Route profile
SAN→HOU
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from San Diego to Houston, 1,313 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 53% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 2,712 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
SAN → HOU arrives on time 73.9% of the time; the return trip, HOU → SAN, arrives on time 77.3% of the time, a 3.4-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
SAN → HOU spends 23.1 minutes on the ground on a 1,313-mile trip: 17.6 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SAN and 5.5 minutes from touchdown to gate at HOU.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Which day you fly matters unusually much here, a wider weekday spread than 99% of 4,467 comparable routes.
84.4% on time on a typical Saturday, against 65.3% on a Friday.
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 4,467 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where SAN to HOU differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SAN to HOU struggles most at 2 PM: 54.0% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 19 points behind the 73.0% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 20.6 points.
Friday is the day SAN to HOU slips furthest against routes of similar length, 65.3% on time where they average 76.2%, 10.9 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 10.9 points.
SAN to HOU holds up on Saturdays better than routes of similar length do: 84.4% on time to their 78.1%, a 6.3 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 5.3 points.
In May, SAN to HOU runs 12.4 points below routes of similar length, 61.4% on time to 73.8%. Against all other routes the gap is 13.9 points.
SAN to HOU against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 2 PM departures | 54.0% | routes of similar length | 73.0% | −19.0 pts | 250 here, 99,742 there |
| Weekday: Friday | 65.3% | routes of similar length | 76.2% | −10.9 pts | 400 here, 259,394 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 84.4% | routes of similar length | 78.1% | +6.3 pts | 346 here, 227,789 there |
| Month: May | 61.4% | routes of similar length | 73.8% | −12.4 pts | 210 here, 144,117 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 1,313 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 2 min early
Percentiles over 2,712 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at HOU after arriving from SAN.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 46% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 25% | High risk |
| 60 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.1% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.2% | 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 0.66% of the time and diverts 0.33% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 2,685 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 2,712 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SAN → HOU flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 89.1% of the time, against 60.7% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 28.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 89.2% on time from 384 flights
- 7 AM: 88.4% on time from 447 flights
- 8 AM: 91.0% on time from 145 flights
- 9 AM to 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 77.2% on time from 185 flights
- 1 PM: 62.3% on time from 219 flights
- 2 PM: 54.0% on time from 253 flights
- 3 PM to 5 PM: too few flights to score
- 6 PM: 53.7% on time from 215 flights
- 7 PM: 66.8% on time from 373 flights
- 8 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why SAN → HOU 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 → HOU. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on SAN → HOU, at 58.3%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 89.1% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 60.7%.
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 | 2,712 | 73.9% | 0.66% | -2 min | 6.3% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 19.1 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 83.2%
- Feb: 84.6%
- Mar: 70.5%
- Apr: 76.6%
- May: 61.4%
- Jun: 65.5%
- Jul: 66.6%
- Aug: 78.5%
- Sep: 87.2%
- Oct: 70.5%
- Nov: 81.1%
- Dec: 72.8%
May is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 25.8 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 71.2% against 73.0% in the 12 months before — declining by 1.8 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 2,712 SAN → HOU 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