SJC → SAN Flight Reliability

Right now

Origin · SJCNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 08:53 UTC

San Jose airport profile →

Destination · SANNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 08:51 UTC

San Diego airport profile →

Route reliability

July 2023 – July 2026

Route Reliability Score

69/ 100Good

Better than 61% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)

Calculated from 16,846 flights. How this is calculated

On-time arrivals

76.5%

12,740 of 16,657

Cancellation rate

0.95%

160 cancelled

Median arrival delay

-2 min

Average 7.7 min

Severe delays

5.5%

60+ minutes late

Delay when late

48 min

Average, when 15+ min late

Flights analyzed

16,846

3 carriers

SJC → SAN arrives on time 76.5% of the time; the return trip, SAN → SJC, arrives on time 78.1% of the time.

SJC → SAN spends 21.4 minutes on the ground on a 417-mile trip: 16.3 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SJC and 5.1 minutes from touchdown to gate at SAN.

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026

What stands out

Which day you fly matters unusually much here, a wider weekday spread than 98% of 4,467 comparable routes.

85.1% on time on a typical Tuesday, against 67.6% on a Friday.

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 4,467 in the comparison.

Why SJC → SAN flights are cancelled

July 2023 – July 2026

SJC → SAN cancelled 160 of 16,846 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 105. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 54.4% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 194 scheduled flights.

Share of cancellations

Weather54.4%

Airline33.8%

Air traffic11.9%

Security0.0%

Of 160 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.

What each reason means

Extreme weather1 in 194

Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.

87 cancellations, 54.4% of the total.

The airline1 in 312

Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.

54 cancellations, 33.8% of the total.

The air traffic system1 in 887

Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.

19 cancellations, 11.9% of the total.

Security—

A terminal evacuation, a security breach, screening equipment failure, or screening queues over 29 minutes.

0 cancellations, 0.0% of the total.

Reason codes are the operating airline’s own filing with US DOT, not an independent finding of fault. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.

160 coded cancellations were recorded on SJC → SAN; the section appears from 50.

When it goes wrong

July 2023 – July 2026

One arrival in ten is worse than

38 min late

against a median of 2 min early

Arrived an hour or more late5.5%

Typical delay when late48 min

Cancelled0.95%

Landed somewhere else0.17%

Percentiles over 16,846 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.

Will your connection be tight enough?

Layovers at SAN after arriving from SJC.

Connection buffer and chance of missing by layover length, SJC → SAN arrivals
Connection time	Chance of missing	Reads as
30 min	45%	Likely to miss
45 min	23%	High risk
60 min	13%	Some risk
90 min	5.4%	Some risk
120 min	2.6%	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 0.95% of the time and diverts 0.17% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.

Chance of missing is the share of 16,657 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 38 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 16,846 operations.

Any other layover length: connection checker.

Best time to fly

SJC → SAN flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 88.3% of the time, against 63.2% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 25.1 percentage points.

By day and hour

On-time arrival rate for each weekday and scheduled departure hour, in local time at the departure airport (SJC).

Hour of departure and day of the week matter about equally: hourly averages sit a typical 8.6 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 6.1 points.

On-time arrival rate for SJC to SAN by weekday and scheduled departure hour, local time. Each button reads out one slot.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
6 AM–7 AM
7 AM–8 AM
8 AM–9 AM
9 AM–10 AM
10 AM–11 AM
11 AM–12 PM
12 PM–1 PM
1 PM–2 PM
2 PM–3 PM
3 PM–4 PM
4 PM–5 PM
5 PM–6 PM
6 PM–7 PM
7 PM–8 PM
8 PM–9 PM

On-time rate, % · stronger color, fewer on time

40–49
50–59
60–69
70–79
80–89
90–99

Fewer than 120 flights, not scored

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · On time is arrival within 15 minutes of schedule. Cells round to whole percentages; the table shows one decimal.

No slot is named best or worst: too few reach 500 flights. Departures after 9 PM (442 flights) are not drawn: no slot in those hours has enough flights to score.

View as tableHide table

On-time arrival rate (%) with flights beneath, by scheduled departure hour and weekday for SJC to SAN. A dash means fewer than 120 flights, which are not scored.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
6 AM–7 AM	92.2% on time232 flights	91.9% on time198 flights	93.1% on time193 flights	92.5% on time233 flights	86.1% on time237 flights	89.1% on time188 flights	89.6% on time174 flights
7 AM–8 AM	84.4% on time178 flights	94.2% on time158 flights	94.2% on time157 flights	85.3% on time170 flights	84.2% on time172 flights	94.0% on time134 flights	88.8% on time199 flights
8 AM–9 AM	80.9% on time133 flights	100 flights, too few to score	98 flights, too few to score	77.8% on time137 flights	71.7% on time139 flights	90.9% on time133 flights	87.6% on time179 flights
9 AM–10 AM	83.6% on time132 flights	86.1% on time152 flights	82.8% on time152 flights	82.1% on time137 flights	80.6% on time134 flights	102 flights, too few to score	82.6% on time150 flights
10 AM–11 AM	74.0% on time278 flights	86.1% on time202 flights	81.3% on time204 flights	78.2% on time273 flights	70.6% on time287 flights	81.1% on time148 flights	71.2% on time230 flights
11 AM–12 PM	74.5% on time141 flights	100 flights, too few to score	97 flights, too few to score	75.3% on time151 flights	64.4% on time148 flights	81.6% on time126 flights	67.2% on time137 flights
12 PM–1 PM	76.5% on time137 flights	87.6% on time173 flights	87.0% on time171 flights	76.6% on time127 flights	66.7% on time126 flights	113 flights, too few to score	75.4% on time143 flights
1 PM–2 PM	76.3% on time156 flights	115 flights, too few to score	108 flights, too few to score	76.8% on time155 flights	66.9% on time160 flights	93 flights, too few to score	71.5% on time131 flights
2 PM–3 PM	72.8% on time246 flights	89.7% on time160 flights	87.7% on time159 flights	74.7% on time254 flights	65.4% on time246 flights	85.2% on time128 flights	78.3% on time200 flights
3 PM–4 PM	77.0% on time175 flights	83.1% on time173 flights	78.7% on time172 flights	73.7% on time172 flights	64.4% on time176 flights	88.1% on time120 flights	67.0% on time179 flights
4 PM–5 PM	112 flights, too few to score	113 flights, too few to score	110 flights, too few to score	105 flights, too few to score	112 flights, too few to score	88 flights, too few to score	116 flights, too few to score
5 PM–6 PM	76.4% on time238 flights	83.6% on time177 flights	72.8% on time184 flights	61.5% on time215 flights	62.9% on time229 flights	81.4% on time129 flights	63.1% on time198 flights
6 PM–7 PM	62.1% on time173 flights	77.2% on time185 flights	68.8% on time180 flights	59.4% on time185 flights	52.9% on time178 flights	101 flights, too few to score	57.7% on time196 flights
7 PM–8 PM	59.5% on time165 flights	97 flights, too few to score	101 flights, too few to score	40.0% on time166 flights	46.5% on time174 flights	77 flights, too few to score	63.6% on time153 flights
8 PM–9 PM	92 flights, too few to score	79.8% on time120 flights	72.0% on time120 flights	87 flights, too few to score	86 flights, too few to score	54 flights, too few to score	97 flights, too few to score

