Route profile
SJC→PHX
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from San Jose to Phoenix, 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 88% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 9,596 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
SJC → PHX arrives on time 84.1% of the time; the return trip, PHX → SJC, arrives on time 81.1% of the time, a 3.0-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
SJC → PHX spends 21.1 minutes on the ground on a 621-mile trip: 14.0 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SJC and 7.1 minutes from touchdown to gate at PHX.
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 97% of 3,357 comparable routes.
87.0% on time in its best month (February) against 78.6% in its worst (July).
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 PHX differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SJC to PHX is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 7 PM: 79.9% arrive on time, 11.9 points ahead of the 68.0% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 12.1 points.
SJC to PHX holds up on Saturdays better than routes of similar length do: 88.9% on time to their 79.5%, a 9.4 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 9.8 points.
May is kinder to SJC to PHX than to routes of similar length: 85.1% on time against 74.6%, 10.5 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 9.9 points.
American Airlines does better on SJC to PHX than on its routes of similar length: 87.3% on time here, 74.3% there, 13 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 12.2 points.
SJC to PHX against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 7 PM departures | 79.9% | routes of similar length | 68.0% | +11.9 pts | 1,149 here, 120,267 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 88.9% | routes of similar length | 79.5% | +9.4 pts | 1,134 here, 254,627 there |
| Month: May | 85.1% | routes of similar length | 74.6% | +10.5 pts | 830 here, 174,122 there |
| Airline: American Airlines | 87.3% | routes of similar length | 74.3% | +13.0 pts | 1,607 here, 320,651 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 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
29 min late
against a median of 6 min early
Percentiles over 9,596 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at PHX after arriving from SJC.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 32% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 15% | High risk |
| 60 min | 9.4% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.4% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.5% | 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 0.41% of the time and diverts 0.13% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 9,545 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 29 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 9,596 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SJC → PHX flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 93.7% of the time, against 65.5% 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: 93.5% on time from 1,809 flights
- 7 AM: 95.9% on time from 291 flights
- 8 AM: 93.2% on time from 386 flights
- 9 AM: 92.4% on time from 1,111 flights
- 10 AM: 90.8% on time from 317 flights
- 11 AM: 83.5% on time from 390 flights
- 12 PM: 84.7% on time from 1,184 flights
- 1 PM: 73.0% on time from 206 flights
- 2 PM: 77.8% on time from 255 flights
- 3 PM: 79.0% on time from 491 flights
- 4 PM: 72.6% on time from 534 flights
- 5 PM: 75.3% on time from 356 flights
- 6 PM: 77.3% on time from 346 flights
- 7 PM: 79.9% on time from 1,158 flights
- 8 PM: 70.7% on time from 315 flights
- 9 PM: 64.6% on time from 354 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why SJC → PHX 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 → PHX. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on SJC → PHX, at 53.8%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 93.7% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 65.5%.
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 | 5,905 | 81.8% | 0.41% | -5 min | 4.2% |
| American Airlines | 1,616 | 87.3% | 0.37% | -7 min | 5.8% |
| SkyWest Airlines | 1,177 | 87.9% | 0.34% | -11 min | 5.2% |
| Envoy Air | 710 | 90.4% | 0.56% | -8 min | 2.8% |
Southwest Airlines flew 62.8% of the 9,408 flights listed.
Envoy Air arrived on time 8.6 percentage points more often than Southwest Airlines on this route.
Other ways to fly San Francisco to Phoenix
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SFO→PHX San Francisco to Phoenix | 14,528 | 76.4% | 0.57% | -5 min | 64 |
| SJC→PHX this route San Jose to Phoenix | 9,596 | 84.1% | 0.41% | -6 min | 80 |
SJC → PHX is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 84.1% on time, against 76.4% for SFO → PHX.
Flying to PHX from the San Francisco area? Compare SJC, SFO, OAK for PHX, 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 Thursday the least, a gap of 8.0 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 86.8%
- Feb: 87.0%
- Mar: 83.7%
- Apr: 86.8%
- May: 85.1%
- Jun: 78.7%
- Jul: 78.6%
- Aug: 85.3%
- Sep: 86.1%
- Oct: 82.4%
- Nov: 85.6%
- Dec: 85.1%
July is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 8.4 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 73.8% from 232 flights
- August 2023: 82.6% from 237 flights
- September 2023: 80.9% from 216 flights
- October 2023: 83.3% from 215 flights
- November 2023: 88.0% from 234 flights
- December 2023: 86.6% from 247 flights
- January 2024: 81.8% from 232 flights
- February 2024: 87.3% from 237 flights
- March 2024: 84.2% from 299 flights
- April 2024: 88.7% from 293 flights
- May 2024: 85.6% from 299 flights
- June 2024: 82.8% from 273 flights
- July 2024: 83.2% from 283 flights
- August 2024: 87.9% from 283 flights
- September 2024: 91.1% from 259 flights
- October 2024: 87.1% from 295 flights
- November 2024: 89.1% from 302 flights
- December 2024: 87.2% from 297 flights
- January 2025: 89.6% from 241 flights
- February 2025: 89.8% from 245 flights
- March 2025: 84.6% from 318 flights
- April 2025: 86.8% from 288 flights
- May 2025: 86.3% from 266 flights
- June 2025: 81.2% from 239 flights
- July 2025: 82.0% from 247 flights
- August 2025: 85.0% from 208 flights
- September 2025: 85.4% from 201 flights
- October 2025: 76.2% from 253 flights
- November 2025: 79.6% from 274 flights
- December 2025: 81.5% from 276 flights
- January 2026: 88.8% from 246 flights
- February 2026: 84.0% from 254 flights
- March 2026: 82.3% from 300 flights
- April 2026: 84.8% from 272 flights
- May 2026: 83.2% from 269 flights
- June 2026: 71.2% from 231 flights
- July 2026: 73.9% from 235 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 81.3% against 86.9% in the 12 months before — declining by 5.6 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 9,596 SJC → PHX 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