Route profile
SAT→DAL
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from San Antonio to Dallas, 247 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 79% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 8,574 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
SAT → DAL arrives on time 83.6% of the time; the return trip, DAL → SAT, arrives on time 80.1% of the time, a 3.5-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
SAT → DAL spends 15.7 minutes on the ground on a 247-mile trip: 10.5 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SAT and 5.2 minutes from touchdown to gate at DAL.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where SAT to DAL differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SAT to DAL is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 8 AM: 97.1% arrive on time, 11 points ahead of the 86.1% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 11.2 points.
SAT to DAL holds up on Sundays better than routes of similar length do: 81.3% on time to their 74.4%, a 6.9 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 6.5 points.
August is kinder to SAT to DAL than to routes of similar length: 88.0% on time against 77.5%, 10.5 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 11.5 points.
Southwest Airlines does better on SAT to DAL than on its routes of similar length: 83.6% on time here, 78.3% there, 5.3 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 6.2 points.
SAT to DAL against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 8 AM departures | 97.1% | routes of similar length | 86.1% | +11.0 pts | 449 here, 50,505 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 81.3% | routes of similar length | 74.4% | +6.9 pts | 1,126 here, 99,813 there |
| Month: August | 88.0% | routes of similar length | 77.5% | +10.5 pts | 684 here, 58,186 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 83.6% | routes of similar length | 78.3% | +5.3 pts | 8,450 here, 209,955 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 247 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.
Why SAT → DAL flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
SAT → DAL cancelled 111 of 8,574 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 77. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 74.8% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 103 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 111 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
83 cancellations, 74.8% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
23 cancellations, 20.7% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
5 cancellations, 4.5% of the total.
A terminal evacuation, a security breach, screening equipment failure, or screening queues over 29 minutes.
0 cancellations, 0.0% of the total.
Reason codes are the operating airline’s own filing with US DOT, not an independent finding of fault. With only one or two carriers on the route, the split mostly reflects how they file. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
111 coded cancellations were recorded on SAT → DAL; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
29 min late
against a median of 8 min early
Percentiles over 8,574 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at DAL after arriving from SAT.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 29% | High risk |
| 45 min | 16% | High risk |
| 60 min | 9.7% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.0% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 3.0% | 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 1.29% of the time and diverts 0.15% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 8,450 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 8,574 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SAT → DAL flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 95.5% of the time, against 71.5% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 24.0 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 94.4% on time from 504 flights
- 6 AM: 95.3% on time from 563 flights
- 7 AM: 95.3% on time from 435 flights
- 8 AM: 97.1% on time from 453 flights
- 9 AM: 90.1% on time from 521 flights
- 10 AM: 93.5% on time from 529 flights
- 11 AM: 88.0% on time from 599 flights
- 12 PM: 88.2% on time from 558 flights
- 1 PM: 82.7% on time from 616 flights
- 2 PM: 76.0% on time from 435 flights
- 3 PM: 75.3% on time from 437 flights
- 4 PM: 76.0% on time from 394 flights
- 5 PM: 76.4% on time from 463 flights
- 6 PM: 71.1% on time from 568 flights
- 7 PM: 72.4% on time from 553 flights
- 8 PM: 70.8% on time from 464 flights
- 9 PM: 75.3% on time from 447 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why SAT → DAL runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s 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 → DAL. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on SAT → DAL, at 57.0%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 95.5% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 71.5%.
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 | 8,574 | 83.6% | 1.29% | -8 min | 5.1% |
Other ways to fly San Antonio to Dallas–Fort Worth
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SAT→DFW San Antonio to Dallas–Fort Worth | 13,618 | 75.7% | 2.80% | -5 min | 46 |
| SAT→DAL this route San Antonio to Dallas | 8,574 | 83.6% | 1.29% | -8 min | 76 |
SAT → DAL is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 83.6% on time, against 75.7% for SAT → DFW.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 9.5 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 86.7%
- Feb: 89.4%
- Mar: 85.3%
- Apr: 82.2%
- May: 77.4%
- Jun: 72.2%
- Jul: 80.3%
- Aug: 88.0%
- Sep: 86.1%
- Oct: 87.7%
- Nov: 85.0%
- Dec: 84.0%
June is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 17.2 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 89.3% from 243 flights
- August 2023: 90.3% from 257 flights
- September 2023: 85.1% from 236 flights
- October 2023: 86.1% from 253 flights
- November 2023: 89.7% from 243 flights
- December 2023: 88.6% from 249 flights
- January 2024: 83.4% from 248 flights
- February 2024: 89.0% from 228 flights
- March 2024: 82.4% from 252 flights
- April 2024: 79.6% from 248 flights
- May 2024: 69.3% from 255 flights
- June 2024: 71.7% from 199 flights
- July 2024: 73.6% from 201 flights
- August 2024: 88.1% from 210 flights
- September 2024: 85.3% from 204 flights
- October 2024: 88.6% from 237 flights
- November 2024: 83.9% from 219 flights
- December 2024: 78.5% from 220 flights
- January 2025: 88.2% from 233 flights
- February 2025: 91.5% from 212 flights
- March 2025: 90.3% from 252 flights
- April 2025: 84.0% from 253 flights
- May 2025: 80.3% from 256 flights
- June 2025: 76.1% from 211 flights
- July 2025: 77.3% from 212 flights
- August 2025: 85.3% from 218 flights
- September 2025: 88.0% from 219 flights
- October 2025: 88.6% from 255 flights
- November 2025: 80.9% from 229 flights
- December 2025: 84.1% from 227 flights
- January 2026: 89.2% from 205 flights
- February 2026: 87.6% from 188 flights
- March 2026: 83.1% from 251 flights
- April 2026: 83.1% from 250 flights
- May 2026: 82.4% from 252 flights
- June 2026: 68.8% from 222 flights
- July 2026: 79.1% from 227 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 83.3% against 84.4% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 8,574 SAT → DAL 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