By departure window

5–9 AM88.3%

9 AM–12 PM78.3%

12–3 PM78.1%

3–6 PM72.8%

6–9 PM63.2%

9 PM–5 AM66.5%

By departure hour

12 AM

3 AM

6 AM

9 AM

12 PM

3 PM

6 PM

9 PM

Why SJC → SAN runs late

July 2023 – July 2026

Late-arriving aircraft41.8%

the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late

Air traffic control33.4%

airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control

The airline23.1%

crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control

Weather1.7%

weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically

Security0.1%

screening or terminal security incidents

Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for SJC → SAN. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.

Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on SJC → SAN, at 41.8%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 88.3% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 63.2%.

How this route holds up in bad weather

July 2023 – July 2026

The harder-hit end is SAN, where the flight lands. Its figure counts departures from SAN, so it says more about how that airport copes than about this route. Bad weather cancels 3.5 times the normal rate at SAN against 1.6 times at SJC. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: SJC 1.0% against 0.6%, SAN 3.5% against 1.0%. Flights that did leave SAN in bad weather arrived on time 66.7% of the time, against 78.4% in normal hours.

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026

Departures from SJC and SAN in hours of bad weather and in normal hours
Departures from	SJC	SAN
Cancelled in bad weather	1.0%	3.5%
Cancelled in normal hours	0.6%	1.0%
Arrived on time, bad weather	87.4%	66.7%
Arrived on time, normal hours	83.5%	78.4%
Departures in bad weather	4,322	19,707

These are airport figures, not route figures: every scheduled departure from SJC and SAN, to any destination, in hours the weather report called bad.

Weather source and limits. In full: SJC, SAN, What Weather Costs Each Airport, Who Cancels More When the Weather Turns, Airports That Change Places When Weather Turns.

Airlines on this route

Carriers with at least 200 flights, by the airline that operated each one.

Airlines on this route
Carrier	Flights	On time	Cancelled	Median delay	Severe
Southwest Airlines	12,053	75.7%	0.95%	-1 min	5.5%
SkyWest Airlines	3,617	78.5%	0.91%	-2 min	5.1%
Spirit Airlines	875	77.7%	1.26%	-5 min	7.9%

Southwest Airlines flew 72.8% of the 16,545 flights listed.

SkyWest Airlines arrived on time 2.8 percentage points more often than Southwest Airlines on this route.

Other ways to fly San Francisco to San Diego

Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.

Other ways to fly San Francisco to San Diego
Route	Flights	On time	Cancelled	Median delay	Score
SFO→SAN San Francisco to San Diego	19,949	71.4%	1.10%	-1 min	56
SJC→SAN this route San Jose to San Diego	16,846	76.5%	0.95%	-2 min	69
OAK→SAN Oakland to San Diego	10,555	74.6%	1.16%	-1 min	64

SJC → SAN is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 76.5% on time, against 71.4% for SFO → SAN.

Flying to SAN from the San Francisco area? Compare SJC, SFO, OAK for SAN, with the same test for what counts as a real difference.

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

Mon75.9%

Tue85.1%

Wed81.6%

Thu72.6%

Fri67.6%

Sat84.8%

Sun72.8%

Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 17.5 percentage points.

By month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

June is historically the weakest month and January the strongest, a spread of 17.7 percentage points.

Reliability over time

July 2023 – July 2026

24

25

26

Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 70.7% against 77.5% in the 12 months before — declining by 6.8 percentage points.

Data and methodology

Calculated by FlyerIntel from 16,846 SJC → SAN 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

Analysis last recomputed September 26, 2026

SJC airport SAN airport Return direction SAN → SJC

SJC→SAN

Right now

Route reliability

What stands out

Why SJC → SAN flights are cancelled

Share of cancellations

What each reason means

When it goes wrong

Will your connection be tight enough?

Best time to fly

By day and hour

By departure window

By departure hour

Why SJC → SAN runs late

How this route holds up in bad weather

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

Airlines on this route

Other ways to fly San Francisco to San Diego

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

By month

Reliability over time

Data and methodology