PHX → SNA Flight Reliability

Right now

Origin · PHXNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 07:51 UTC

Phoenix airport profile →

Destination · SNANo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 07:53 UTC

Santa Ana airport profile →

Route reliability

July 2023 – July 2026

Route Reliability Score

78/ 100Strong

Better than 84% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)

Calculated from 13,640 flights. How this is calculated

On-time arrivals

81.8%

11,088 of 13,549

Cancellation rate

0.53%

72 cancelled

Median arrival delay

-6 min

Average 4.0 min

Severe delays

4.8%

60+ minutes late

Delay when late

57 min

Average, when 15+ min late

Flights analyzed

13,640

3 carriers

PHX → SNA arrives on time 81.8% of the time; the return trip, SNA → PHX, arrives on time 83.2% of the time.

PHX → SNA spends 20.4 minutes on the ground on a 338-mile trip: 14.0 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at PHX and 6.4 minutes from touchdown to gate at SNA.

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.

85.4% on time in its best month (February) against 76.7% 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.

Why PHX → SNA flights are cancelled

July 2023 – July 2026

PHX → SNA cancelled 72 of 13,640 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 189. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 48.6% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 390 scheduled flights.

Share of cancellations

Weather48.6%

Airline41.7%

Air traffic9.7%

Security0.0%

Of 72 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.

What each reason means

Extreme weather1 in 390

Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.

35 cancellations, 48.6% of the total.

The airline1 in 455

Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.

30 cancellations, 41.7% of the total.

The air traffic system1 in 1,949

Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.

7 cancellations, 9.7% of the total.

Security—

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.

72 coded cancellations were recorded on PHX → SNA; the section appears from 50.

When it goes wrong

July 2023 – July 2026

One arrival in ten is worse than

31 min late

against a median of 6 min early

Arrived an hour or more late4.8%

Typical delay when late57 min

Cancelled0.53%

Landed somewhere else0.14%

Percentiles over 13,640 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.

Will your connection be tight enough?

Layovers at SNA after arriving from PHX.

Connection buffer and chance of missing by layover length, PHX → SNA arrivals
Connection time	Chance of missing	Reads as
30 min	34%	Likely to miss
45 min	17%	High risk
60 min	10%	Some risk
90 min	4.6%	Low risk
120 min	2.5%	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 0.53% of the time and diverts 0.14% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.

Chance of missing is the share of 13,549 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 31 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 13,640 operations.

Any other layover length: connection checker.

Best time to fly

PHX → SNA flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 91.5% of the time, against 75.0% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 16.5 percentage points.

By day and hour

On-time arrival rate for each weekday and scheduled departure hour, in local time at the departure airport (PHX).

Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 6.7 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 2.7 points.

On-time arrival rate for PHX to SNA by weekday and scheduled departure hour, local time. Each button reads out one slot.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
7 AM–8 AM
8 AM–9 AM
9 AM–10 AM
10 AM–11 AM
11 AM–12 PM
12 PM–1 PM
1 PM–2 PM
2 PM–3 PM
3 PM–4 PM
4 PM–5 PM
5 PM–6 PM
6 PM–7 PM
7 PM–8 PM
8 PM–9 PM
9 PM–10 PM

On-time rate, % · stronger color, fewer on time

65–69
70–74
75–79
80–84
85–89
90–94
95–99

Fewer than 120 flights, not scored

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · On time is arrival within 15 minutes of schedule. Cells round to whole percentages; the table shows one decimal.

No slot is named best or worst: too few reach 500 flights. Departures before 7 AM and after 10 PM (155 flights) are not drawn: no slot in those hours has enough flights to score.

View as tableHide table

On-time arrival rate (%) with flights beneath, by scheduled departure hour and weekday for PHX to SNA. A dash means fewer than 120 flights, which are not scored.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
7 AM–8 AM	90.8% on time199 flights	91.4% on time139 flights	95.5% on time156 flights	93.5% on time200 flights	93.9% on time199 flights	88.1% on time161 flights	87.8% on time191 flights
8 AM–9 AM	89.9% on time252 flights	92.0% on time177 flights	95.0% on time181 flights	89.6% on time232 flights	92.3% on time236 flights	91.0% on time146 flights	87.8% on time181 flights
9 AM–10 AM	59 flights, too few to score	60 flights, too few to score	66 flights, too few to score	59 flights, too few to score	53 flights, too few to score	32 flights, too few to score	68 flights, too few to score
10 AM–11 AM	81.5% on time179 flights	83.4% on time151 flights	84.9% on time159 flights	75.4% on time183 flights	78.3% on time180 flights	84.9% on time160 flights	81.3% on time169 flights
11 AM–12 PM	76.9% on time143 flights	84.3% on time153 flights	86.5% on time156 flights	79.7% on time153 flights	79.2% on time154 flights	107 flights, too few to score	79.1% on time174 flights
12 PM–1 PM	118 flights, too few to score	73 flights, too few to score	65 flights, too few to score	115 flights, too few to score	102 flights, too few to score	97 flights, too few to score	73.3% on time120 flights
1 PM–2 PM	98 flights, too few to score	107 flights, too few to score	107 flights, too few to score	100 flights, too few to score	96 flights, too few to score	85 flights, too few to score	84 flights, too few to score
2 PM–3 PM	78.2% on time172 flights	81.8% on time154 flights	75.2% on time157 flights	74.7% on time174 flights	72.0% on time176 flights	83.8% on time136 flights	73.1% on time200 flights
3 PM–4 PM	118 flights, too few to score	105 flights, too few to score	105 flights, too few to score	113 flights, too few to score	113 flights, too few to score	88 flights, too few to score	109 flights, too few to score
4 PM–5 PM	99 flights, too few to score	52 flights, too few to score	49 flights, too few to score	107 flights, too few to score	100 flights, too few to score	58 flights, too few to score	113 flights, too few to score
5 PM–6 PM	78.9% on time124 flights	88.5% on time149 flights	78.7% on time150 flights	72.2% on time127 flights	67.4% on time133 flights	117 flights, too few to score	68.4% on time137 flights
6 PM–7 PM	72.6% on time122 flights	106 flights, too few to score	111 flights, too few to score	111 flights, too few to score	78.7% on time124 flights	96 flights, too few to score	69.6% on time126 flights
7 PM–8 PM	108 flights, too few to score	52 flights, too few to score	50 flights, too few to score	111 flights, too few to score	108 flights, too few to score	72 flights, too few to score	109 flights, too few to score
8 PM–9 PM	84.1% on time209 flights	86.1% on time201 flights	87.2% on time221 flights	79.8% on time195 flights	81.0% on time195 flights	82.9% on time146 flights	81.4% on time203 flights
9 PM–10 PM	116 flights, too few to score	48 flights, too few to score	50 flights, too few to score	83.7% on time127 flights	87.0% on time123 flights	48 flights, too few to score	80.2% on time127 flights

