Route profile
SJC→DEN
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from San Jose to Denver, 948 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 85% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 8,943 flights. How this is calculated
SJC → DEN arrives on time 83.1% of the time; the return trip, DEN → SJC, arrives on time 76.0% of the time, a 7.1-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
SJC → DEN spends 21.5 minutes on the ground on a 948-mile trip: 13.0 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SJC and 8.6 minutes from touchdown to gate at DEN.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where SJC to DEN differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SJC to DEN is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 6 PM: 84.6% arrive on time, 16.7 points ahead of the 67.9% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 16.1 points.
SJC to DEN struggles most at 2 PM: 67.4% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 6.3 points behind the 73.7% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 7.2 points.
SJC to DEN holds up on Saturdays better than routes of similar length do: 87.2% on time to their 77.9%, a 9.3 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 8.1 points.
March is kinder to SJC to DEN than to routes of similar length: 87.0% on time against 76.4%, 10.6 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 9.1 points.
United Airlines does better on SJC to DEN than on its routes of similar length: 88.9% on time here, 80.5% there, 8.4 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 9 points.
SJC to DEN against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 6 PM departures | 84.6% | routes of similar length | 67.9% | +16.7 pts | 644 here, 193,113 there |
| Hour: 2 PM departures | 67.4% | routes of similar length | 73.7% | −6.3 pts | 631 here, 186,042 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 87.2% | routes of similar length | 77.9% | +9.3 pts | 1,083 here, 402,721 there |
| Month: March | 87.0% | routes of similar length | 76.4% | +10.6 pts | 602 here, 263,594 there |
| Airline: United Airlines | 88.9% | routes of similar length | 80.5% | +8.4 pts | 3,613 here, 479,945 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 948 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
32 min late
against a median of 7 min early
Percentiles over 8,943 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at DEN after arriving from SJC.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 31% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 16% | High risk |
| 60 min | 10% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.3% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 2.8% | 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 0.55% of the time and diverts 0.28% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 8,869 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 32 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 8,943 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SJC → DEN flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 93.3% of the time, against 75.0% for 12–3 PM departures, a gap of 18.3 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 93.5% on time from 878 flights
- 7 AM: 91.9% on time from 375 flights
- 8 AM: 93.6% on time from 1,357 flights
- 9 AM: 88.2% on time from 418 flights
- 10 AM: 88.7% on time from 663 flights
- 11 AM: 78.6% on time from 231 flights
- 12 PM: 83.0% on time from 752 flights
- 1 PM: 71.8% on time from 378 flights
- 2 PM: 67.4% on time from 635 flights
- 3 PM: 75.6% on time from 804 flights
- 4 PM: 77.7% on time from 708 flights
- 5 PM: 74.6% on time from 388 flights
- 6 PM: 84.6% on time from 653 flights
- 7 PM: 74.7% on time from 376 flights
- 8 PM: 75.7% on time from 230 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why SJC → DEN runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s 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 → DEN. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on SJC → DEN, at 38.9%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 93.3% of the time and 12–3 PM departures 75.0%.
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 | 4,980 | 79.4% | 0.42% | -4 min | 5.8% |
| United Airlines | 3,646 | 88.9% | 0.74% | -13 min | 4.7% |
| Frontier Airlines | 263 | 73.3% | 0.38% | -4 min | 7.6% |
Southwest Airlines flew 56.0% of the 8,889 flights listed.
United Airlines arrived on time 15.6 percentage points more often than Frontier Airlines on this route.
Other ways to fly San Francisco to Denver
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SFO→DEN San Francisco to Denver | 17,119 | 76.4% | 0.62% | -5 min | 66 |
| SJC→DEN this route San Jose to Denver | 8,943 | 83.1% | 0.55% | -7 min | 79 |
SJC → DEN is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 83.1% on time, against 76.4% for SFO → DEN.
Flying to DEN from the San Francisco area? Compare SJC, SFO, OAK for DEN, with the same test for what counts as a real difference.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 7.2 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 88.1%
- Feb: 87.7%
- Mar: 87.0%
- Apr: 83.0%
- May: 77.8%
- Jun: 71.8%
- Jul: 73.4%
- Aug: 80.1%
- Sep: 86.0%
- Oct: 88.0%
- Nov: 91.3%
- Dec: 87.7%
June is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 19.5 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 74.8% from 249 flights
- August 2023: 82.4% from 261 flights
- September 2023: 86.0% from 250 flights
- October 2023: 88.8% from 258 flights
- November 2023: 92.9% from 255 flights
- December 2023: 88.8% from 258 flights
- January 2024: 84.6% from 227 flights
- February 2024: 84.6% from 211 flights
- March 2024: 87.7% from 214 flights
- April 2024: 88.4% from 226 flights
- May 2024: 87.0% from 271 flights
- June 2024: 79.0% from 290 flights
- July 2024: 83.0% from 282 flights
- August 2024: 84.1% from 306 flights
- September 2024: 89.9% from 298 flights
- October 2024: 88.0% from 292 flights
- November 2024: 91.0% from 289 flights
- December 2024: 89.7% from 273 flights
- January 2025: 87.4% from 241 flights
- February 2025: 90.1% from 222 flights
- March 2025: 87.2% from 219 flights
- April 2025: 76.1% from 237 flights
- May 2025: 68.6% from 265 flights
- June 2025: 70.2% from 236 flights
- July 2025: 67.8% from 249 flights
- August 2025: 72.3% from 232 flights
- September 2025: 81.7% from 264 flights
- October 2025: 87.3% from 246 flights
- November 2025: 89.9% from 248 flights
- December 2025: 83.7% from 217 flights
- January 2026: 93.1% from 189 flights
- February 2026: 88.5% from 177 flights
- March 2026: 86.0% from 172 flights
- April 2026: 85.5% from 167 flights
- May 2026: 77.6% from 197 flights
- June 2026: 64.1% from 221 flights
- July 2026: 66.4% from 234 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 81.0% against 82.8% in the 12 months before — declining by 1.8 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 8,943 SJC → DEN 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