Route profile
SNA→PHX
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Santa Ana to Phoenix, 338 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 76% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 13,639 flights. How this is calculated
SNA → PHX arrives on time 83.2% of the time; the return trip, PHX → SNA, arrives on time 81.8% of the time.
SNA → PHX spends 22.2 minutes on the ground on a 338-mile trip: 14.9 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SNA and 7.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at PHX.
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 97% of 3,357 comparable routes.
88.1% on time in its best month (February) against 79.1% 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.
Why SNA → PHX flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
SNA → PHX cancelled 109 of 13,639 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 125. The reason filed most often was the airline, 56.9% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 220 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 109 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
62 cancellations, 56.9% of the total.
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
42 cancellations, 38.5% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
5 cancellations, 4.6% of the total.
A terminal evacuation, a security breach, screening equipment failure, or screening queues over 29 minutes.
0 cancellations, 0.0% of the total.
Reason codes are the operating airline’s own filing with US DOT, not an independent finding of fault. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
109 coded cancellations were recorded on SNA → PHX; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
30 min late
against a median of 6 min early
Percentiles over 13,639 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at PHX after arriving from SNA.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 33% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 16% | High risk |
| 60 min | 10.0% | 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 0.80% 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 13,523 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 30 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 13,639 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SNA → PHX flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 92.8% of the time, against 76.2% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 16.6 percentage points.
By day and hour
On-time arrival rate for each weekday and scheduled departure hour, in local time at the departure airport (SNA).
Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 7.1 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 4.0 points.
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On-time rate, % · stronger color, fewer on time
- 50–59
- 60–69
- 70–79
- 80–89
- 90–99
- Fewer than 120 flights, not scored
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · On time is arrival within 15 minutes of schedule. Cells round to whole percentages; the table shows one decimal.
No slot is named best or worst: too few reach 500 flights. Departures after 8 PM (696 flights) are not drawn: no slot in those hours has enough flights to score.
View as tableHide table
| Hour | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 AM–7 AM | 93.2% on time207 flights | 92.5% on time229 flights | 93.9% on time231 flights | 92.9% on time211 flights | 95.2% on time210 flights | 92.8% on time236 flights | 0 flights, too few to score |
| 7 AM–8 AM | 113 flights, too few to score | 91 flights, too few to score | 86 flights, too few to score | 113 flights, too few to score | 111 flights, too few to score | 86 flights, too few to score | 78.9% on time215 flights |
| 8 AM–9 AM | 93 flights, too few to score | 35 flights, too few to score | 49 flights, too few to score | 88 flights, too few to score | 95 flights, too few to score | 13 flights, too few to score | 109 flights, too few to score |
| 9 AM–10 AM | 88.1% on time169 flights | 88.8% on time196 flights | 96.0% on time202 flights | 88.9% on time182 flights | 90.6% on time162 flights | 92.8% on time168 flights | 88.7% on time195 flights |
| 10 AM–11 AM | 91.0% on time156 flights | 90 flights, too few to score | 99 flights, too few to score | 90.9% on time143 flights | 95.0% on time144 flights | 105 flights, too few to score | 86.2% on time174 flights |
| 11 AM–12 PM | 80 flights, too few to score | 65 flights, too few to score | 68 flights, too few to score | 74 flights, too few to score | 82 flights, too few to score | 51 flights, too few to score | 70 flights, too few to score |
| 12 PM–1 PM | 82.9% on time182 flights | 87.1% on time196 flights | 85.6% on time202 flights | 77.7% on time179 flights | 75.6% on time180 flights | 86.1% on time166 flights | 70.0% on time181 flights |
| 1 PM–2 PM | 76.4% on time148 flights | 85.0% on time134 flights | 78.5% on time130 flights | 75.7% on time144 flights | 66.9% on time160 flights | 81.6% on time152 flights | 72.9% on time167 flights |
| 2 PM–3 PM | 99 flights, too few to score | 62 flights, too few to score | 58 flights, too few to score | 95 flights, too few to score | 95 flights, too few to score | 54 flights, too few to score | 70 flights, too few to score |
| 3 PM–4 PM | 90 flights, too few to score | 84 flights, too few to score | 85 flights, too few to score | 90 flights, too few to score | 89 flights, too few to score | 62 flights, too few to score | 91 flights, too few to score |
| 4 PM–5 PM | 83.8% on time245 flights | 81.6% on time239 flights | 80.2% on time243 flights | 73.9% on time247 flights | 66.9% on time251 flights | 83.2% on time179 flights | 74.5% on time253 flights |
| 5 PM–6 PM | 115 flights, too few to score | 64 flights, too few to score | 61 flights, too few to score | 105 flights, too few to score | 107 flights, too few to score | 76 flights, too few to score | 99 flights, too few to score |
| 6 PM–7 PM | 75.0% on time123 flights | 71 flights, too few to score | 71 flights, too few to score | 60.9% on time135 flights | 57.4% on time123 flights | 34 flights, too few to score | 62.1% on time133 flights |
| 7 PM–8 PM | 80.2% on time183 flights | 84.5% on time143 flights | 79.4% on time165 flights | 75.0% on time207 flights | 75.3% on time193 flights | 89.2% on time139 flights | 79.5% on time198 flights |
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 93.4% on time from 1,324 flights
- 7 AM: 92.2% on time from 815 flights
- 8 AM: 92.1% on time from 482 flights
- 9 AM: 90.6% on time from 1,274 flights
- 10 AM: 89.8% on time from 911 flights
- 11 AM: 88.5% on time from 490 flights
- 12 PM: 80.8% on time from 1,286 flights
- 1 PM: 76.4% on time from 1,035 flights
- 2 PM: 81.1% on time from 533 flights
- 3 PM: 78.5% on time from 591 flights
- 4 PM: 77.4% on time from 1,657 flights
- 5 PM: 77.4% on time from 627 flights
- 6 PM: 68.4% on time from 690 flights
- 7 PM: 79.9% on time from 1,228 flights
- 8 PM: 78.2% on time from 498 flights
- 9 PM: 87.6% on time from 198 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why SNA → PHX 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 → PHX. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on SNA → PHX, at 55.6%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 92.8% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 76.2%.
