Route profile
SAN→BWI
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from San Diego to Baltimore, 2,295 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 71% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,062 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
SAN → BWI arrives on time 78.7% of the time; the return trip, BWI → SAN, arrives on time 74.0% of the time, a 4.8-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
SAN → BWI spends 23.7 minutes on the ground on a 2,295-mile trip: 18.2 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SAN and 5.5 minutes from touchdown to gate at BWI.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Reliability here swings unusually widely by season, a wider month-to-month spread than 93% of 3,357 comparable routes.
89.1% on time in a typical September, against 64.2% in 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.
What sets this route apart
Where SAN to BWI differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SAN to BWI struggles most at 1 PM: 56.1% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 19.6 points behind the 75.7% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 21 points.
SAN to BWI is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 9 PM: 87.2% arrive on time, 8.6 points ahead of the 78.6% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 17.8 points.
SAN to BWI holds up on Saturdays better than routes of similar length do: 85.7% on time to their 79.0%, a 6.7 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 6.6 points.
February is kinder to SAN to BWI than to routes of similar length: 88.4% on time against 80.9%, 7.5 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 7 points.
In July, SAN to BWI runs 6.3 points below routes of similar length, 64.2% on time to 70.5%. Against all other routes the gap is 5.5 points.
SAN to BWI against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 1 PM departures | 56.1% | routes of similar length | 75.7% | −19.6 pts | 198 here, 56,408 there |
| Hour: 9 PM departures | 87.2% | routes of similar length | 78.6% | +8.6 pts | 447 here, 58,651 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 85.7% | routes of similar length | 79.0% | +6.7 pts | 363 here, 157,283 there |
| Month: February | 88.4% | routes of similar length | 80.9% | +7.5 pts | 190 here, 76,376 there |
| Month: July | 64.2% | routes of similar length | 70.5% | −6.3 pts | 366 here, 137,885 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 2,295 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
34 min late
against a median of 4 min early
Percentiles over 3,062 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at BWI after arriving from SAN.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 41% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 20% | High risk |
| 60 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.6% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.1% | 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 0.98% of the time and diverts 0.42% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,019 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 34 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,062 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SAN → BWI flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 89.8% of the time, against 60.9% for 12–3 PM departures, a gap of 28.9 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 91.3% on time from 646 flights
- 7 AM: 88.4% on time from 287 flights
- 8 AM to 10 AM: too few flights to score
- 11 AM: 68.2% on time from 253 flights
- 12 PM: 64.4% on time from 324 flights
- 1 PM: 56.1% on time from 201 flights
- 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 74.3% on time from 214 flights
- 4 PM: 69.7% on time from 219 flights
- 5 PM to 8 PM: too few flights to score
- 9 PM: 87.2% on time from 452 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why SAN → BWI 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 SAN → BWI. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on SAN → BWI, at 46.1%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 89.8% of the time and 12–3 PM departures 60.9%.
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 | 2,952 | 79.3% | 0.98% | -4 min | 4.5% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 11.2 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 86.3%
- Feb: 88.4%
- Mar: 79.1%
- Apr: 80.2%
- May: 81.7%
- Jun: 69.3%
- Jul: 64.2%
- Aug: 73.7%
- Sep: 89.1%
- Oct: 78.4%
- Nov: 87.9%
- Dec: 80.4%
July is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 24.9 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: too few flights to score (60)
- August 2023: too few flights to score (47)
- September 2023: too few flights to score (61)
- October 2023: too few flights to score (63)
- November 2023: too few flights to score (63)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (68)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (63)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (58)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (79)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (82)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (101)
- June 2024: too few flights to score (112)
- July 2024: 62.2% from 120 flights
- August 2024: too few flights to score (119)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (88)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (64)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (56)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (61)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (59)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (54)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (84)
- April 2025: too few flights to score (83)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (84)
- June 2025: too few flights to score (85)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (88)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (84)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (82)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (101)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (97)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (102)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (91)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (80)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (105)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (103)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (106)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (103)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (106)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 77.9% against 80.2% in the 12 months before — declining by 2.3 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,062 SAN → BWI 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