Route profile
SAT→JFK
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from San Antonio to New York, 1,587 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 11% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 1,600 flights. How this is calculated
SAT → JFK arrives on time 74.3% of the time; the return trip, JFK → SAT, arrives on time 82.7% of the time, an 8.4-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
SAT → JFK spends 29.7 minutes on the ground on a 1,587-mile trip: 15.4 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SAT and 14.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at JFK.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Reliability here swings unusually widely by season, a wider month-to-month spread than 100% of 3,357 comparable routes.
88.3% on time in a typical April, against 55.8% in 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 JFK differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SAT to JFK struggles most at 2 PM: 66.9% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 6.2 points behind the 73.1% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 7.7 points.
Tuesday is the day SAT to JFK slips furthest against routes of similar length, 74.0% on time where they average 80.6%, 6.6 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 7.6 points.
In July, SAT to JFK runs 14.2 points below routes of similar length, 55.8% on time to 70.0%. Against all other routes the gap is 13.9 points.
April is kinder to SAT to JFK than to routes of similar length: 88.3% on time against 79.6%, 8.7 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 8.4 points.
Delta Air Lines’ flights on SAT to JFK arrive on time 77.3% of the time, 5.3 points below the 82.6% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 4.2 points.
SAT to JFK against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 2 PM departures | 66.9% | routes of similar length | 73.1% | −6.2 pts | 299 here, 86,432 there |
| Weekday: Tuesday | 74.0% | routes of similar length | 80.6% | −6.6 pts | 219 here, 219,934 there |
| Month: July | 55.8% | routes of similar length | 70.0% | −14.2 pts | 172 here, 187,434 there |
| Month: April | 88.3% | routes of similar length | 79.6% | +8.7 pts | 120 here, 129,799 there |
| Airline: Delta Air Lines | 77.3% | routes of similar length | 82.6% | −5.3 pts | 1,089 here, 310,831 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 1,587 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
67 min late
against a median of 5 min early
SAT → JFK has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 5 min early, but the worst tenth are 72 minutes worse than that. If the trip has something unmissable at the end of it, the median is the wrong number to plan against.
Percentiles over 1,600 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at JFK after arriving from SAT.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 41% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 25% | High risk |
| 60 min | 17% | High risk |
| 90 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 7.9% | Some 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 2.19% of the time and diverts 0.81% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 1,552 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 67 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 1,600 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SAT → JFK flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 76.4% of the time, against 72.0% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 4.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 10 AM: too few flights to score
- 11 AM: 76.2% on time from 150 flights
- 12 PM: 80.7% on time from 507 flights
- 1 PM: 73.2% on time from 206 flights
- 2 PM: 66.9% on time from 302 flights
- 3 PM: 74.2% on time from 252 flights
- 4 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why SAT → JFK 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 → JFK. 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 | 1,124 | 77.3% | 2.05% | -6 min | 9.0% |
| JetBlue | 476 | 67.2% | 2.52% | -1 min | 15.3% |
Delta Air Lines flew 70.3% of the 1,600 flights listed.
Delta Air Lines arrived on time 10.1 percentage points more often than JetBlue on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| DL1166 Delta Air Lines | 12:30 PM | 743 | 79.7% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 6.8 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 78.3%
- Feb: no data
- Mar: 73.9%
- Apr: 88.3%
- May: 78.7%
- Jun: 61.7%
- Jul: 55.8%
- Aug: 73.0%
- Sep: 72.9%
- Oct: 83.9%
- Nov: no data
- Dec: 74.8%
July is historically the weakest month and April the strongest, a spread of 32.5 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 81.8% against 77.5% in the 12 months before — improving by 4.3 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 1,600 SAT → JFK 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