Route profile
SAN→CLT
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from San Diego to Charlotte, 2,077 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 62% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 4,865 flights. How this is calculated
SAN → CLT arrives on time 81.1% of the time; the return trip, CLT → SAN, arrives on time 75.8% of the time, a 5.3-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
SAN → CLT spends 35.4 minutes on the ground on a 2,077-mile trip: 23.0 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SAN and 12.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at CLT.
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 95% of 3,357 comparable routes.
85.6% on time in its best month (November) against 75.9% in its worst (June).
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 CLT differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SAN to CLT is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 9 PM: 89.6% arrive on time, 13.4 points ahead of the 76.2% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 20.2 points.
SAN to CLT struggles most at 11 AM: 69.1% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 10 points behind the 79.1% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 11.9 points.
SAN to CLT holds up on Sundays better than routes of similar length do: 80.2% on time to their 76.1%, a 4.1 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 5.4 points.
July is kinder to SAN to CLT than to routes of similar length: 77.8% on time against 70.5%, 7.3 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 8.1 points.
In October, SAN to CLT runs 4.4 points below routes of similar length, 79.9% on time to 84.3%.
SAN to CLT against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 9 PM departures | 89.6% | routes of similar length | 76.2% | +13.4 pts | 780 here, 38,638 there |
| Hour: 11 AM departures | 69.1% | routes of similar length | 79.1% | −10.0 pts | 582 here, 49,520 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 80.2% | routes of similar length | 76.1% | +4.1 pts | 716 here, 140,421 there |
| Month: July | 77.8% | routes of similar length | 70.5% | +7.3 pts | 564 here, 113,667 there |
| Month: October | 79.9% | routes of similar length | 84.3% | −4.4 pts | 422 here, 79,252 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 2,077 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
35 min late
against a median of 8 min early
Percentiles over 4,865 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at CLT after arriving from SAN.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 34% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 18% | High risk |
| 60 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.9% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.6% | 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 0.78% of the time and diverts 0.47% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 4,804 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 35 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 4,865 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SAN → CLT flights departing 9 PM–5 AM arrived on time 90.0% of the time, against 69.4% for 12–3 PM departures, a gap of 20.6 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 89.1% on time from 651 flights
- 7 AM: 84.6% on time from 597 flights
- 8 AM to 10 AM: too few flights to score
- 11 AM: 69.1% on time from 591 flights
- 12 PM: 68.9% on time from 470 flights
- 1 PM: 70.2% on time from 769 flights
- 2 PM to 8 PM: too few flights to score
- 9 PM: 89.6% on time from 790 flights
- 10 PM: 90.4% on time from 856 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why SAN → CLT 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 SAN → CLT. 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 | 4,865 | 81.1% | 0.78% | -8 min | 6.1% |
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA1651 American Airlines | 6:15 AM | 766 | 86.7% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 4.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 85.0%
- Feb: 81.1%
- Mar: 81.5%
- Apr: 83.9%
- May: 82.5%
- Jun: 75.9%
- Jul: 77.8%
- Aug: 78.8%
- Sep: 82.9%
- Oct: 79.9%
- Nov: 85.6%
- Dec: 80.4%
June is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 9.7 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 81.0% from 148 flights
- August 2023: 76.5% from 154 flights
- September 2023: 83.1% from 125 flights
- October 2023: 89.0% from 145 flights
- November 2023: 86.1% from 137 flights
- December 2023: too few flights to score (113)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (115)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (114)
- March 2024: 82.6% from 124 flights
- April 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- May 2024: 74.7% from 151 flights
- June 2024: 71.6% from 150 flights
- July 2024: 67.6% from 150 flights
- August 2024: 78.9% from 145 flights
- September 2024: 78.2% from 136 flights
- October 2024: 71.2% from 148 flights
- November 2024: 87.6% from 130 flights
- December 2024: 72.8% from 148 flights
- January 2025: 86.9% from 141 flights
- February 2025: 79.8% from 128 flights
- March 2025: 86.0% from 152 flights
- April 2025: 81.0% from 147 flights
- May 2025: 85.9% from 150 flights
- June 2025: 79.7% from 150 flights
- July 2025: 85.4% from 152 flights
- August 2025: too few flights to score (111)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (119)
- October 2025: 79.4% from 131 flights
- November 2025: too few flights to score (98)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (105)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (98)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (109)
- March 2026: 75.4% from 137 flights
- April 2026: 87.8% from 123 flights
- May 2026: 87.9% from 124 flights
- June 2026: 76.5% from 120 flights
- July 2026: 76.9% from 121 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 82.7% against 81.1% in the 12 months before — improving by 1.6 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 4,865 SAN → CLT 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