Route profile
SNA→SFO
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Santa Ana to San Francisco. · 372 miles
Right now
Current conditions at both ends of this route.
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Airport conditions describe the airfield, not any individual flight. An airport operating normally is not a guarantee that a specific flight will depart on time.
Route reliability
July 2023 – June 2026
Better than 24% of comparable major US routes (4,577 compared)
Calculated from 13,393 flights. How this is calculated
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – June 2026
Best time to fly
On-time arrival rate by scheduled local departure time.
SNA → SFO flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 80.6% of the time, against 65.7% for 12–3 PM departures — a gap of 14.9 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – June 2026 · Buckets with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why SNA → SFO runs late
Where US DOT attributed the delay minutes on this route.
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
crew, maintenance, boarding, fuelling — within the carrier’s 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 → SFO. A single late flight can carry more than one cause, and only delays of fifteen minutes or more are attributed at all.
A route inherits the problems of both ends and of the aircraft flying it. A large share attributed to late-arriving aircraft usually means the departure sits late in a busy rotation rather than that anything about this city pair is difficult, which is why the same route often performs very differently at different times of day.
Airlines on this route
Performance by the carrier that actually operated the flight.
| Carrier | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Severe |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SkyWest Airlines | 9,843 | 71.8% | 1.38% | -3 min | 9.7% |
| United Airlines | 2,882 | 74.5% | 0.62% | -5 min | 8.1% |
| Frontier Airlines | 383 | 66.0% | 2.09% | -2 min | 15.2% |
| Alaska Airlines | 285 | 76.9% | 1.05% | -5 min | 7.5% |
Alaska Airlines arrived on time 10.8 percentage points more often than Frontier Airlines on this route.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – June 2026 · Carriers with fewer than 200 flights on this route are not listed.
Other ways to fly Los Angeles to San Francisco
Airport pairs serving the same journey, grouped by the DOT's own city-market definition. They do not perform the same way.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LAX→SFO Los Angeles to San Francisco | 33,701 | 70.1% | 0.67% | -2 min | 57 |
| LAX→SJC Los Angeles to San Jose | 15,186 | 86.5% | 0.32% | -9 min | 88 |
| SNA→SFO this route Santa Ana to San Francisco | 13,393 | 72.3% | 1.23% | -4 min | 56 |
| BUR→SFO Burbank to San Francisco | 9,376 | 70.1% | 1.28% | -3 min | 51 |
| BUR→OAK Burbank to Oakland | 9,265 | 86.7% | 1.54% | -10 min | 81 |
| LAX→OAK Los Angeles to Oakland | 8,789 | 83.2% | 0.83% | -8 min | 81 |
| SNA→SJC Santa Ana to San Jose | 8,068 | 86.6% | 0.93% | -9 min | 86 |
| SNA→OAK Santa Ana to Oakland | 7,759 | 85.7% | 0.92% | -8 min | 84 |
| BUR→SJC Burbank to San Jose | 7,172 | 87.2% | 1.52% | -10 min | 83 |
| ONT→OAK Ontario to Oakland | 4,695 | 87.0% | 0.55% | -9 min | 87 |
| ONT→SFO Ontario to San Francisco | 4,307 | 72.1% | 1.04% | -4 min | 57 |
| ONT→SJC Ontario to San Jose | 4,120 | 87.0% | 0.27% | -9 min | 88 |
LAX → SJC is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 86.5% on time, against 70.1% for BUR → SFO.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – June 2026 · Grouped by DOT city market, which places Newark with the New York airports and Baltimore with the Washington ones.
Individual flights on this route
The same route is not equally reliable at every hour. These are the flight numbers with enough operating history to judge separately.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| OO3440 SkyWest Airlines | 9:25 AM | 664 | 62.1% |
| OO3404 SkyWest Airlines | 2:00 PM | 525 | 66.5% |
| OO3494 SkyWest Airlines | 5:58 PM | 478 | 67.0% |
| OO3450 SkyWest Airlines | 10:20 AM | 417 | 75.2% |
| OO3251 SkyWest Airlines | 6:45 AM | 380 | 91.6% |
| OO5805 SkyWest Airlines | 9:45 AM | 376 | 74.4% |
| F93581 Frontier Airlines | 1:04 PM | 376 | 65.7% |
| OO3465 SkyWest Airlines | 8:15 PM | 323 | 77.0% |
| OO3492 SkyWest Airlines | 6:20 PM | 289 | 69.6% |
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – June 2026 · Flight numbers with fewer than 270 operations on this route, or no longer scheduled, are not listed.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 17.4 percentage points.
By month
April is historically the weakest month and August the strongest, a spread of 24.7 percentage points.
Historical trend
On-time arrival rate by month.
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-07 to 2026-06), on-time arrivals averaged 70.0% against 77.5% in the 12 months before — declining by 7.5 percentage points.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – June 2026
Data and methodology
All figures on this page are calculated by FlyerIntel from 13,393 SNA → SFO flight records published by the US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, covering July 2023 – June 2026. A flight is counted as delayed when it arrives 15 or more minutes after its scheduled arrival time, following BTS methodology. Cancelled and diverted flights have no arrival time and are excluded from on-time rates rather than counted as late.
Full methodology · Data sources · Report a problem
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