Route profile
SLC→SJC
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Salt Lake City to San Jose, 584 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 95% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 5,671 flights. How this is calculated
SLC → SJC arrives on time 87.2% of the time; the return trip, SJC → SLC, arrives on time 91.5% of the time, a 4.2-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
SLC → SJC spends 21.7 minutes on the ground on a 584-mile trip: 17.5 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SLC and 4.2 minutes from touchdown to gate at SJC.
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 99% of 3,357 comparable routes.
90.8% on time in its best month (September) against 83.2% 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 SLC to SJC differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SLC to SJC is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 9 PM: 86.1% arrive on time, 18.3 points ahead of the 67.8% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 16.6 points.
SLC to SJC holds up on Tuesdays better than routes of similar length do: 93.1% on time to their 82.0%, a 11.1 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 11.5 points.
July is kinder to SLC to SJC than to routes of similar length: 86.8% on time against 69.7%, 17.1 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 17.1 points.
SkyWest Airlines does better on SLC to SJC than on its routes of similar length: 92.6% on time here, 84.9% there, 7.7 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 11.4 points.
SLC to SJC against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 9 PM departures | 86.1% | routes of similar length | 67.8% | +18.3 pts | 223 here, 65,403 there |
| Weekday: Tuesday | 93.1% | routes of similar length | 82.0% | +11.1 pts | 766 here, 266,769 there |
| Month: July | 86.8% | routes of similar length | 69.7% | +17.1 pts | 658 here, 213,322 there |
| Airline: SkyWest Airlines | 92.6% | routes of similar length | 84.9% | +7.7 pts | 1,750 here, 107,517 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 584 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
22 min late
against a median of 10 min early
Percentiles over 5,671 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SJC after arriving from SLC.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 25% | High risk |
| 45 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 7.7% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.1% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.2% | 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 0.32% of the time and diverts 0.05% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 5,650 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 22 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 5,671 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SLC → SJC flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 93.4% of the time, against 83.6% for 12–3 PM departures, a gap of 9.8 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 96.3% on time from 410 flights
- 8 AM: 91.6% on time from 655 flights
- 9 AM to 10 AM: too few flights to score
- 11 AM: 86.5% on time from 1,207 flights
- 12 PM: too few flights to score
- 1 PM: 81.3% on time from 162 flights
- 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 88.6% on time from 1,112 flights
- 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 82.3% on time from 572 flights
- 6 PM to 8 PM: too few flights to score
- 9 PM: 86.1% on time from 224 flights
- 10 PM: 84.3% on time from 719 flights
- 11 PM: 83.8% on time from 130 flights
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why SLC → SJC 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
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
screening or terminal security incidents
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for SLC → SJC. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 3,065 | 85.3% | 0.46% | -9 min | 5.0% |
| SkyWest Airlines | 1,752 | 92.6% | 0.06% | -11 min | 2.4% |
| Southwest Airlines | 854 | 82.8% | 0.35% | -7 min | 4.9% |
Delta Air Lines flew 54.0% of the 5,671 flights listed.
SkyWest Airlines arrived on time 9.8 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→SJC this route Salt Lake City to San Jose | 5,671 | 87.2% | 0.32% | -10 min | 86 |
SLC → SJC is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 87.2% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| DL1272 Delta Air Lines | 10:45 PM | 785 | 83.3% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 8.5 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 85.1%
- Feb: 87.0%
- Mar: 85.5%
- Apr: 89.0%
- May: 83.9%
- Jun: 83.2%
- Jul: 86.8%
- Aug: 88.0%
- Sep: 90.8%
- Oct: 88.8%
- Nov: 89.2%
- Dec: 89.4%
June is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 7.6 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 85.4% from 153 flights
- August 2023: 91.0% from 155 flights
- September 2023: 91.1% from 170 flights
- October 2023: 89.7% from 175 flights
- November 2023: 92.2% from 166 flights
- December 2023: 92.8% from 152 flights
- January 2024: 76.0% from 150 flights
- February 2024: 88.1% from 136 flights
- March 2024: 86.0% from 150 flights
- April 2024: 87.7% from 146 flights
- May 2024: 82.7% from 150 flights
- June 2024: 83.3% from 162 flights
- July 2024: 87.0% from 168 flights
- August 2024: 86.6% from 164 flights
- September 2024: 91.4% from 162 flights
- October 2024: 89.2% from 166 flights
- November 2024: 89.5% from 154 flights
- December 2024: 88.3% from 138 flights
- January 2025: 92.2% from 129 flights
- February 2025: 85.4% from 123 flights
- March 2025: 84.9% from 146 flights
- April 2025: 90.6% from 139 flights
- May 2025: 81.9% from 166 flights
- June 2025: 82.9% from 172 flights
- July 2025: 86.9% from 176 flights
- August 2025: 86.7% from 166 flights
- September 2025: 89.8% from 158 flights
- October 2025: 87.5% from 168 flights
- November 2025: 85.6% from 155 flights
- December 2025: 86.8% from 137 flights
- January 2026: 88.8% from 126 flights
- February 2026: 87.3% from 126 flights
- March 2026: 85.4% from 138 flights
- April 2026: 88.8% from 135 flights
- May 2026: 87.0% from 162 flights
- June 2026: 83.4% from 163 flights
- July 2026: 87.6% from 169 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 87.0% against 87.4% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 5,671 SLC → SJC 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