Route profile
SAN→MIA
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from San Diego to Miami, 2,267 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 68% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 1,745 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
SAN → MIA arrives on time 84.3% of the time; the return trip, MIA → SAN, arrives on time 68.6% of the time, a 15.6-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
SAN → MIA spends 31.6 minutes on the ground on a 2,267-mile trip: 23.0 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SAN and 8.6 minutes from touchdown to gate at MIA.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route has stayed remarkably steady year over year, a smaller swing than 98% of 5,368 comparable routes.
84.3% on time over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), against 84.2% in the 12 months before (2024-08 to 2025-07), virtually unchanged.
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 5,368 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where SAN to MIA differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SAN to MIA is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 10 PM: 86.9% arrive on time, 5.8 points ahead of the 81.1% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 15.3 points.
SAN to MIA holds up on Thursdays better than routes of similar length do: 86.3% on time to their 77.6%, a 8.7 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 9.5 points.
May is kinder to SAN to MIA than to routes of similar length: 88.5% on time against 77.7%, 10.8 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 13.3 points.
In March, SAN to MIA runs 8.4 points below routes of similar length, 70.9% on time to 79.3%. Against all other routes the gap is 7 points.
American Airlines does better on SAN to MIA than on its routes of similar length: 84.3% on time here, 78.7% there, 5.6 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 9.2 points.
SAN to MIA against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 10 PM departures | 86.9% | routes of similar length | 81.1% | +5.8 pts | 934 here, 68,156 there |
| Weekday: Thursday | 86.3% | routes of similar length | 77.6% | +8.7 pts | 249 here, 173,429 there |
| Month: May | 88.5% | routes of similar length | 77.7% | +10.8 pts | 131 here, 103,008 there |
| Month: March | 70.9% | routes of similar length | 79.3% | −8.4 pts | 182 here, 94,383 there |
| Airline: American Airlines | 84.3% | routes of similar length | 78.7% | +5.6 pts | 1,722 here, 243,172 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 2,267 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
29 min late
against a median of 9 min early
Percentiles over 1,745 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at MIA after arriving from SAN.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 32% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 15% | High risk |
| 60 min | 9.4% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.0% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.5% | 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 1.03% of the time and diverts 0.29% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 1,722 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 29 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 1,745 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SAN → MIA flights departing 9 PM–5 AM arrived on time 86.7% of the time, against 79.3% for 12–3 PM departures, a gap of 7.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 84.8% on time from 276 flights
- 7 AM to 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 79.5% on time from 241 flights
- 1 PM to 8 PM: too few flights to score
- 9 PM: 84.6% on time from 132 flights
- 10 PM: 86.9% on time from 950 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why SAN → MIA 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
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
screening or terminal security incidents
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for SAN → MIA. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 1,745 | 84.3% | 1.03% | -9 min | 6.0% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 8.4 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 84.5%
- Feb: 88.1%
- Mar: 70.9%
- Apr: 90.5%
- May: 88.5%
- Jun: 83.8%
- Jul: 78.6%
- Aug to Oct: no data
- Nov: 91.0%
- Dec: 82.0%
March is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 20.1 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 84.3% against 84.2% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 1,745 SAN → MIA 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