Route profile
SLC→SAN
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Salt Lake City to San Diego, 626 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 83% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 8,294 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
SLC → SAN arrives on time 81.8% of the time; the return trip, SAN → SLC, arrives on time 83.8% of the time, a 2.0-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
SLC → SAN spends 23.7 minutes on the ground on a 626-mile trip: 17.2 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SLC and 6.5 minutes from touchdown to gate at SAN.
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 95% of 3,357 comparable routes.
86.7% on time in its best month (May) against 76.9% 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 SLC to SAN differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SLC to SAN is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 9 PM: 86.2% arrive on time, 18.6 points ahead of the 67.6% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 16.7 points.
SLC to SAN struggles most at 9 AM: 78.3% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 6.6 points behind the 84.9% on routes of similar length at the same hour.
SLC to SAN holds up on Mondays better than routes of similar length do: 84.5% on time to their 77.2%, a 7.3 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 7.3 points.
May is kinder to SLC to SAN than to routes of similar length: 86.7% on time against 74.6%, 12.1 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 11.5 points.
Southwest Airlines’ flights on SLC to SAN arrive on time 75.4% of the time, 2.4 points below the 77.8% it manages on its routes of similar length.
SLC to SAN against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 9 PM departures | 86.2% | routes of similar length | 67.6% | +18.6 pts | 268 here, 71,199 there |
| Hour: 9 AM departures | 78.3% | routes of similar length | 84.9% | −6.6 pts | 120 here, 118,729 there |
| Weekday: Monday | 84.5% | routes of similar length | 77.2% | +7.3 pts | 1,215 here, 308,556 there |
| Month: May | 86.7% | routes of similar length | 74.6% | +12.1 pts | 661 here, 175,552 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 75.4% | routes of similar length | 77.8% | −2.4 pts | 1,248 here, 512,390 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 626 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
31 min late
against a median of 6 min early
Percentiles over 8,294 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SAN after arriving from SLC.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 35% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 17% | High risk |
| 60 min | 10% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.9% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.9% | 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 0.53% of the time and diverts 0.28% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 8,227 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 31 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 8,294 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SLC → SAN flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 88.3% of the time, against 70.6% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 17.7 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 91.5% on time from 750 flights
- 8 AM: 85.0% on time from 764 flights
- 9 AM: 78.3% on time from 120 flights
- 10 AM: 85.1% on time from 379 flights
- 11 AM: 82.7% on time from 1,689 flights
- 12 PM: 80.6% on time from 408 flights
- 1 PM: too few flights to score
- 2 PM: 73.9% on time from 230 flights
- 3 PM: 79.3% on time from 1,286 flights
- 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 76.8% on time from 946 flights
- 6 PM: 73.4% on time from 307 flights
- 7 PM to 8 PM: too few flights to score
- 9 PM: 86.2% on time from 268 flights
- 10 PM: 85.7% on time from 750 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why SLC → SAN 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
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for SLC → SAN. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 5,347 | 82.9% | 0.50% | -6 min | 4.8% |
| SkyWest Airlines | 1,473 | 83.0% | 0.68% | -7 min | 5.1% |
| Southwest Airlines | 1,256 | 75.4% | 0.24% | -2 min | 6.1% |
Delta Air Lines flew 66.2% of the 8,076 flights listed.
SkyWest Airlines arrived on time 7.6 percentage points more often than Southwest Airlines on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 10.1 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 82.7%
- Feb: 81.0%
- Mar: 84.1%
- Apr: 85.8%
- May: 86.7%
- Jun: 77.6%
- Jul: 76.9%
- Aug: 78.3%
- Sep: 81.7%
- Oct: 82.4%
- Nov: 84.8%
- Dec: 80.9%
July is historically the weakest month and May the strongest, a spread of 9.8 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 76.6% from 206 flights
- August 2023: 78.2% from 201 flights
- September 2023: 83.8% from 173 flights
- October 2023: 86.3% from 183 flights
- November 2023: 89.5% from 173 flights
- December 2023: 91.7% from 207 flights
- January 2024: 78.8% from 222 flights
- February 2024: 81.4% from 199 flights
- March 2024: 77.1% from 232 flights
- April 2024: 89.6% from 222 flights
- May 2024: 86.3% from 212 flights
- June 2024: 75.7% from 221 flights
- July 2024: 75.9% from 242 flights
- August 2024: 75.8% from 240 flights
- September 2024: 73.9% from 203 flights
- October 2024: 81.6% from 212 flights
- November 2024: 83.1% from 195 flights
- December 2024: 74.7% from 229 flights
- January 2025: 84.7% from 209 flights
- February 2025: 76.8% from 194 flights
- March 2025: 82.6% from 235 flights
- April 2025: 83.8% from 229 flights
- May 2025: 88.6% from 211 flights
- June 2025: 80.9% from 215 flights
- July 2025: 82.7% from 221 flights
- August 2025: 81.3% from 208 flights
- September 2025: 88.7% from 180 flights
- October 2025: 80.2% from 238 flights
- November 2025: 83.0% from 268 flights
- December 2025: 77.8% from 274 flights
- January 2026: 84.6% from 251 flights
- February 2026: 83.9% from 259 flights
- March 2026: 91.0% from 293 flights
- April 2026: 84.2% from 272 flights
- May 2026: 85.3% from 240 flights
- June 2026: 76.5% from 254 flights
- July 2026: 73.3% from 271 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 82.4% against 80.8% in the 12 months before — improving by 1.6 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 8,294 SLC → 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
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