Route profile
SAN→PHL
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from San Diego to Philadelphia, 2,370 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 80% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,098 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
SAN → PHL arrives on time 87.2% of the time; the return trip, PHL → SAN, arrives on time 75.6% of the time, an 11.6-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
SAN → PHL spends 30.5 minutes on the ground on a 2,370-mile trip: 23.5 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SAN and 6.9 minutes from touchdown to gate at PHL.
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 97% of 3,357 comparable routes.
90.8% on time in its best month (May) against 82.3% in its worst (March).
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 PHL differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SAN to PHL is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 10 PM: 94.1% arrive on time, 12.4 points ahead of the 81.7% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 22.5 points.
SAN to PHL struggles most at 9 AM: 75.7% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 4.8 points behind the 80.5% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 8.6 points.
SAN to PHL holds up on Sundays better than routes of similar length do: 89.5% on time to their 76.0%, a 13.5 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 14.7 points.
May is kinder to SAN to PHL than to routes of similar length: 90.8% on time against 77.6%, 13.2 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 15.6 points.
American Airlines does better on SAN to PHL than on its routes of similar length: 87.2% on time here, 78.4% there, 8.8 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 12.1 points.
SAN to PHL against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 10 PM departures | 94.1% | routes of similar length | 81.7% | +12.4 pts | 785 here, 65,414 there |
| Hour: 9 AM departures | 75.7% | routes of similar length | 80.5% | −4.8 pts | 990 here, 70,760 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 89.5% | routes of similar length | 76.0% | +13.5 pts | 427 here, 160,113 there |
| Month: May | 90.8% | routes of similar length | 77.6% | +13.2 pts | 240 here, 95,603 there |
| Airline: American Airlines | 87.2% | routes of similar length | 78.4% | +8.8 pts | 3,030 here, 229,860 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 2,370 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
23 min late
against a median of 13 min early
Percentiles over 3,098 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at PHL after arriving from SAN.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 26% | High risk |
| 45 min | 13% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 7.7% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.1% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 3.1% | 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 1.45% of the time and diverts 0.74% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,030 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 23 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,098 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SAN → PHL flights departing 9 PM–5 AM arrived on time 93.1% of the time, against 76.3% for 9 AM–12 PM departures, a gap of 16.8 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 92.4% on time from 994 flights
- 7 AM to 8 AM: too few flights to score
- 9 AM: 75.7% on time from 1,019 flights
- 10 AM to 8 PM: too few flights to score
- 9 PM: 89.3% on time from 210 flights
- 10 PM: 94.1% on time from 805 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why SAN → PHL 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 → PHL. 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 | 3,098 | 87.2% | 1.45% | -13 min | 4.3% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Sunday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 6.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 88.2%
- Feb: 85.0%
- Mar: 82.3%
- Apr: 88.8%
- May: 90.8%
- Jun: 86.3%
- Jul: 82.5%
- Aug: 88.7%
- Sep: 88.7%
- Oct: 87.1%
- Nov: 89.5%
- Dec: 89.4%
March is historically the weakest month and May the strongest, a spread of 8.5 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 87.9% against 84.6% in the 12 months before — improving by 3.3 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,098 SAN → PHL 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