San Francisco to San Diego

What the Data Says About SFO to SAN

The San Francisco to San Diego corridor (SFO → SAN) covers roughly 447 miles and is served by 26 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 34,477 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 80.3% on-time rate with an average delay of 60.7 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 13,028 flights were recorded on this pairing — 157 cancelled (1.2%) and 33 diverted (0.3%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 26 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 34,477 total flights analyzed, the 80.3% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 60.7-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, Jan 2025 posted the best performance on this corridor at 84% on-time, while Dec 2025 came in at 62% on-time — a 22-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the SFO to SAN route, the combination of a 80.3% on-time rate, 60.7-minute average delay, 1.2% recent cancellation rate, and 26 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.