Route profile
PHL→SAN
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Philadelphia to San Diego, 2,370 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 32% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,098 flights. How this is calculated
PHL → SAN arrives on time 75.6% of the time; the return trip, SAN → PHL, arrives on time 87.2% of the time, an 11.6-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
PHL → SAN spends 32.0 minutes on the ground on a 2,370-mile trip: 24.5 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at PHL and 7.5 minutes from touchdown to gate at SAN.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where PHL to SAN differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
Friday is the day PHL to SAN slips furthest against routes of similar length, 71.9% on time where they average 77.4%, 5.5 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 4.3 points.
In May, PHL to SAN runs 5.8 points below routes of similar length, 71.8% on time to 77.6%.
March is kinder to PHL to SAN than to routes of similar length: 84.7% on time against 79.1%, 5.6 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 6.8 points.
American Airlines’ flights on PHL to SAN arrive on time 75.6% of the time, 2.9 points below the 78.5% it manages on its routes of similar length.
PHL to SAN against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weekday: Friday | 71.9% | routes of similar length | 77.4% | −5.5 pts | 442 here, 162,156 there |
| Month: May | 71.8% | routes of similar length | 77.6% | −5.8 pts | 241 here, 95,602 there |
| Month: March | 84.7% | routes of similar length | 79.1% | +5.6 pts | 236 here, 87,172 there |
| Airline: American Airlines | 75.6% | routes of similar length | 78.5% | −2.9 pts | 3,036 here, 229,854 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 2,370 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
51 min late
against a median of 5 min early
Percentiles over 3,098 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SAN after arriving from PHL.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 40% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 23% | High risk |
| 60 min | 15% | High risk |
| 90 min | 8.2% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.9% | 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 1.39% of the time and diverts 0.61% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,036 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 51 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,098 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
PHL → SAN flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 85.7% of the time, against 68.3% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 17.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 85.7% on time from 943 flights
- 9 AM: 78.7% on time from 174 flights
- 10 AM to 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 74.0% on time from 418 flights
- 4 PM: 75.7% on time from 345 flights
- 5 PM: too few flights to score
- 6 PM: 68.1% on time from 713 flights
- 7 PM: 69.3% on time from 394 flights
- 8 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why PHL → SAN 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
screening or terminal security incidents
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for PHL → SAN. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 3,098 | 75.6% | 1.39% | -5 min | 8.3% |
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA1621 American Airlines | 8:50 AM | 624 | 87.6% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 6.4 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 74.8%
- Feb: 76.0%
- Mar: 84.7%
- Apr: 78.7%
- May: 71.8%
- Jun: 70.7%
- Jul: 64.9%
- Aug: 73.5%
- Sep: 77.6%
- Oct: 81.0%
- Nov: 77.6%
- Dec: 81.0%
July is historically the weakest month and March the strongest, a spread of 19.8 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 79.4% against 71.0% in the 12 months before — improving by 8.4 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,098 PHL → 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