Route · SFO → SAN · 2020–2025 BTS data
San Francisco to San Diego
According to PlainFlights' route traffic ranking (BTS On-Time Performance total flights), SFO to SAN (San Francisco to San Diego) ranks #76 of 4927 tracked domestic routes by total flights (most flights = #1).
Data updated 2026-06-13
- 80.3%
- On-time
- +1.3 pts
- vs US avg
- 61 min
- Delay when late
- 34,477
- Flights
- #76 of 4927
- Corpus placement
Cancelled
1.2%
Best Month
Jan 2025 84%
Worst Month
Dec 2025 62%
Distance
447 mi
Carriers
26
Monthly Performance
Recent 24 months of route data.
| Period | Flights | Delayed | Cancelled | Diverted | Carriers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2025 | 486 | 186 | 3 | 3 | WN,F9,AS,UA,OO |
| Nov 2025 | 564 | 200 | 19 | 1 | OO,UA,F9,AS,WN |
| Oct 2025 | 659 | 227 | 7 | 2 | AS,OO,UA,WN,F9 |
| Sep 2025 | 582 | 147 | 8 | 3 | UA,WN,OO,F9,AS |
| Aug 2025 | 593 | 187 | 1 | 0 | OO,WN,F9,UA,AS |
| Jul 2025 | 582 | 188 | 3 | 0 | AS,OO,UA,WN,F9 |
| Jun 2025 | 578 | 156 | 2 | 0 | AS,OO,UA,WN,F9 |
| May 2025 | 597 | 129 | 3 | 0 | AS,OO,UA,WN,F9 |
| Apr 2025 | 527 | 113 | 1 | 0 | F9,OO,UA,WN,AS |
| Mar 2025 | 539 | 124 | 2 | 2 | AS,OO,UA,WN,F9 |
| Feb 2025 | 453 | 96 | 7 | 0 | AS,OO,UA,WN,F9 |
| Jan 2025 | 523 | 86 | 4 | 3 | AS,OO,UA,WN,F9 |
| Dec 2024 | 595 | 182 | 15 | 9 | AS,F9,OO,UA,WN |
| Nov 2024 | 585 | 166 | 3 | 1 | OO,UA,WN,AS,F9 |
| Oct 2024 | 578 | 190 | 7 | 6 | UA,AS,OO,WN,F9 |
| Sep 2024 | 574 | 159 | 2 | 0 | WN,OO,UA,AS,F9 |
| Aug 2024 | 568 | 146 | 2 | 1 | AS,F9,WN,OO,UA |
| Jul 2024 | 539 | 156 | 11 | 1 | AS,F9,OO,UA,WN |
| Jun 2024 | 429 | 119 | 2 | 0 | AS,F9,OO,UA,WN |
| May 2024 | 522 | 147 | 5 | 0 | AS,F9,OO,UA,WN |
| Apr 2024 | 548 | 186 | 11 | 0 | AS,F9,OO,UA,WN |
| Mar 2024 | 509 | 176 | 1 | 1 | AS,OO,UA,WN |
| Feb 2024 | 439 | 149 | 7 | 0 | OO,UA,WN |
| Jan 2024 | 459 | 91 | 31 | 0 | WN,OO,UA |
SFO–SAN seasonal on-time pattern
Best: January (84.2%) · weakest: December (76.9%)
Strongest calendar month
January
84.2% on-time · ~458 flights/mo
Busiest calendar month
October
~513 flights/mo avg
Weakest calendar month
December
76.9% on-time · ~477 flights/mo
Cancellation Rate
1.2%
157 of 13,028 flights
Diversion Rate
0.3%
33 of 13,028 flights
Explore origin & destination
On-time and delay data for the airports this route connects.
SFO - San Francisco
Full on-time, delay-cause, and seasonal performance for San Francisco, CA.
SFO on-time profileSAN - San Diego
Full on-time, delay-cause, and seasonal performance for San Diego, CA.
SAN on-time profileCompare the two airports
See SFO and SAN side by side on delays, cancellations, and reliability.
Compare SFO vs SANOrigin-hub reliability standing
Mid-pack among SFO departures
From SFO, this corridor sits with 50 other 75–85% on-time routes out of 73 tracked departures, not the hub's reliability leaders (20 at ≥85%) and not the softest ( 3 below 75%). Destination: San Diego · fleet on-time rank #3044 of 4927.
Similar routes
Other BTS-tracked routes with comparable performance or trip length to SFO–SAN.
Routes with a similar on-time rate
What the Data Says About SFO to SAN
34,477 tracked flights put the SFO to SAN pairing (San Francisco to San Diego) at a 80.3% on-time rate, squarely in line with the wider network. Delays that do occur run 60.7 minutes on average. Across the 447-mile route and its 26 carriers, the trailing 24 months show 1.2% cancelled and 0.3% diverted (13,028 flights sampled).
The monthly split is wide on this route: Jan 2025 posted the strongest performance at 84% on-time, while Dec 2025 came in at just 62% - a 22-point swing worth factoring into travel timing.
On the multi-year calendar, SFO–SAN peaks in January at 84.2% on-time while October carries the heaviest traffic (~513 flights per month) ; the softest month is December at 76.9%, a 7.3-point swing that repeats because the corridor's weather and holiday mix stays stable year to year.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where does SFO to SAN rank among US routes by traffic? ▼
How often are flights delayed from SFO to SAN? ▼
What is the cancellation rate for SFO to SAN? ▼
How far is the flight from SFO to SAN? ▼
When is the best time to fly from SFO to SAN? ▼
Airports on this route
Data source
Data Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), On-Time Performance Data. Statistics reflect cumulative performance across all available reporting periods.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Using SFO–SAN data
SFO–SAN is mid-pack at 80.3% on-time; month and carrier mix move more than the corridor headline.
- Compare SFO and SAN airport profiles: delay causes and top routes differ even on the same corridor. SFO airport
- If your dates flex, January (84.2% on-time) beats December (76.9%) on this corridor. Seasonal chart
- 4 other routes post a similar 80.3% on-time rate; compare before you commit to this pairing. Similar routes
On-time rate reflects the BTS historical average across all reporting carriers on this origin–destination pair, not any single flight or booking recommendation.
Every figure on PlainFlights is rendered directly from BTS On-Time Performance data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page aggregates this specific route's on-time performance and monthly trend, live from the dataset. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.