Route profile
SAT→CLT
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from San Antonio to Charlotte, 1,095 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 63% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 4,320 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
SAT → CLT arrives on time 84.0% of the time; the return trip, CLT → SAT, arrives on time 72.5% of the time, an 11.5-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
SAT → CLT spends 28.1 minutes on the ground on a 1,095-mile trip: 13.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SAT and 14.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at CLT.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Every day of the week performs about the same on this route, steadier than 94% of 4,467 comparable routes.
86.5% on time on the best day (Wednesday) against 82.2% on the worst (Thursday).
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 SAT to CLT differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SAT to CLT is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 6 PM: 77.5% arrive on time, 10.2 points ahead of the 67.3% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 8.9 points.
SAT to CLT holds up on Sundays better than routes of similar length do: 84.3% on time to their 73.1%, a 11.2 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 9.5 points.
July is kinder to SAT to CLT than to routes of similar length: 80.6% on time against 68.1%, 12.5 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 10.9 points.
American Airlines does better on SAT to CLT than on its routes of similar length: 84.0% on time here, 74.0% there, 10 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 8.9 points.
SAT to CLT against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 6 PM departures | 77.5% | routes of similar length | 67.3% | +10.2 pts | 249 here, 173,995 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 84.3% | routes of similar length | 73.1% | +11.2 pts | 624 here, 414,086 there |
| Month: July | 80.6% | routes of similar length | 68.1% | +12.5 pts | 469 here, 304,564 there |
| Airline: American Airlines | 84.0% | routes of similar length | 74.0% | +10.0 pts | 4,267 here, 556,324 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 1,095 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
30 min late
against a median of 8 min early
Percentiles over 4,320 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at CLT after arriving from SAT.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 31% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 15% | High risk |
| 60 min | 9.9% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.5% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.6% | 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 1.13% of the time and diverts 0.09% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 4,267 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 30 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 4,320 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SAT → CLT flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 89.0% of the time, against 71.4% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 17.6 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 89.7% on time from 975 flights
- 7 AM: 87.4% on time from 470 flights
- 8 AM: 88.9% on time from 723 flights
- 9 AM: 84.9% on time from 239 flights
- 10 AM: 90.0% on time from 250 flights
- 11 AM: 87.0% on time from 286 flights
- 12 PM: 77.8% on time from 228 flights
- 1 PM to 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 68.8% on time from 550 flights
- 6 PM: 77.5% on time from 251 flights
- 7 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why SAT → 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 SAT → CLT. 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 | 4,320 | 84.0% | 1.13% | -8 min | 6.5% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 4.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 87.1%
- Feb: 88.8%
- Mar: 79.7%
- Apr: 83.4%
- May: 78.5%
- Jun: 76.0%
- Jul: 80.6%
- Aug: 84.1%
- Sep: 88.5%
- Oct: 90.1%
- Nov: 86.4%
- Dec: 86.8%
June is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 14.1 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: too few flights to score (117)
- August 2023: 83.6% from 123 flights
- September 2023: too few flights to score (117)
- October 2023: 91.7% from 121 flights
- November 2023: too few flights to score (115)
- December 2023: 86.7% from 120 flights
- January 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (114)
- March 2024: 78.2% from 124 flights
- April 2024: too few flights to score (115)
- May 2024: 66.1% from 124 flights
- June 2024: 69.5% from 120 flights
- July 2024: 70.4% from 120 flights
- August 2024: too few flights to score (119)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (119)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (119)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (108)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (114)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (112)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (106)
- March 2025: 78.7% from 124 flights
- April 2025: 85.8% from 120 flights
- May 2025: 82.6% from 123 flights
- June 2025: too few flights to score (113)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (119)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (115)
- September 2025: 90.0% from 120 flights
- October 2025: 91.1% from 124 flights
- November 2025: too few flights to score (100)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (108)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (118)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (103)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (115)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (115)
- May 2026: 86.8% from 121 flights
- June 2026: too few flights to score (118)
- July 2026: 85.1% from 121 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 87.0% against 84.0% in the 12 months before — improving by 3.0 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 4,320 SAT → 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