By departure window

5–9 AM91.5%

9 AM–12 PM82.7%

12–3 PM79.0%

3–6 PM75.0%

6–9 PM78.8%

9 PM–5 AM84.9%

By departure hour

12 AM

3 AM

6 AM

9 AM

12 PM

3 PM

6 PM

9 PM

Why PHX → SNA runs late

July 2023 – July 2026

Late-arriving aircraft50.7%

the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late

The airline37.9%

crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control

Air traffic control8.7%

airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control

Weather2.5%

weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically

Security0.3%

screening or terminal security incidents

Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for PHX → SNA. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.

Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on PHX → SNA, at 50.7%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 91.5% of the time and 3–6 PM departures 75.0%.

How this route holds up in bad weather

July 2023 – July 2026

The harder-hit end is the one the flight leaves from, where a cancellation keeps it from departing at all. Bad weather cancels 3.9 times the normal rate at PHX against 2.0 times at SNA. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: PHX 2.5% against 0.6%, SNA 1.9% against 1.0%. Flights that did leave PHX in bad weather arrived on time 53.7% of the time, against 80.6% in normal hours.

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026

Departures from PHX and SNA in hours of bad weather and in normal hours
Departures from	PHX	SNA
Cancelled in bad weather	2.5%	1.9%
Cancelled in normal hours	0.6%	1.0%
Arrived on time, bad weather	53.7%	83.6%
Arrived on time, normal hours	80.6%	81.3%
Departures in bad weather	6,215	7,919

These are airport figures, not route figures: every scheduled departure from PHX and SNA, to any destination, in hours the weather report called bad.

Weather source and limits. In full: PHX, SNA, What Weather Costs Each Airport, Who Cancels More When the Weather Turns, Airports That Change Places When Weather Turns.

Airlines on this route

Carriers with at least 200 flights, by the airline that operated each one.

Airlines on this route
Carrier	Flights	On time	Cancelled	Median delay	Severe
Southwest Airlines	7,197	81.7%	0.54%	-6 min	3.6%
American Airlines	5,526	81.7%	0.38%	-5 min	6.4%
Frontier Airlines	917	84.1%	1.31%	-10 min	4.3%

Southwest Airlines flew 52.8% of the 13,640 flights listed.

Frontier Airlines arrived on time 2.4 percentage points more often than American Airlines on this route.

Other ways to fly Phoenix to Los Angeles

Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.

Other ways to fly Phoenix to Los Angeles
Route	Flights	On time	Cancelled	Median delay	Score
PHX→LAX Phoenix to Los Angeles	22,501	83.0%	0.40%	-6 min	80
PHX→SNA this route Phoenix to Santa Ana	13,640	81.8%	0.53%	-6 min	78

Flights on this route

Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.

Flights on this route
Flight	Scheduled	Operations	On time
AA2637 American Airlines	8:30 PM	971	84.5%

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

Mon82.5%

Tue85.2%

Wed84.5%

Thu79.5%

Fri80.1%

Sat85.0%

Sun77.8%

Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 7.4 percentage points.

By month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

July is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 8.7 percentage points.

Reliability over time

July 2023 – July 2026

24

25

26

Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 79.0% against 84.2% in the 12 months before — declining by 5.2 percentage points.

Data and methodology

Calculated by FlyerIntel from 13,640 PHX → SNA 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

Analysis last recomputed September 26, 2026

PHX airport SNA airport Return direction SNA → PHX

PHX→SNA

Right now

Route reliability

What stands out

Why PHX → SNA flights are cancelled

Share of cancellations

What each reason means

When it goes wrong

Will your connection be tight enough?

Best time to fly

By day and hour

By departure window

By departure hour

Why PHX → SNA runs late

How this route holds up in bad weather

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

Airlines on this route

Other ways to fly Phoenix to Los Angeles

Flights on this route

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

By month

Reliability over time

Data and methodology