Route profile
SJC→PDX
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from San Jose to Portland, 569 miles.
Right now
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Weather conditions are strongly associated with delays and cancellations.
Route reliability
July 2023 – July 2026
Better than 95% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 6,449 flights. How this is calculated
SJC → PDX arrives on time 85.7% of the time; the return trip, PDX → SJC, arrives on time 84.6% of the time.
SJC → PDX spends 17.3 minutes on the ground on a 569-mile trip: 12.6 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SJC and 4.7 minutes from touchdown to gate at PDX.
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 98% of 3,357 comparable routes.
88.9% on time in its best month (March) against 80.6% 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 PDX differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SJC to PDX is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 2 PM: 88.3% arrive on time, 13.2 points ahead of the 75.1% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 13.7 points.
SJC to PDX holds up on Saturdays better than routes of similar length do: 88.7% on time to their 79.9%, a 8.8 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 9.6 points.
July is kinder to SJC to PDX than to routes of similar length: 82.5% on time against 69.9%, 12.6 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 12.8 points.
SkyWest Airlines does better on SJC to PDX than on its routes of similar length: 90.6% on time here, 85.3% there, 5.3 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 9.4 points.
SJC to PDX against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 2 PM departures | 88.3% | routes of similar length | 75.1% | +13.2 pts | 281 here, 97,810 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 88.7% | routes of similar length | 79.9% | +8.8 pts | 653 here, 234,918 there |
| Month: July | 82.5% | routes of similar length | 69.9% | +12.6 pts | 742 here, 209,646 there |
| Airline: SkyWest Airlines | 90.6% | routes of similar length | 85.3% | +5.3 pts | 2,032 here, 110,728 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 569 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
24 min late
against a median of 7 min early
Percentiles over 6,449 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at PDX after arriving from SJC.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 31% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 8.2% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 3.7% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.1% | 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 0.26% of the time and diverts 0.11% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 6,425 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 24 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 6,449 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SJC → PDX flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 96.4% of the time, against 68.2% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 28.2 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 96.7% on time from 461 flights
- 7 AM: 96.3% on time from 380 flights
- 8 AM: 96.2% on time from 446 flights
- 9 AM: 95.0% on time from 263 flights
- 10 AM: 90.1% on time from 386 flights
- 11 AM: 90.3% on time from 664 flights
- 12 PM: 92.2% on time from 504 flights
- 1 PM: 85.7% on time from 301 flights
- 2 PM: 88.3% on time from 281 flights
- 3 PM: 79.0% on time from 350 flights
- 4 PM: 75.5% on time from 420 flights
- 5 PM: 82.6% on time from 318 flights
- 6 PM: 80.3% on time from 580 flights
- 7 PM: 71.7% on time from 339 flights
- 8 PM: 79.8% on time from 328 flights
- 9 PM: 67.9% on time from 420 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why SJC → PDX 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 → PDX. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on SJC → PDX, at 67.8%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 96.4% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 68.2%.
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 | 3,899 | 82.4% | 0.15% | -5 min | 4.4% |
| SkyWest Airlines | 2,041 | 90.6% | 0.29% | -8 min | 2.8% |
| Alaska Airlines | 395 | 94.1% | 0.76% | -13 min | 2.6% |
Southwest Airlines flew 61.5% of the 6,335 flights listed.
Alaska Airlines arrived on time 11.7 percentage points more often than Southwest Airlines on this route.
Other ways to fly San Francisco to Portland
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SFO→PDX San Francisco to Portland | 10,693 | 80.0% | 0.70% | -6 min | 73 |
| SJC→PDX this route San Jose to Portland | 6,449 | 85.7% | 0.26% | -7 min | 86 |
SJC → PDX is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 85.7% on time, against 80.0% for SFO → PDX.
Flying to PDX from the San Francisco area? Compare SJC, SFO, OAK for PDX, with the same test for what counts as a real difference.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 7.7 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 86.0%
- Feb: 87.2%
- Mar: 88.9%
- Apr: 88.5%
- May: 85.9%
- Jun: 80.6%
- Jul: 82.5%
- Aug: 86.4%
- Sep: 84.5%
- Oct: 84.9%
- Nov: 88.0%
- Dec: 87.4%
June is historically the weakest month and March the strongest, a spread of 8.3 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 84.6% from 241 flights
- August 2023: 84.9% from 238 flights
- September 2023: 83.5% from 189 flights
- October 2023: 85.2% from 230 flights
- November 2023: 91.2% from 252 flights
- December 2023: 90.5% from 231 flights
- January 2024: 79.4% from 185 flights
- February 2024: 87.4% from 160 flights
- March 2024: 89.2% from 176 flights
- April 2024: 87.3% from 189 flights
- May 2024: 81.6% from 190 flights
- June 2024: 81.6% from 217 flights
- July 2024: 82.3% from 199 flights
- August 2024: 88.6% from 236 flights
- September 2024: 86.1% from 245 flights
- October 2024: 87.1% from 266 flights
- November 2024: 86.6% from 211 flights
- December 2024: 84.3% from 197 flights
- January 2025: 91.9% from 136 flights
- February 2025: 85.2% from 129 flights
- March 2025: 88.9% from 153 flights
- April 2025: 88.4% from 138 flights
- May 2025: 88.3% from 120 flights
- June 2025: 79.5% from 132 flights
- July 2025: 75.0% from 136 flights
- August 2025: 85.2% from 142 flights
- September 2025: 83.2% from 150 flights
- October 2025: 80.9% from 162 flights
- November 2025: too few flights to score (117)
- December 2025: 87.0% from 184 flights
- January 2026: 89.0% from 127 flights
- February 2026: too few flights to score (110)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (105)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (115)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (116)
- June 2026: 80.3% from 157 flights
- July 2026: 85.7% from 168 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 85.8% against 86.0% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 6,449 SJC → PDX 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