Route profile
SAN→HNL
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from San Diego to Honolulu, 2,614 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 38% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 5,063 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
SAN → HNL arrives on time 72.2% of the time; the return trip, HNL → SAN, arrives on time 81.2% of the time, a 9.0-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
SAN → HNL spends 31.4 minutes on the ground on a 2,614-mile trip: 21.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SAN and 9.5 minutes from touchdown to gate at HNL.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
The airline matters unusually much on this route, a wider carrier-to-carrier gap than 92% of 2,692 comparable routes.
Southwest Airlines arrived on time 78.5% of the time, against 59.5% for Hawaiian Airlines, flying the exact same route.
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 SAN to HNL differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SAN to HNL struggles most at 12 PM: 55.7% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 20.9 points behind the 76.6% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 23.7 points.
SAN to HNL is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 4 PM: 84.3% arrive on time, 8.5 points ahead of the 75.8% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 13.6 points.
Friday is the day SAN to HNL slips furthest against routes of similar length, 68.3% on time where they average 77.3%, 9 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 7.9 points.
In February, SAN to HNL runs 11 points below routes of similar length, 68.9% on time to 79.9%. Against all other routes the gap is 12.6 points.
Hawaiian Airlines’ flights on SAN to HNL arrive on time 59.5% of the time, 13.3 points below the 72.8% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 12.8 points.
SAN to HNL against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 12 PM departures | 55.7% | routes of similar length | 76.6% | −20.9 pts | 122 here, 35,212 there |
| Hour: 4 PM departures | 84.3% | routes of similar length | 75.8% | +8.5 pts | 312 here, 38,735 there |
| Weekday: Friday | 68.3% | routes of similar length | 77.3% | −9.0 pts | 714 here, 122,346 there |
| Month: February | 68.9% | routes of similar length | 79.9% | −11.0 pts | 354 here, 54,155 there |
| Airline: Hawaiian Airlines | 59.5% | routes of similar length | 72.8% | −13.3 pts | 1,235 here, 30,798 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 2,614 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
44 min late
against a median of 1 min early
Percentiles over 5,063 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at HNL after arriving from SAN.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 48% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 27% | High risk |
| 60 min | 15% | High risk |
| 90 min | 6.5% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.7% | 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 0.97% of the time and diverts 1.44% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 4,941 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 44 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 5,063 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SAN → HNL flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 75.5% of the time, against 67.1% for 9 AM–12 PM departures, a gap of 8.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 78.6% on time from 630 flights
- 8 AM: 73.2% on time from 839 flights
- 9 AM: 63.8% on time from 1,115 flights
- 10 AM: 79.9% on time from 279 flights
- 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 55.7% on time from 123 flights
- 1 PM: 75.8% on time from 541 flights
- 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 69.8% on time from 323 flights
- 4 PM: 84.3% on time from 319 flights
- 5 PM: 70.6% on time from 570 flights
- 6 PM: 70.8% on time from 206 flights
- 7 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why SAN → HNL 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 → HNL. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
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 | 2,251 | 78.5% | 0.40% | -6 min | 5.0% |
| Alaska Airlines | 1,559 | 73.4% | 1.80% | -1 min | 6.9% |
| Hawaiian Airlines | 1,253 | 59.5% | 0.96% | 9 min | 9.1% |
Southwest Airlines flew 44.5% of the 5,063 flights listed. Alaska Airlines cancelled 1.80% of its flights here against 0.40% for Southwest Airlines.
Southwest Airlines arrived on time 19.0 percentage points more often than Hawaiian Airlines on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 7.9 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 77.5%
- Feb: 68.9%
- Mar: 75.3%
- Apr: 73.1%
- May: 76.8%
- Jun: 64.9%
- Jul: 65.9%
- Aug: 67.4%
- Sep: 75.0%
- Oct: 72.8%
- Nov: 80.5%
- Dec: 71.6%
June is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 15.6 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 77.9% from 124 flights
- August 2023: 62.5% from 124 flights
- September 2023: 80.7% from 120 flights
- October 2023: 71.1% from 124 flights
- November 2023: too few flights to score (119)
- December 2023: 70.2% from 124 flights
- January 2024: 62.0% from 124 flights
- February 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- March 2024: 68.9% from 124 flights
- April 2024: 68.9% from 120 flights
- May 2024: 69.2% from 124 flights
- June 2024: 66.7% from 138 flights
- July 2024: 66.2% from 155 flights
- August 2024: 65.8% from 155 flights
- September 2024: 71.1% from 150 flights
- October 2024: 73.2% from 155 flights
- November 2024: 83.8% from 150 flights
- December 2024: 75.5% from 155 flights
- January 2025: 88.8% from 129 flights
- February 2025: too few flights to score (112)
- March 2025: 83.7% from 124 flights
- April 2025: too few flights to score (119)
- May 2025: 80.6% from 125 flights
- June 2025: 57.5% from 134 flights
- July 2025: 56.9% from 146 flights
- August 2025: 73.1% from 147 flights
- September 2025: 74.3% from 141 flights
- October 2025: 73.8% from 145 flights
- November 2025: 75.2% from 133 flights
- December 2025: 68.7% from 156 flights
- January 2026: 79.2% from 155 flights
- February 2026: 69.1% from 142 flights
- March 2026: 73.5% from 155 flights
- April 2026: 71.0% from 150 flights
- May 2026: 79.9% from 152 flights
- June 2026: 70.1% from 146 flights
- July 2026: 64.3% from 151 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 72.7% against 73.8% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 5,063 SAN → HNL 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