Route profile
LAX→SBA
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara, 89 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 75% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 2,142 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
LAX → SBA arrives on time 85.7% of the time; the return trip, SBA → LAX, arrives on time 89.9% of the time, a 4.3-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
LAX → SBA spends 27.2 minutes on the ground on an 89-mile trip: 21.5 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at LAX and 5.7 minutes from touchdown to gate at SBA.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Unlike most, it barely matters what time you fly this route, a steadier spread than 99% of 4,023 comparable routes.
87.6% on time for 3–6 PM departures, against 83.9% for 9 PM–5 AM, a narrow gap either way.
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 4,023 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where LAX to SBA differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
LAX to SBA is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 10 AM: 90.3% arrive on time, 11.7 points ahead of the 78.6% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 7.6 points.
LAX to SBA holds up on Mondays better than routes of similar length do: 88.3% on time to their 77.6%, a 10.7 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 11.1 points.
January is kinder to LAX to SBA than to routes of similar length: 88.2% on time against 76.0%, 12.2 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 9.1 points.
SkyWest Airlines does better on LAX to SBA than on its routes of similar length: 85.7% on time here, 80.1% there, 5.6 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 4.4 points.
LAX to SBA against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 10 AM departures | 90.3% | routes of similar length | 78.6% | +11.7 pts | 124 here, 1,775 there |
| Weekday: Monday | 88.3% | routes of similar length | 77.6% | +10.7 pts | 309 here, 2,471 there |
| Month: January | 88.2% | routes of similar length | 76.0% | +12.2 pts | 170 here, 1,286 there |
| Airline: SkyWest Airlines | 85.7% | routes of similar length | 80.1% | +5.6 pts | 2,105 here, 13,740 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 89 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
23 min late
against a median of 8 min early
Percentiles over 2,142 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SBA after arriving from LAX.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 29% | High risk |
| 45 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 7.9% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.6% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 3.0% | 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 1.17% of the time and diverts 0.56% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 2,105 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 23 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 2,142 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
LAX → SBA flights departing 3–6 PM arrived on time 87.6% of the time, against 83.9% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 3.7 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 9 AM: too few flights to score
- 10 AM: 90.3% on time from 124 flights
- 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 90.1% on time from 144 flights
- 1 PM: 82.6% on time from 144 flights
- 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 85.7% on time from 301 flights
- 4 PM to 9 PM: too few flights to score
- 10 PM: 82.9% on time from 655 flights
- 11 PM: 85.2% on time from 456 flights
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why LAX → SBA 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
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
screening or terminal security incidents
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for LAX → SBA. 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 | 2,142 | 85.7% | 1.17% | -8 min | 4.7% |
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| OO4796 SkyWest Airlines | 11:00 PM | 1,103 | 83.8% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Monday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 8.1 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 88.2%
- Feb: 84.3%
- Mar: 82.2%
- Apr: 89.5%
- May: 91.6%
- Jun: 85.4%
- Jul: 82.4%
- Aug: 82.1%
- Sep: 90.4%
- Oct: 88.0%
- Nov: 84.3%
- Dec: 79.6%
December is historically the weakest month and May the strongest, a spread of 12.0 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 88.1% against 87.4% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 2,142 LAX → SBA 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