Route profile
SJC→HOU
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from San Jose to Houston, 1,621 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 100% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 1,126 flights. How this is calculated
SJC → HOU arrives on time 90.2% of the time; the return trip, HOU → SJC, arrives on time 82.3% of the time, a 7.9-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
SJC → HOU spends 18.2 minutes on the ground on a 1,621-mile trip: 12.5 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SJC and 5.7 minutes from touchdown to gate at HOU.
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 100% of 4,598 comparable routes.
A typical arrival is 5 min early, and the worst tenth are only 19 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 HOU differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SJC to HOU is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 12 PM: 86.2% arrive on time, 8.6 points ahead of the 77.6% those routes manage at that hour.
SJC to HOU holds up on Saturdays better than routes of similar length do: 96.3% on time to their 78.8%, a 17.5 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 17.2 points.
July is kinder to SJC to HOU than to routes of similar length: 91.7% on time against 69.9%, 21.8 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 22 points.
Southwest Airlines does better on SJC to HOU than on its routes of similar length: 90.2% on time here, 75.4% there, 14.8 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 12.8 points.
SJC to HOU against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 12 PM departures | 86.2% | routes of similar length | 77.6% | +8.6 pts | 138 here, 91,843 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 96.3% | routes of similar length | 78.8% | +17.5 pts | 160 here, 211,340 there |
| Month: July | 91.7% | routes of similar length | 69.9% | +21.8 pts | 120 here, 188,437 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 90.2% | routes of similar length | 75.4% | +14.8 pts | 1,115 here, 338,162 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 1,621 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
14 min late
against a median of 5 min early
Percentiles over 1,126 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at HOU after arriving from SJC.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 33% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 9.4% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 4.0% | Low risk |
| 90 min | 1.4% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 0.5% | 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 0.36% of the time and diverts 0.62% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 1,115 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 14 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 1,126 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SJC → HOU flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 94.2% of the time, against 82.6% for 9 AM–12 PM departures, a gap of 11.6 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 96.8% on time from 223 flights
- 7 AM: 93.9% on time from 284 flights
- 8 AM: 90.6% on time from 150 flights
- 9 AM to 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 86.2% on time from 138 flights
- 1 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why SJC → HOU runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
screening or terminal security incidents
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for SJC → HOU. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 1,126 | 90.2% | 0.36% | -5 min | 1.5% |
Other ways to fly San Francisco to Houston
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SFO→IAH San Francisco to Houston | 10,330 | 84.3% | 0.85% | -8 min | 81 |
| SJC→HOU this route San Jose to Houston | 1,126 | 90.2% | 0.36% | -5 min | 94 |
SJC → HOU is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 90.2% on time, against 84.3% for SFO → IAH.
Flying to HOU from the San Francisco area? Compare SJC, SFO, OAK for HOU, 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 Monday the least, a gap of 12.2 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 90.1% against 93.0% in the 12 months before — declining by 2.9 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 1,126 SJC → HOU 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