Route profile
SNA→DTW
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Santa Ana to Detroit, 1,960 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 21% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 893 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
SNA → DTW arrives on time 71.6% of the time; the return trip, DTW → SNA, arrives on time 76.4% of the time, a 4.8-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
SNA → DTW spends 28.2 minutes on the ground on a 1,960-mile trip: 17.2 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SNA and 11.0 minutes from touchdown to gate at DTW.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where SNA to DTW differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SNA to DTW struggles most at 11 AM: 69.2% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 9.3 points behind the 78.5% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 11.8 points.
Monday is the day SNA to DTW slips furthest against routes of similar length, 68.6% on time where they average 78.0%, 9.4 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 8.7 points.
Delta Air Lines’ flights on SNA to DTW arrive on time 71.4% of the time, 10.4 points below the 81.8% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 10.1 points.
SNA to DTW against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 11 AM departures | 69.2% | routes of similar length | 78.5% | −9.3 pts | 403 here, 64,969 there |
| Weekday: Monday | 68.6% | routes of similar length | 78.0% | −9.4 pts | 156 here, 165,578 there |
| Airline: Delta Air Lines | 71.4% | routes of similar length | 81.8% | −10.4 pts | 861 here, 304,601 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 1,960 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.
SNA to DTW in context
This route against SNA and DTW as a whole, against similar routes from SNA, and against its own first year, July 2023 – July 2026.
Leaving SNA, SNA to DTW is on time 71.6% of the time, 10.7 points worse than the airport’s other departures at SNA (82.3%, from 134,612 flights).
Arriving at DTW, SNA to DTW is on time 71.6% of the time, 9.7 points worse than the airport’s other arrivals at DTW (81.3%, from 382,198 flights).
Airport comparisons take this route’s flights out of the airport total. Length means within 15% of this route’s distance, with at least 3 other routes from the same origin. On-time gaps are stated at 2 points and 2 standard errors, cancellation gaps at 0.5 points and 2 standard errors, and every group needs 750 flights. These are differences in the flights counted, not causes.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
57 min late
against a median of 2 min early
Percentiles over 893 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at DTW after arriving from SNA.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 46% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 27% | High risk |
| 60 min | 17% | High risk |
| 90 min | 9.3% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 6.5% | Some 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 0.90% of the time and diverts 0.22% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 883 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 57 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 893 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Why SNA → DTW 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 SNA → DTW. 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 | 871 | 71.4% | 0.92% | -2 min | 9.6% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Monday the least, a gap of 9.2 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 63.8% against 70.5% in the 12 months before — declining by 6.7 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 893 SNA → DTW 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