Route profile
SNA→SJC
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Santa Ana to San Jose, 342 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 96% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 8,300 flights. How this is calculated
SNA → SJC arrives on time 86.6% of the time; the return trip, SJC → SNA, arrives on time 87.2% of the time.
SNA → SJC spends 16.1 minutes on the ground on a 342-mile trip: 12.4 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SNA and 3.8 minutes from touchdown to gate at SJC.
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 98% of 3,357 comparable routes.
90.5% on time in its best month (January) against 82.6% in its worst (June).
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 SJC differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SNA to SJC is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 8 PM: 82.1% arrive on time, 11 points ahead of the 71.1% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 14.7 points.
SNA to SJC holds up on Saturdays better than routes of similar length do: 91.0% on time to their 82.4%, a 8.6 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 11.9 points.
May is kinder to SNA to SJC than to routes of similar length: 88.5% on time against 77.6%, 10.9 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 13.3 points.
Southwest Airlines does better on SNA to SJC than on its routes of similar length: 86.6% on time here, 80.9% there, 5.7 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 9.2 points.
SNA to SJC against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 8 PM departures | 82.1% | routes of similar length | 71.1% | +11.0 pts | 580 here, 64,090 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 91.0% | routes of similar length | 82.4% | +8.6 pts | 669 here, 136,262 there |
| Month: May | 88.5% | routes of similar length | 77.6% | +10.9 pts | 671 here, 97,408 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 86.6% | routes of similar length | 80.9% | +5.7 pts | 8,222 here, 391,579 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 342 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.
Why SNA → SJC flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
SNA → SJC cancelled 77 of 8,300 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 108. The reason filed most often was the airline, 67.5% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 160 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 77 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.
52 cancellations, 67.5% of the total.
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
18 cancellations, 23.4% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
6 cancellations, 7.8% of the total.
A terminal evacuation, a security breach, screening equipment failure, or screening queues over 29 minutes.
1 cancellation, 1.3% of the total.
Reason codes are the operating airline’s own filing with US DOT, not an independent finding of fault. With only one or two carriers on the route, the split mostly reflects how they file. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
77 coded cancellations were recorded on SNA → SJC; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
22 min late
against a median of 9 min early
Percentiles over 8,300 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SJC after arriving from SNA.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 26% | High risk |
| 45 min | 13% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 7.4% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 3.1% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 1.4% | 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 0.93% of the time and diverts 0.01% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 8,222 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 22 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 8,300 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SNA → SJC flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 97.9% of the time, against 77.0% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 20.9 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 98.6% on time from 648 flights
- 7 AM: 98.5% on time from 408 flights
- 8 AM: 96.9% on time from 613 flights
- 9 AM: 91.9% on time from 656 flights
- 10 AM: 91.1% on time from 506 flights
- 11 AM: 89.4% on time from 568 flights
- 12 PM: 89.0% on time from 375 flights
- 1 PM: 84.5% on time from 521 flights
- 2 PM: 86.6% on time from 406 flights
- 3 PM: 81.0% on time from 605 flights
- 4 PM: 81.9% on time from 625 flights
- 5 PM: 80.9% on time from 504 flights
- 6 PM: 78.5% on time from 617 flights
- 7 PM: 70.3% on time from 569 flights
- 8 PM: 82.1% on time from 593 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why SNA → SJC 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
screening or terminal security incidents
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for SNA → SJC. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on SNA → SJC, at 73.9%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 97.9% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 77.0%.
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 | 8,300 | 86.6% | 0.93% | -9 min | 3.2% |
Other ways to fly Los Angeles to San Francisco
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LAX→SFO Los Angeles to San Francisco | 34,819 | 69.3% | 0.67% | -1 min | 55 |
| LAX→SJC Los Angeles to San Jose | 15,597 | 86.5% | 0.35% | -9 min | 87 |
| SNA→SFO Santa Ana to San Francisco | 13,797 | 71.6% | 1.26% | -3 min | 54 |
| SNA→SJC this route Santa Ana to San Jose | 8,300 | 86.6% | 0.93% | -9 min | 86 |
LAX → SJC is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 86.5% on time, against 71.6% for SNA → SFO.
Flying to SJC from the Los Angeles area? Compare SNA, LAX, BUR, ONT for SJC, with the same test for what counts as a real difference.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 9.5 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 90.5%
- Feb: 87.7%
- Mar: 89.5%
- Apr: 85.6%
- May: 88.5%
- Jun: 82.6%
- Jul: 82.9%
- Aug: 84.3%
- Sep: 87.2%
- Oct: 85.7%
- Nov: 87.7%
- Dec: 87.3%
June is historically the weakest month and January the strongest, a spread of 7.9 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 79.9% from 227 flights
- August 2023: 74.4% from 229 flights
- September 2023: 84.1% from 221 flights
- October 2023: 84.4% from 231 flights
- November 2023: 89.5% from 239 flights
- December 2023: 89.5% from 249 flights
- January 2024: 86.6% from 239 flights
- February 2024: 86.4% from 221 flights
- March 2024: 90.9% from 233 flights
- April 2024: 85.2% from 218 flights
- May 2024: 84.3% from 223 flights
- June 2024: 85.2% from 211 flights
- July 2024: 86.3% from 215 flights
- August 2024: 89.6% from 222 flights
- September 2024: 90.2% from 215 flights
- October 2024: 88.8% from 225 flights
- November 2024: 88.0% from 242 flights
- December 2024: 85.9% from 240 flights
- January 2025: 90.8% from 214 flights
- February 2025: 91.1% from 207 flights
- March 2025: 89.6% from 233 flights
- April 2025: 85.0% from 215 flights
- May 2025: 91.9% from 222 flights
- June 2025: 84.5% from 216 flights
- July 2025: 81.7% from 217 flights
- August 2025: 89.0% from 219 flights
- September 2025: 87.4% from 215 flights
- October 2025: 84.1% from 228 flights
- November 2025: 85.3% from 220 flights
- December 2025: 86.3% from 227 flights
- January 2026: 94.8% from 210 flights
- February 2026: 85.6% from 212 flights
- March 2026: 88.1% from 236 flights
- April 2026: 86.5% from 225 flights
- May 2026: 89.4% from 228 flights
- June 2026: 78.2% from 224 flights
- July 2026: 83.9% from 232 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 86.5% against 88.1% in the 12 months before — declining by 1.6 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 8,300 SNA → SJC 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