Route profile
SAT→DTW
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from San Antonio to Detroit, 1,214 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 90% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 2,884 flights. How this is calculated
SAT → DTW arrives on time 89.0% of the time; the return trip, DTW → SAT, arrives on time 80.6% of the time, an 8.4-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
SAT → DTW spends 24.3 minutes on the ground on a 1,214-mile trip: 14.0 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SAT and 10.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at DTW.
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.
91.7% on time in its best month (November) against 82.9% in its worst (July).
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 SAT to DTW differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SAT to DTW is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 1 PM: 90.4% arrive on time, 15.4 points ahead of the 75.0% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 13.3 points.
SAT to DTW holds up on Saturdays better than routes of similar length do: 91.4% on time to their 77.3%, a 14.1 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 12.3 points.
June is kinder to SAT to DTW than to routes of similar length: 90.9% on time against 71.6%, 19.3 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 18.2 points.
Delta Air Lines does better on SAT to DTW than on its routes of similar length: 88.9% on time here, 80.6% there, 8.3 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 7.4 points.
SAT to DTW against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 1 PM departures | 90.4% | routes of similar length | 75.0% | +15.4 pts | 135 here, 109,145 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 91.4% | routes of similar length | 77.3% | +14.1 pts | 326 here, 260,900 there |
| Month: June | 90.9% | routes of similar length | 71.6% | +19.3 pts | 253 here, 157,669 there |
| Airline: Delta Air Lines | 88.9% | routes of similar length | 80.6% | +8.3 pts | 2,815 here, 349,504 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 1,214 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
17 min late
against a median of 11 min early
Percentiles over 2,884 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at DTW after arriving from SAT.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 22% | High risk |
| 45 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 7.0% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.0% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.7% | 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 0.87% of the time and diverts 0.35% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 2,849 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 17 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 2,884 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SAT → DTW flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 94.0% of the time, against 83.9% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 10.1 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 94.0% on time from 1,120 flights
- 6 AM to 10 AM: too few flights to score
- 11 AM: 89.3% on time from 294 flights
- 12 PM: 86.3% on time from 235 flights
- 1 PM: 90.4% on time from 136 flights
- 2 PM to 3 PM: too few flights to score
- 4 PM: 83.7% on time from 975 flights
- 5 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why SAT → DTW 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 → DTW. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 2,850 | 88.9% | 0.88% | -11 min | 4.1% |
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| DL2497 Delta Air Lines | 5:15 AM | 785 | 94.5% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 4.9 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 87.4%
- Feb: 91.2%
- Mar: 89.7%
- Apr: 89.7%
- May: 89.1%
- Jun: 90.9%
- Jul: 82.9%
- Aug: 88.6%
- Sep: 89.8%
- Oct: 90.5%
- Nov: 91.7%
- Dec: 89.0%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 8.8 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 90.6% against 87.7% in the 12 months before — improving by 2.9 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 2,884 SAT → DTW 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