Santa Barbara to San Francisco

What the Data Says About SBA to SFO

The Santa Barbara to San Francisco corridor (SBA → SFO) covers roughly 262 miles and is served by 3 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 7,381 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 79.2% on-time rate with an average delay of 81.0 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 2,663 flights were recorded on this pairing — 48 cancelled (1.8%) and 1 diverted (0.0%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 3 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 7,381 total flights analyzed, the 79.2% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 81.0-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, Sep 2024 posted the best performance on this corridor at 90% on-time, while Feb 2024 came in at 40% on-time — a 50-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the SBA to SFO route, the combination of a 79.2% on-time rate, 81.0-minute average delay, 1.8% recent cancellation rate, and 3 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.