Route profile
OAK→LAX
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Oakland to Los Angeles, 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 88% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 9,012 flights. How this is calculated
OAK → LAX arrives on time 83.4% of the time; the return trip, LAX → OAK, arrives on time 83.2% of the time.
OAK → LAX spends 22.0 minutes on the ground on a 337-mile trip: 14.1 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at OAK and 7.9 minutes from touchdown to gate at LAX.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where OAK to LAX differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
OAK to LAX is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 5 PM: 82.6% arrive on time, 9.7 points ahead of the 72.9% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 12.8 points.
OAK to LAX holds up on Wednesdays better than routes of similar length do: 88.1% on time to their 82.9%, a 5.2 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 7.3 points.
January is kinder to OAK to LAX than to routes of similar length: 90.5% on time against 82.2%, 8.3 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 11.4 points.
SkyWest Airlines does better on OAK to LAX than on its routes of similar length: 90.8% on time here, 81.5% there, 9.3 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 9.5 points.
OAK to LAX against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 5 PM departures | 82.6% | routes of similar length | 72.9% | +9.7 pts | 570 here, 69,978 there |
| Weekday: Wednesday | 88.1% | routes of similar length | 82.9% | +5.2 pts | 1,225 here, 152,043 there |
| Month: January | 90.5% | routes of similar length | 82.2% | +8.3 pts | 656 here, 78,989 there |
| Airline: SkyWest Airlines | 90.8% | routes of similar length | 81.5% | +9.3 pts | 862 here, 139,900 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 OAK → LAX flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
OAK → LAX cancelled 78 of 9,012 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 116. The reason filed most often was the airline, 73.1% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 158 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 78 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.
57 cancellations, 73.1% of the total.
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
17 cancellations, 21.8% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
4 cancellations, 5.1% 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.
78 coded cancellations were recorded on OAK → LAX; 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 9,012 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at LAX after arriving from OAK.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 31% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 16% | High risk |
| 60 min | 9.4% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.3% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.3% | 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 0.87% of the time and diverts 0.01% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 8,933 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 9,012 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
OAK → LAX flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 91.8% of the time, against 66.1% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 25.7 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 92.0% on time from 277 flights
- 6 AM: 93.6% on time from 903 flights
- 7 AM: 90.6% on time from 694 flights
- 8 AM: 90.5% on time from 610 flights
- 9 AM: 92.8% on time from 395 flights
- 10 AM: 92.7% on time from 445 flights
- 11 AM: 89.5% on time from 762 flights
- 12 PM: 86.5% on time from 425 flights
- 1 PM: 81.8% on time from 527 flights
- 2 PM: 83.6% on time from 364 flights
- 3 PM: 76.5% on time from 470 flights
- 4 PM: 70.9% on time from 607 flights
- 5 PM: 82.6% on time from 571 flights
- 6 PM: 76.1% on time from 683 flights
- 7 PM: 68.7% on time from 461 flights
- 8 PM: 71.9% on time from 584 flights
- 9 PM: 65.9% on time from 215 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why OAK → LAX 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 OAK → LAX. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on OAK → LAX, at 49.7%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 91.8% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 66.1%.
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 | 7,476 | 82.3% | 0.99% | -8 min | 4.6% |
| SkyWest Airlines | 864 | 90.8% | 0.12% | -10 min | 2.9% |
| Spirit Airlines | 672 | 85.9% | 0.45% | -9 min | 4.3% |
Southwest Airlines flew 83.0% of the 9,012 flights listed.
SkyWest Airlines arrived on time 8.5 percentage points more often than Southwest Airlines on this route.
Other ways to fly San Francisco to Los Angeles
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SFO→LAX San Francisco to Los Angeles | 34,804 | 77.1% | 0.70% | -5 min | 67 |
| SJC→LAX San Jose to Los Angeles | 15,614 | 86.7% | 0.37% | -10 min | 88 |
| SFO→SNA San Francisco to Santa Ana | 13,715 | 80.2% | 1.13% | -6 min | 72 |
| OAK→LAX this route Oakland to Los Angeles | 9,012 | 83.4% | 0.87% | -8 min | 80 |
SJC → LAX is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 86.7% on time, against 77.1% for SFO → LAX.
Flying to LAX from the San Francisco area? Compare OAK, SFO, SJC for LAX, 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: 90.5%
- Feb: 84.6%
- Mar: 84.2%
- Apr: 84.5%
- May: 84.9%
- Jun: 77.6%
- Jul: 78.9%
- Aug: 81.1%
- Sep: 83.9%
- Oct: 83.2%
- Nov: 87.8%
- Dec: 81.6%
June is historically the weakest month and January the strongest, a spread of 12.9 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 80.7% from 380 flights
- August 2023: 79.5% from 396 flights
- September 2023: 83.4% from 373 flights
- October 2023: 84.0% from 378 flights
- November 2023: 88.8% from 341 flights
- December 2023: 82.4% from 351 flights
- January 2024: 88.3% from 319 flights
- February 2024: 85.4% from 288 flights
- March 2024: 82.9% from 334 flights
- April 2024: 87.7% from 361 flights
- May 2024: 84.2% from 306 flights
- June 2024: 78.9% from 269 flights
- July 2024: 77.8% from 275 flights
- August 2024: 84.8% from 290 flights
- September 2024: 84.6% from 272 flights
- October 2024: 86.3% from 262 flights
- November 2024: 93.3% from 211 flights
- December 2024: 84.7% from 189 flights
- January 2025: 91.7% from 184 flights
- February 2025: 88.2% from 180 flights
- March 2025: 89.6% from 203 flights
- April 2025: 83.5% from 196 flights
- May 2025: 91.6% from 204 flights
- June 2025: 83.2% from 185 flights
- July 2025: 80.1% from 183 flights
- August 2025: 79.0% from 185 flights
- September 2025: 84.0% from 181 flights
- October 2025: 77.7% from 197 flights
- November 2025: 79.6% from 184 flights
- December 2025: 77.0% from 180 flights
- January 2026: 93.7% from 159 flights
- February 2026: 79.1% from 154 flights
- March 2026: 80.4% from 169 flights
- April 2026: 79.0% from 169 flights
- May 2026: 78.4% from 176 flights
- June 2026: 69.1% from 163 flights
- July 2026: 75.0% from 165 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 79.3% against 86.7% in the 12 months before — declining by 7.4 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 9,012 OAK → LAX 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