How this route holds up in bad weather
July 2023 – July 2026
The harder-hit end is PHX, where the flight lands. Its figure counts departures from PHX, so it says more about how that airport copes than about this route. Bad weather cancels 3.9 times the normal rate at PHX against 2.0 times at SNA. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: SNA 1.9% against 1.0%, PHX 2.5% against 0.6%. Flights that did leave PHX in bad weather arrived on time 53.7% of the time, against 80.6% in normal hours.
Bad weather and normal hours at the airports
Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026| Departures from | SNA | PHX |
|---|---|---|
| Cancelled in bad weather | 1.9% | 2.5% |
| Cancelled in normal hours | 1.0% | 0.6% |
| Arrived on time, bad weather | 83.6% | 53.7% |
| Arrived on time, normal hours | 81.3% | 80.6% |
| Departures in bad weather | 7,919 | 6,215 |
These are airport figures, not route figures: every scheduled departure from SNA and PHX, to any destination, in hours the weather report called bad.
Weather source and limits. In full: SNA, PHX, What Weather Costs Each Airport, Who Cancels More When the Weather Turns, Airports That Change Places When Weather Turns.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 7,195 | 83.7% | 0.78% | -6 min | 3.7% |
| American Airlines | 5,528 | 83.0% | 0.49% | -7 min | 6.5% |
| Frontier Airlines | 916 | 80.3% | 2.84% | -9 min | 5.3% |
Southwest Airlines flew 52.8% of the 13,639 flights listed. Frontier Airlines cancelled 2.84% of its flights here against 0.49% for American Airlines.
Southwest Airlines arrived on time 3.4 percentage points more often than Frontier Airlines on this route.
Other ways to fly Los Angeles to Phoenix
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LAX→PHX Los Angeles to Phoenix | 22,560 | 81.5% | 0.50% | -6 min | 76 |
| SNA→PHX this route Santa Ana to Phoenix | 13,639 | 83.2% | 0.80% | -6 min | 75 |
Flying to PHX from the Los Angeles area? Compare SNA, LAX, BUR, ONT for PHX, with the same test for what counts as a real difference.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 11.7 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 83.8%
- Feb: 88.1%
- Mar: 81.5%
- Apr: 84.9%
- May: 83.7%
- Jun: 81.9%
- Jul: 79.1%
- Aug: 83.3%
- Sep: 87.5%
- Oct: 80.6%
- Nov: 82.0%
- Dec: 84.3%
July is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 9.0 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 78.5% from 344 flights
- August 2023: 81.1% from 344 flights
- September 2023: 85.1% from 328 flights
- October 2023: 79.1% from 340 flights
- November 2023: 85.6% from 354 flights
- December 2023: 88.2% from 355 flights
- January 2024: 81.2% from 377 flights
- February 2024: 87.3% from 355 flights
- March 2024: 79.2% from 379 flights
- April 2024: 83.1% from 356 flights
- May 2024: 82.0% from 369 flights
- June 2024: 81.4% from 354 flights
- July 2024: 79.4% from 363 flights
- August 2024: 85.8% from 357 flights
- September 2024: 90.1% from 343 flights
- October 2024: 83.7% from 351 flights
- November 2024: 90.4% from 364 flights
- December 2024: 83.0% from 382 flights
- January 2025: 87.5% from 356 flights
- February 2025: 88.6% from 344 flights
- March 2025: 82.8% from 411 flights
- April 2025: 85.8% from 359 flights
- May 2025: 82.4% from 364 flights
- June 2025: 82.9% from 372 flights
- July 2025: 79.4% from 382 flights
- August 2025: 82.8% from 367 flights
- September 2025: 87.4% from 351 flights
- October 2025: 79.0% from 354 flights
- November 2025: 71.0% from 397 flights
- December 2025: 82.0% from 401 flights
- January 2026: 82.7% from 381 flights
- February 2026: 88.4% from 365 flights
- March 2026: 82.2% from 428 flights
- April 2026: 85.8% from 377 flights
- May 2026: 86.3% from 402 flights
- June 2026: 81.3% from 403 flights
- July 2026: 78.9% from 410 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 82.2% against 85.1% in the 12 months before — declining by 2.9 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 13,639 SNA → PHX 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