Route profile
SJC→ATL
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from San Jose to Atlanta, 2,116 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 2,632 flights. How this is calculated
SJC → ATL arrives on time 92.6% of the time; the return trip, ATL → SJC, arrives on time 85.8% of the time, a 6.8-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
SJC → ATL spends 23.4 minutes on the ground on a 2,116-mile trip: 15.1 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SJC and 8.2 minutes from touchdown to gate at ATL.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Unlike most, it barely matters what time you fly this route, a steadier spread than 99% of 4,023 comparable routes.
94.5% on time for 5–9 AM departures, against 91.5% for 12–3 PM, a narrow gap either way.
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 4,023 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where SJC to ATL differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SJC to ATL is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 1 PM: 90.2% arrive on time, 14.1 points ahead of the 76.1% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 13.1 points.
SJC to ATL holds up on Thursdays better than routes of similar length do: 96.0% on time to their 77.8%, a 18.2 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 19.2 points.
June is kinder to SJC to ATL than to routes of similar length: 93.0% on time against 74.3%, 18.7 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 20.3 points.
Delta Air Lines does better on SJC to ATL than on its routes of similar length: 92.6% on time here, 81.5% there, 11.1 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 11.1 points.
SJC to ATL against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 1 PM departures | 90.2% | routes of similar length | 76.1% | +14.1 pts | 184 here, 43,842 there |
| Weekday: Thursday | 96.0% | routes of similar length | 77.8% | +18.2 pts | 403 here, 148,233 there |
| Month: June | 93.0% | routes of similar length | 74.3% | +18.7 pts | 244 here, 90,535 there |
| Airline: Delta Air Lines | 92.6% | routes of similar length | 81.5% | +11.1 pts | 2,595 here, 253,977 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 2,116 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
9 min late
against a median of 15 min early
Percentiles over 2,632 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at ATL after arriving from SJC.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 16% | High risk |
| 45 min | 7.2% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 4.4% | Low risk |
| 90 min | 2.1% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 1.2% | 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 0.99% of the time and diverts 0.42% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 2,595 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 9 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 2,632 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SJC → ATL flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 94.5% of the time, against 91.5% for 12–3 PM departures, a gap of 3.0 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 94.5% on time from 956 flights
- 7 AM to 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 91.6% on time from 794 flights
- 1 PM: 90.2% on time from 187 flights
- 2 PM to 9 PM: too few flights to score
- 10 PM: 93.0% on time from 493 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why SJC → ATL 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 SJC → ATL. 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 | 2,632 | 92.6% | 0.99% | -15 min | 2.1% |
Other ways to fly San Francisco to Atlanta
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SFO→ATL San Francisco to Atlanta | 10,070 | 81.1% | 0.94% | -7 min | 73 |
| SJC→ATL this route San Jose to Atlanta | 2,632 | 92.6% | 0.99% | -15 min | 86 |
SJC → ATL is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 92.6% on time, against 81.1% for SFO → ATL.
Flying to ATL from the San Francisco area? Compare SJC, SFO, OAK for ATL, with the same test for what counts as a real difference.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| DL654 Delta Air Lines | 6:35 AM | 781 | 93.5% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Thursday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 8.1 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 89.9%
- Feb: 96.1%
- Mar: 89.7%
- Apr: 97.1%
- May: 89.3%
- Jun: 93.0%
- Jul: 87.7%
- Aug: 90.5%
- Sep: 95.5%
- Oct: 95.7%
- Nov: 93.8%
- Dec: 95.9%
July is historically the weakest month and April the strongest, a spread of 9.4 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 92.6% against 92.0% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 2,632 SJC → ATL 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