights
- May 2025: 85.4% from 185 flights
- June 2025: 84.8% from 186 flights
- July 2025: 83.8% from 186 flights
- August 2025: 80.1% from 182 flights
- September 2025: 89.0% from 155 flights
- October 2025: 91.6% from 168 flights
- November 2025: 74.6% from 174 flights
- December 2025: 83.8% from 181 flights
- January 2026: 80.6% from 129 flights
- February 2026: 78.5% from 121 flights
- March 2026: 81.9% from 144 flights
- April 2026: 86.3% from 146 flights
- May 2026: 74.5% from 149 flights
- June 2026: 79.2% from 146 flights
- July 2026: 78.0% from 151 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 81.6% against 86.9% in the 12 months before — declining by 5.3 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 6,320 LAX → SAT 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