Route profile
SNA→PDX
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Santa Ana to Portland, 859 miles.
Right now
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Weather conditions are strongly associated with delays and cancellations.
Route reliability
July 2023 – July 2026
Better than 98% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 4,279 flights. How this is calculated
SNA → PDX arrives on time 90.6% of the time; the return trip, PDX → SNA, arrives on time 90.6% of the time.
SNA → PDX spends 21.7 minutes on the ground on an 859-mile trip: 16.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SNA and 4.9 minutes from touchdown to gate at PDX.
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.
93.7% on time in its best month (April) against 86.1% in its worst (December).
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 SNA to PDX differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SNA to PDX is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 9 PM: 95.9% arrive on time, 29.5 points ahead of the 66.4% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 26.4 points.
SNA to PDX holds up on Saturdays better than routes of similar length do: 93.0% on time to their 78.3%, a 14.7 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 13.9 points.
July is kinder to SNA to PDX than to routes of similar length: 93.1% on time against 68.3%, 24.8 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 23.4 points.
Alaska Airlines does better on SNA to PDX than on its routes of similar length: 90.6% on time here, 82.4% there, 8.2 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 12.7 points.
SNA to PDX against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 9 PM departures | 95.9% | routes of similar length | 66.4% | +29.5 pts | 195 here, 73,026 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 93.0% | routes of similar length | 78.3% | +14.7 pts | 571 here, 341,692 there |
| Month: July | 93.1% | routes of similar length | 68.3% | +24.8 pts | 391 here, 291,318 there |
| Airline: Alaska Airlines | 90.6% | routes of similar length | 82.4% | +8.2 pts | 4,231 here, 113,025 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 859 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 8 min early
Percentiles over 4,279 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at PDX after arriving from SNA.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 25% | High risk |
| 45 min | 8.9% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 4.3% | Low risk |
| 90 min | 2.1% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 1.5% | 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 1.08% 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 4,231 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 4,279 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SNA → PDX flights departing 9 PM–5 AM arrived on time 95.9% of the time, against 86.9% for 12–3 PM departures, a gap of 9.0 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 87.8% on time from 292 flights
- 7 AM: 94.4% on time from 635 flights
- 8 AM: too few flights to score
- 9 AM: 90.8% on time from 416 flights
- 10 AM: 92.5% on time from 472 flights
- 11 AM: 89.7% on time from 205 flights
- 12 PM: too few flights to score
- 1 PM: 85.5% on time from 446 flights
- 2 PM: 87.7% on time from 548 flights
- 3 PM to 5 PM: too few flights to score
- 6 PM: 91.9% on time from 571 flights
- 7 PM: too few flights to score
- 8 PM: 92.9% on time from 160 flights
- 9 PM: 95.9% on time from 200 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why SNA → PDX runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
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 SNA → PDX. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on SNA → PDX, at 57.8%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 9 PM–5 AM departures arrived on time 95.9% of the time and 12–3 PM departures 86.9%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska Airlines | 4,279 | 90.6% | 1.08% | -8 min | 2.1% |
Other ways to fly Los Angeles to Portland
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LAX→PDX Los Angeles to Portland | 13,586 | 86.9% | 0.81% | -11 min | 83 |
| SNA→PDX this route Santa Ana to Portland | 4,279 | 90.6% | 1.08% | -8 min | 89 |
SNA → PDX is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 90.6% on time, against 86.9% for LAX → PDX.
Flying to PDX from the Los Angeles area? Compare SNA, LAX, BUR, ONT for PDX, with the same test for what counts as a real difference.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 5.1 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 88.7%
- Feb: 89.9%
- Mar: 88.1%
- Apr: 93.7%
- May: 90.5%
- Jun: 90.7%
- Jul: 93.1%
- Aug: 93.2%
- Sep: 93.0%
- Oct: 91.0%
- Nov: 89.2%
- Dec: 86.1%
December is historically the weakest month and April the strongest, a spread of 7.6 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: too few flights to score (62)
- August 2023: too few flights to score (62)
- September 2023: too few flights to score (107)
- October 2023: 90.9% from 123 flights
- November 2023: too few flights to score (119)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (93)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (106)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (104)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (118)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (111)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (99)
- June 2024: too few flights to score (90)
- July 2024: too few flights to score (92)
- August 2024: too few flights to score (103)
- September 2024: 94.0% from 120 flights
- October 2024: 91.3% from 139 flights
- November 2024: 87.0% from 139 flights
- December 2024: 78.8% from 132 flights
- January 2025: too few flights to score (119)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (100)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (113)
- April 2025: 95.0% from 120 flights
- May 2025: 87.1% from 124 flights
- June 2025: too few flights to score (115)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (119)
- August 2025: 93.1% from 133 flights
- September 2025: 94.6% from 147 flights
- October 2025: 90.8% from 143 flights
- November 2025: 95.8% from 143 flights
- December 2025: 88.4% from 150 flights
- January 2026: too few flights to score (118)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (107)
- March 2026: 89.4% from 124 flights
- April 2026: 97.5% from 120 flights
- May 2026: 93.5% from 124 flights
- June 2026: too few flights to score (118)
- July 2026: 94.3% from 123 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 93.2% against 89.6% in the 12 months before — improving by 3.6 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 4,279 SNA → PDX 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