Santa Barbara to Dallas/Fort Worth

What the Data Says About SBA to DFW

The Santa Barbara to Dallas/Fort Worth corridor (SBA → DFW) covers roughly 1,316 miles and is served by 9 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 3,353 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 80.4% on-time rate with an average delay of 102.4 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 954 flights were recorded on this pairing — 18 cancelled (1.9%) and 10 diverted (1.0%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 9 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 3,353 total flights analyzed, the 80.4% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 102.4-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 82% on-time, while May 2024 came in at 65% on-time — a 17-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the SBA to DFW route, the combination of a 80.4% on-time rate, 102.4-minute average delay, 1.9% recent cancellation rate, and 9 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.