Route profile
SLC→OAK
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Salt Lake City to Oakland, 588 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 98% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 5,775 flights. How this is calculated
SLC → OAK arrives on time 88.3% of the time; the return trip, OAK → SLC, arrives on time 88.8% of the time.
SLC → OAK spends 22.5 minutes on the ground on a 588-mile trip: 17.1 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SLC and 5.4 minutes from touchdown to gate at OAK.
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 96% of 3,357 comparable routes.
93.2% on time in its best month (September) against 84.2% in its worst (February).
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 SLC to OAK differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SLC to OAK is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 10 PM: 87.4% arrive on time, 19.2 points ahead of the 68.2% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 15.8 points.
SLC to OAK holds up on Sundays better than routes of similar length do: 87.3% on time to their 75.2%, a 12.1 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 12.5 points.
July is kinder to SLC to OAK than to routes of similar length: 86.1% on time against 69.7%, 16.4 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 16.4 points.
SkyWest Airlines does better on SLC to OAK than on its routes of similar length: 92.5% on time here, 85.3% there, 7.2 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 11.3 points.
SLC to OAK against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 10 PM departures | 87.4% | routes of similar length | 68.2% | +19.2 pts | 709 here, 48,287 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 87.3% | routes of similar length | 75.2% | +12.1 pts | 787 here, 289,080 there |
| Month: July | 86.1% | routes of similar length | 69.7% | +16.4 pts | 618 here, 217,399 there |
| Airline: SkyWest Airlines | 92.5% | routes of similar length | 85.3% | +7.2 pts | 2,440 here, 117,780 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 588 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
18 min late
against a median of 8 min early
Percentiles over 5,775 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at OAK after arriving from SLC.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 26% | High risk |
| 45 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 6.5% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 3.2% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 1.8% | 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 0.14% 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 5,762 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 18 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 5,775 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SLC → OAK flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 96.4% of the time, against 72.6% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 23.8 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 96.3% on time from 538 flights
- 7 AM: 95.7% on time from 187 flights
- 8 AM to 9 AM: too few flights to score
- 10 AM: 92.5% on time from 599 flights
- 11 AM: 92.6% on time from 913 flights
- 12 PM: 83.9% on time from 155 flights
- 1 PM: 80.5% on time from 195 flights
- 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 91.7% on time from 1,116 flights
- 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 74.2% on time from 121 flights
- 6 PM: 75.4% on time from 195 flights
- 7 PM: 64.9% on time from 168 flights
- 8 PM: 76.0% on time from 217 flights
- 9 PM: 82.2% on time from 298 flights
- 10 PM: 87.4% on time from 712 flights
- 11 PM: 88.1% on time from 194 flights
Why SLC → OAK 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 SLC → OAK. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SkyWest Airlines | 2,446 | 92.5% | 0.12% | -8 min | 2.2% |
| Southwest Airlines | 2,441 | 84.4% | 0.08% | -7 min | 3.9% |
| Delta Air Lines | 888 | 87.5% | 0.34% | -12 min | 4.6% |
SkyWest Airlines flew 42.4% of the 5,775 flights listed.
SkyWest Airlines arrived on time 8.1 percentage points more often than Southwest Airlines on this route.
Other ways to fly Salt Lake City to San Francisco
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SLC→SFO Salt Lake City to San Francisco | 10,852 | 71.5% | 0.71% | -3 min | 57 |
| SLC→OAK this route Salt Lake City to Oakland | 5,775 | 88.3% | 0.14% | -8 min | 90 |
SLC → OAK is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 88.3% on time, against 71.5% for SLC → SFO.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| OO3903 SkyWest Airlines | 3:10 PM | 970 | 91.3% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Monday the least, a gap of 4.7 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 86.4%
- Feb: 84.2%
- Mar: 85.9%
- Apr: 88.8%
- May: 88.6%
- Jun: 88.0%
- Jul: 86.1%
- Aug: 87.1%
- Sep: 93.2%
- Oct: 90.5%
- Nov: 91.8%
- Dec: 89.8%
February is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 9.0 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 81.5% from 174 flights
- August 2023: 87.1% from 178 flights
- September 2023: 91.8% from 171 flights
- October 2023: 89.8% from 177 flights
- November 2023: 93.7% from 175 flights
- December 2023: 91.8% from 183 flights
- January 2024: 78.2% from 171 flights
- February 2024: 83.7% from 153 flights
- March 2024: 86.4% from 170 flights
- April 2024: 88.1% from 168 flights
- May 2024: 90.1% from 171 flights
- June 2024: 87.3% from 165 flights
- July 2024: 84.3% from 174 flights
- August 2024: 84.6% from 175 flights
- September 2024: 91.8% from 171 flights
- October 2024: 91.1% from 169 flights
- November 2024: 87.2% from 149 flights
- December 2024: 87.2% from 157 flights
- January 2025: 91.4% from 153 flights
- February 2025: 83.0% from 147 flights
- March 2025: 85.3% from 163 flights
- April 2025: 90.5% from 158 flights
- May 2025: 87.1% from 163 flights
- June 2025: 85.0% from 147 flights
- July 2025: 90.0% from 150 flights
- August 2025: 90.0% from 150 flights
- September 2025: 96.6% from 146 flights
- October 2025: 90.7% from 150 flights
- November 2025: too few flights to score (119)
- December 2025: 90.1% from 121 flights
- January 2026: 90.8% from 142 flights
- February 2026: 85.8% from 148 flights
- March 2026: 86.1% from 145 flights
- April 2026: 87.6% from 137 flights
- May 2026: 88.7% from 141 flights
- June 2026: 92.6% from 121 flights
- July 2026: 90.2% from 123 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 90.2% against 87.9% in the 12 months before — improving by 2.3 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 5,775 SLC → OAK 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