San Diego to Salt Lake City

What the Data Says About SAN to SLC

The San Diego to Salt Lake City corridor (SAN → SLC) covers roughly 626 miles and is served by 21 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 14,228 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 86.2% on-time rate with an average delay of 73.1 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 5,306 flights were recorded on this pairing — 24 cancelled (0.5%) and 4 diverted (0.1%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 21 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 14,228 total flights analyzed, the 86.2% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 73.1-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, Apr 2024 posted the best performance on this corridor at 88% on-time, while Jun 2024 came in at 76% on-time — a 12-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the SAN to SLC route, the combination of a 86.2% on-time rate, 73.1-minute average delay, 0.5% recent cancellation rate, and 21 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.