Route profile
SAT→IAD
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from San Antonio to Washington, 1,362 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 95% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 2,024 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
SAT → IAD arrives on time 91.1% of the time; the return trip, IAD → SAT, arrives on time 82.9% of the time, an 8.2-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
SAT → IAD spends 21.0 minutes on the ground on a 1,362-mile trip: 13.6 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SAT and 7.5 minutes from touchdown to gate at IAD.
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 100% of 4,467 comparable routes.
92.6% on time on the best day (Wednesday) against 90.2% on the worst (Friday).
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 IAD differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SAT to IAD is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 12 PM: 88.7% arrive on time, 10.3 points ahead of the 78.4% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 9.3 points.
SAT to IAD holds up on Sundays better than routes of similar length do: 90.6% on time to their 74.9%, a 15.7 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 15.8 points.
August is kinder to SAT to IAD than to routes of similar length: 93.3% on time against 76.2%, 17.1 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 16.8 points.
United Airlines does better on SAT to IAD than on its routes of similar length: 91.1% on time here, 81.2% there, 9.9 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 11.2 points.
SAT to IAD against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 12 PM departures | 88.7% | routes of similar length | 78.4% | +10.3 pts | 728 here, 113,967 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 90.6% | routes of similar length | 74.9% | +15.7 pts | 267 here, 252,137 there |
| Month: August | 93.3% | routes of similar length | 76.2% | +17.1 pts | 163 here, 141,978 there |
| Airline: United Airlines | 91.1% | routes of similar length | 81.2% | +9.9 pts | 1,995 here, 315,136 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 1,362 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
11 min late
against a median of 9 min early
Percentiles over 2,024 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at IAD after arriving from SAT.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 22% | High risk |
| 45 min | 8.3% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 4.9% | Low risk |
| 90 min | 2.6% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 1.9% | 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 1.04% of the time and diverts 0.40% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 1,995 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 11 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 2,024 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SAT → IAD flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 94.2% of the time, against 83.3% for 9 AM–12 PM departures, a gap of 10.9 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 94.2% on time from 1,063 flights
- 8 AM to 10 AM: too few flights to score
- 11 AM: 83.3% on time from 214 flights
- 12 PM: 88.7% on time from 746 flights
- 1 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why SAT → IAD 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
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for SAT → IAD. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 2,024 | 91.1% | 1.04% | -9 min | 2.6% |
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| UA2250 United Airlines | 12:00 PM | 960 | 87.5% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 2.4 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 84.9%
- Feb: 93.8%
- Mar: 93.8%
- Apr: 95.8%
- May: 89.0%
- Jun: 86.9%
- Jul: 85.8%
- Aug: 93.3%
- Sep: 91.7%
- Oct: 94.7%
- Nov: 94.6%
- Dec: 90.2%
January is historically the weakest month and April the strongest, a spread of 10.9 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 93.7% against 89.0% in the 12 months before — improving by 4.7 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 2,024 SAT → IAD 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