Route profile
PHX→SAT
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Phoenix to San Antonio, 843 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 65% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 8,020 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
PHX → SAT arrives on time 78.9% of the time; the return trip, SAT → PHX, arrives on time 83.3% of the time, a 4.4-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
PHX → SAT spends 18.8 minutes on the ground on an 843-mile trip: 14.3 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at PHX and 4.5 minutes from touchdown to gate at SAT.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Every airline on this route performs about the same, a narrower carrier gap than 100% of 2,692 comparable routes.
American Airlines (78.7% on time) and Southwest Airlines (78.6%) are close together here.
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 2,692 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where PHX to SAT differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
PHX to SAT is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 5 PM: 76.5% arrive on time, 8.8 points ahead of the 67.7% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 6.7 points.
PHX to SAT holds up on Sundays better than routes of similar length do: 78.1% on time to their 74.2%, a 3.9 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 3.3 points.
In October, PHX to SAT runs 5.1 points below routes of similar length, 77.7% on time to 82.8%. Against all other routes the gap is 5.3 points.
September is kinder to PHX to SAT than to routes of similar length: 86.8% on time against 82.2%, 4.6 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 4.4 points.
American Airlines does better on PHX to SAT than on its routes of similar length: 78.7% on time here, 74.1% there, 4.6 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 3.6 points.
PHX to SAT against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 5 PM departures | 76.5% | routes of similar length | 67.7% | +8.8 pts | 310 here, 152,204 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 78.1% | routes of similar length | 74.2% | +3.9 pts | 1,135 here, 375,652 there |
| Month: October | 77.7% | routes of similar length | 82.8% | −5.1 pts | 645 here, 216,884 there |
| Month: September | 86.8% | routes of similar length | 82.2% | +4.6 pts | 562 here, 201,631 there |
| Airline: American Airlines | 78.7% | routes of similar length | 74.1% | +4.6 pts | 3,318 here, 387,185 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 843 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
42 min late
against a median of 4 min early
Percentiles over 8,020 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SAT after arriving from PHX.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 38% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 20% | High risk |
| 60 min | 13% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.6% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.9% | 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 0.39% of the time and diverts 0.22% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 7,971 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 42 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 8,020 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
PHX → SAT flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 94.0% of the time, against 67.1% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 26.9 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 95.1% on time from 285 flights
- 6 AM: 96.3% on time from 300 flights
- 7 AM: 94.0% on time from 304 flights
- 8 AM: 92.2% on time from 567 flights
- 9 AM: 86.2% on time from 785 flights
- 10 AM: 83.3% on time from 564 flights
- 11 AM: 86.8% on time from 274 flights
- 12 PM: 76.4% on time from 793 flights
- 1 PM: 81.1% on time from 510 flights
- 2 PM: 75.6% on time from 475 flights
- 3 PM: 75.5% on time from 295 flights
- 4 PM: 70.4% on time from 556 flights
- 5 PM: 76.5% on time from 313 flights
- 6 PM: 72.1% on time from 536 flights
- 7 PM: 65.6% on time from 948 flights
- 8 PM: 63.8% on time from 381 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why PHX → SAT 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 PHX → SAT. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on PHX → SAT, at 58.1%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 94.0% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 67.1%.
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 | 4,384 | 78.6% | 0.34% | -3 min | 5.2% |
| American Airlines | 3,341 | 78.7% | 0.48% | -6 min | 9.4% |
Southwest Airlines flew 56.8% of the 7,725 flights listed.
Carriers on this route performed within a couple of percentage points of each other.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 8.8 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 81.1%
- Feb: 84.6%
- Mar: 77.7%
- Apr: 79.1%
- May: 75.7%
- Jun: 75.0%
- Jul: 72.1%
- Aug: 76.0%
- Sep: 86.8%
- Oct: 77.7%
- Nov: 83.5%
- Dec: 80.2%
July is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 14.7 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 74.3% from 202 flights
- August 2023: 75.4% from 193 flights
- September 2023: 86.0% from 196 flights
- October 2023: 73.2% from 231 flights
- November 2023: 87.1% from 225 flights
- December 2023: 84.5% from 233 flights
- January 2024: 71.2% from 228 flights
- February 2024: 89.4% from 218 flights
- March 2024: 75.9% from 243 flights
- April 2024: 79.9% from 226 flights
- May 2024: 73.7% from 237 flights
- June 2024: 76.8% from 211 flights
- July 2024: 73.8% from 213 flights
- August 2024: 75.1% from 212 flights
- September 2024: 91.0% from 200 flights
- October 2024: 86.4% from 214 flights
- November 2024: 87.9% from 233 flights
- December 2024: 78.4% from 242 flights
- January 2025: 86.0% from 220 flights
- February 2025: 83.3% from 209 flights
- March 2025: 81.5% from 260 flights
- April 2025: 77.6% from 243 flights
- May 2025: 78.9% from 224 flights
- June 2025: 75.7% from 192 flights
- July 2025: 67.7% from 193 flights
- August 2025: 77.6% from 175 flights
- September 2025: 82.8% from 171 flights
- October 2025: 73.6% from 201 flights
- November 2025: 75.7% from 236 flights
- December 2025: 77.8% from 252 flights
- January 2026: 86.7% from 216 flights
- February 2026: 80.1% from 171 flights
- March 2026: 75.1% from 233 flights
- April 2026: 79.7% from 232 flights
- May 2026: 74.7% from 231 flights
- June 2026: 72.4% from 201 flights
- July 2026: 72.3% from 203 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 77.3% against 80.9% in the 12 months before — declining by 3.6 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 8,020 PHX → 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