Route profile
SJC→BUR
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from San Jose to Burbank, 296 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 86% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 7,422 flights. How this is calculated
SJC → BUR arrives on time 85.2% of the time; the return trip, BUR → SJC, arrives on time 87.1% of the time.
SJC → BUR spends 14.4 minutes on the ground on a 296-mile trip: 11.1 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SJC and 3.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at BUR.
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 96% of 3,357 comparable routes.
90.4% on time in its best month (February) against 81.0% in its worst (June).
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 SJC to BUR differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SJC to BUR is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 4 PM: 86.2% arrive on time, 13.4 points ahead of the 72.8% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 15.5 points.
SJC to BUR holds up on Tuesdays better than routes of similar length do: 91.6% on time to their 83.1%, a 8.5 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 10 points.
July is kinder to SJC to BUR than to routes of similar length: 82.2% on time against 71.6%, 10.6 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 12.5 points.
Southwest Airlines does better on SJC to BUR than on its routes of similar length: 85.6% on time here, 79.8% there, 5.8 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 8.2 points.
SJC to BUR against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 4 PM departures | 86.2% | routes of similar length | 72.8% | +13.4 pts | 427 here, 59,149 there |
| Weekday: Tuesday | 91.6% | routes of similar length | 83.1% | +8.5 pts | 987 here, 129,588 there |
| Month: July | 82.2% | routes of similar length | 71.6% | +10.6 pts | 810 here, 101,676 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 85.6% | routes of similar length | 79.8% | +5.8 pts | 7,083 here, 283,505 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 296 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 SJC → BUR flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
SJC → BUR cancelled 103 of 7,422 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 72. The reason filed most often was the airline, 57.3% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 126 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 103 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
59 cancellations, 57.3% of the total.
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
41 cancellations, 39.8% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
3 cancellations, 2.9% 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.
103 coded cancellations were recorded on SJC → BUR; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
26 min late
against a median of 9 min early
Percentiles over 7,422 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at BUR after arriving from SJC.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 27% | High risk |
| 45 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 9.0% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.5% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.3% | 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 1.39% of the time and diverts 0.19% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 7,305 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 26 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 7,422 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SJC → BUR flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 95.1% of the time, against 73.8% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 21.3 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 96.0% on time from 542 flights
- 7 AM: 96.3% on time from 447 flights
- 8 AM: 93.4% on time from 628 flights
- 9 AM: 93.2% on time from 617 flights
- 10 AM: 89.6% on time from 442 flights
- 11 AM: 88.9% on time from 543 flights
- 12 PM: 83.0% on time from 289 flights
- 1 PM: 88.3% on time from 493 flights
- 2 PM: 80.1% on time from 435 flights
- 3 PM: 79.9% on time from 395 flights
- 4 PM: 86.2% on time from 433 flights
- 5 PM: 79.9% on time from 493 flights
- 6 PM: 81.0% on time from 547 flights
- 7 PM: 76.8% on time from 425 flights
- 8 PM: 66.2% on time from 693 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why SJC → BUR runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
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 SJC → BUR. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on SJC → BUR, at 65.5%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 95.1% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 73.8%.
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 | 7,198 | 85.6% | 1.40% | -9 min | 4.5% |
| Spirit Airlines | 204 | 74.8% | 0.98% | -2 min | 5.9% |
Southwest Airlines flew 97.2% of the 7,402 flights listed.
Southwest Airlines arrived on time 10.8 percentage points more often than Spirit Airlines on this route.
Other ways to fly San Francisco to Los Angeles
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SFO→LAX San Francisco to Los Angeles | 34,804 | 77.1% | 0.70% | -5 min | 67 |
| SJC→LAX San Jose to Los Angeles | 15,614 | 86.7% | 0.37% | -10 min | 88 |
| SFO→SNA San Francisco to Santa Ana | 13,715 | 80.2% | 1.13% | -6 min | 72 |
| SJC→BUR this route San Jose to Burbank | 7,422 | 85.2% | 1.39% | -9 min | 79 |
SJC → LAX is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 86.7% on time, against 77.1% for SFO → LAX.
Flying to BUR from the San Francisco area? Compare SJC, SFO, OAK for BUR, with the same test for what counts as a real difference.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 12.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 90.1%
- Feb: 90.4%
- Mar: 88.7%
- Apr: 86.9%
- May: 86.9%
- Jun: 81.0%
- Jul: 82.2%
- Aug: 81.8%
- Sep: 83.7%
- Oct: 82.3%
- Nov: 86.3%
- Dec: 85.1%
June is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 9.4 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 80.8% from 249 flights
- August 2023: 79.5% from 255 flights
- September 2023: 86.3% from 252 flights
- October 2023: 87.3% from 231 flights
- November 2023: 86.5% from 201 flights
- December 2023: 87.6% from 211 flights
- January 2024: 87.4% from 202 flights
- February 2024: 93.5% from 189 flights
- March 2024: 90.8% from 190 flights
- April 2024: 90.7% from 173 flights
- May 2024: 88.2% from 170 flights
- June 2024: 84.1% from 190 flights
- July 2024: 84.9% from 192 flights
- August 2024: 83.1% from 202 flights
- September 2024: 78.2% from 242 flights
- October 2024: 78.2% from 250 flights
- November 2024: 90.6% from 236 flights
- December 2024: 82.9% from 215 flights
- January 2025: 89.9% from 203 flights
- February 2025: 90.4% from 191 flights
- March 2025: 88.4% from 205 flights
- April 2025: 86.4% from 199 flights
- May 2025: 86.1% from 201 flights
- June 2025: 76.6% from 202 flights
- July 2025: 79.3% from 205 flights
- August 2025: 83.3% from 205 flights
- September 2025: 87.0% from 202 flights
- October 2025: 81.6% from 211 flights
- November 2025: 81.1% from 199 flights
- December 2025: 84.8% from 184 flights
- January 2026: 93.6% from 157 flights
- February 2026: 86.5% from 162 flights
- March 2026: 86.7% from 170 flights
- April 2026: 83.4% from 163 flights
- May 2026: 86.6% from 166 flights
- June 2026: 82.7% from 170 flights
- July 2026: 84.7% from 177 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 85.0% against 84.0% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 7,422 SJC → BUR 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