San Francisco to Santa Ana

What the Data Says About SFO to SNA

The San Francisco to Santa Ana corridor (SFO → SNA) covers roughly 372 miles and is served by 14 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 22,048 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 84.4% on-time rate with an average delay of 61.2 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 8,879 flights were recorded on this pairing — 110 cancelled (1.2%) and 15 diverted (0.2%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 14 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 22,048 total flights analyzed, the 84.4% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 61.2-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, Aug 2024 posted the best performance on this corridor at 88% on-time, while Mar 2024 came in at 69% on-time — a 19-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the SFO to SNA route, the combination of a 84.4% on-time rate, 61.2-minute average delay, 1.2% recent cancellation rate, and 14 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.