Route profile
SMF→ATL
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Sacramento to Atlanta, 2,092 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 3,039 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
SMF → ATL arrives on time 90.1% of the time; the return trip, ATL → SMF, arrives on time 82.9% of the time, a 7.2-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
SMF → ATL spends 22.6 minutes on the ground on a 2,092-mile trip: 14.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SMF and 7.8 minutes from touchdown to gate at ATL.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route stays close to typical even on its worst days, a smaller gap than 98% of 4,598 comparable routes.
A typical arrival is 10 min early, and the worst tenth are only 24 minutes worse than that.
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 4,598 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where SMF to ATL differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SMF to ATL is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 10 PM: 92.6% arrive on time, 12.1 points ahead of the 80.5% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 21 points.
SMF to ATL holds up on Thursdays better than routes of similar length do: 91.7% on time to their 77.8%, a 13.9 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 14.9 points.
May is kinder to SMF to ATL than to routes of similar length: 93.2% on time against 77.1%, 16.1 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 18 points.
Delta Air Lines does better on SMF to ATL than on its routes of similar length: 90.1% on time here, 81.7% there, 8.4 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 8.6 points.
SMF to ATL against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 10 PM departures | 92.6% | routes of similar length | 80.5% | +12.1 pts | 730 here, 53,908 there |
| Weekday: Thursday | 91.7% | routes of similar length | 77.8% | +13.9 pts | 460 here, 143,086 there |
| Month: May | 93.2% | routes of similar length | 77.1% | +16.1 pts | 251 here, 85,373 there |
| Airline: Delta Air Lines | 90.1% | routes of similar length | 81.7% | +8.4 pts | 2,994 here, 250,965 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 2,092 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
14 min late
against a median of 10 min early
Percentiles over 3,039 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at ATL after arriving from SMF.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 24% | High risk |
| 45 min | 9.6% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 5.4% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 2.7% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 1.7% | 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 1.05% of the time and diverts 0.43% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 2,994 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 14 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,039 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SMF → ATL flights departing 9 PM–5 AM arrived on time 92.7% of the time, against 87.4% for 12–3 PM departures, a gap of 5.3 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 90.0% on time from 120 flights
- 7 AM: 91.0% on time from 1,007 flights
- 8 AM to 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 87.4% on time from 1,124 flights
- 1 PM to 9 PM: too few flights to score
- 10 PM: 92.6% on time from 739 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why SMF → ATL 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 SMF → ATL. 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 | 3,039 | 90.1% | 1.05% | -10 min | 2.7% |
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| DL741 Delta Air Lines | 7:00 AM | 785 | 90.5% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 4.6 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 86.7%
- Feb: 95.6%
- Mar: 88.8%
- Apr: 91.5%
- May: 93.2%
- Jun: 89.7%
- Jul: 83.6%
- Aug: 88.0%
- Sep: 94.8%
- Oct: 93.2%
- Nov: 90.1%
- Dec: 88.2%
July is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 12.0 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 92.8% against 89.4% in the 12 months before — improving by 3.4 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,039 SMF → ATL 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