Dallas/Fort Worth to Santa Barbara

What the Data Says About DFW to SBA

The Dallas/Fort Worth to Santa Barbara corridor (DFW → SBA) covers roughly 1,316 miles and is served by 10 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 3,354 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 75.3% on-time rate with an average delay of 74.7 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 985 flights were recorded on this pairing — 15 cancelled (1.5%) and 4 diverted (0.4%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 10 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 3,354 total flights analyzed, the 75.3% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 74.7-minute average delay applies only to flights that actually ran late, so it is not the average wait across all departures — the majority of flights on this route depart on time under the BTS definition of a delay (15+ minutes past schedule).

Looking at recent months, Oct 2023 posted the best performance on this corridor at 76% on-time, while May 2024 came in at 48% on-time — a 28-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the DFW to SBA route, the combination of a 75.3% on-time rate, 74.7-minute average delay, 1.5% recent cancellation rate, and 10 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.