San Diego to Seattle

What the Data Says About SAN to SEA

The San Diego to Seattle corridor (SAN → SEA) covers roughly 1,050 miles and is served by 13 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 25,268 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 85.2% on-time rate with an average delay of 69.8 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 9,163 flights were recorded on this pairing — 135 cancelled (1.5%) and 7 diverted (0.1%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 13 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 25,268 total flights analyzed, the 85.2% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 69.8-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, Feb 2024 posted the best performance on this corridor at 86% on-time, while Aug 2025 came in at 70% on-time — a 16-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the SAN to SEA route, the combination of a 85.2% on-time rate, 69.8-minute average delay, 1.5% recent cancellation rate, and 13 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.