Route profile
SJC→HNL
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from San Jose to Honolulu, 2,417 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 96% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,504 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
SJC → HNL arrives on time 85.0% of the time; the return trip, HNL → SJC, arrives on time 84.5% of the time.
SJC → HNL spends 21.4 minutes on the ground on a 2,417-mile trip: 13.5 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SJC and 7.9 minutes from touchdown to gate at HNL.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route stays close to typical even on its worst days, a smaller gap than 92% of 4,598 comparable routes.
A typical arrival is 8 min early, and the worst tenth are only 30 minutes worse than that.
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 4,598 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where SJC to HNL differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SJC to HNL is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 2 PM: 85.5% arrive on time, 10.9 points ahead of the 74.6% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 10.9 points.
SJC to HNL struggles most at 6 PM: 60.2% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 8.2 points behind the 68.4% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 8.4 points.
SJC to HNL holds up on Sundays better than routes of similar length do: 86.7% on time to their 76.0%, a 10.7 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 11.9 points.
May is kinder to SJC to HNL than to routes of similar length: 89.9% on time against 77.7%, 12.2 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 14.7 points.
Hawaiian Airlines does better on SJC to HNL than on its routes of similar length: 85.8% on time here, 71.1% there, 14.7 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 14.4 points.
SJC to HNL against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 2 PM departures | 85.5% | routes of similar length | 74.6% | +10.9 pts | 387 here, 31,613 there |
| Hour: 6 PM departures | 60.2% | routes of similar length | 68.4% | −8.2 pts | 128 here, 62,476 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 86.7% | routes of similar length | 76.0% | +10.7 pts | 510 here, 158,486 there |
| Month: May | 89.9% | routes of similar length | 77.7% | +12.2 pts | 247 here, 94,716 there |
| Airline: Hawaiian Airlines | 85.8% | routes of similar length | 71.1% | +14.7 pts | 887 here, 28,139 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 2,417 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
22 min late
against a median of 8 min early
Percentiles over 3,504 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at HNL after arriving from SJC.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 31% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 7.2% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 3.0% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 1.7% | 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 0.34% of the time and diverts 0.09% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,489 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 22 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,504 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SJC → HNL flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 89.4% of the time, against 60.2% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 29.2 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 90.5% on time from 1,625 flights
- 8 AM: 85.4% on time from 452 flights
- 9 AM: 85.8% on time from 274 flights
- 10 AM: 80.0% on time from 300 flights
- 11 AM to 12 PM: too few flights to score
- 1 PM: 68.9% on time from 190 flights
- 2 PM: 85.5% on time from 388 flights
- 3 PM to 5 PM: too few flights to score
- 6 PM: 60.2% on time from 129 flights
- 7 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why SJC → HNL 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
screening or terminal security incidents
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for SJC → HNL. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 1,775 | 84.1% | 0.06% | -9 min | 3.4% |
| Hawaiian Airlines | 891 | 85.8% | 0.45% | -7 min | 2.6% |
| Alaska Airlines | 838 | 86.2% | 0.84% | -9 min | 3.1% |
Southwest Airlines flew 50.7% of the 3,504 flights listed.
Alaska Airlines arrived on time 2.1 percentage points more often than Southwest Airlines on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Wednesday the least, a gap of 8.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 77.0%
- Feb: 81.8%
- Mar: 89.5%
- Apr: 87.7%
- May: 89.9%
- Jun: 84.0%
- Jul: 80.8%
- Aug: 84.5%
- Sep: 90.7%
- Oct: 82.9%
- Nov: 89.6%
- Dec: 84.8%
January is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 13.7 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 80.6% from 124 flights
- August 2023: 75.8% from 124 flights
- September 2023: too few flights to score (117)
- October 2023: 79.2% from 121 flights
- November 2023: too few flights to score (116)
- December 2023: 80.0% from 120 flights
- January 2024: 54.4% from 120 flights
- February 2024: too few flights to score (113)
- March 2024: 94.3% from 123 flights
- April 2024: 91.7% from 120 flights
- May 2024: 92.7% from 124 flights
- June 2024: 95.8% from 120 flights
- July 2024: 94.3% from 124 flights
- August 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (112)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (113)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (98)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (106)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (96)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (84)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (100)
- April 2025: too few flights to score (64)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (62)
- June 2025: too few flights to score (86)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (66)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (60)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (60)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (65)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (73)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (65)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (56)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (62)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (59)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (62)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (87)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (93)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 82.7% against 88.4% in the 12 months before — declining by 5.7 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,504 SJC → HNL 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