Flights Sacramento → Houston
SMF → IAH
Route overview
The flight route from Sacramento to Houston operates with a high level of punctuality, achieving an on-time arrival rate of 94%. Over the course of a year, it sees approximately 162 flights using a mix of Airbus A320 and Boeing 737-800/900 aircraft models. The destination airport serves nearly 40.98 million passengers annually, making it one of the busiest in the region.
Your rights on this US flight (DOT)
US flights have no statutory cash compensation for delays. Under the US DOT rules, if your flight is cancelled or significantly changed and you decline rebooking, you're owed an automatic refund of the unused ticket. The tarmac-delay limit is 3 hours (domestic) / 4 hours (international). Amenities for controllable delays depend on each airline's contract of carriage.
US flight refund rules & checker →General information, not legal advice.
The Sacramento (SMF) → Houston (IAH) route is operated by United Airlines. Across 193 flights monitored in recent months, 94% arrived on time (within 15 min of schedule), with an average delay of 1 minutes. The cancellation rate is 3.11%. FlightGuard's average computed risk is 21.3/100 (medium), updated in real time from weather, ATC delays, strikes, NOTAMs, fuel and flight history. At Houston the average ATFM delay is 2.0 minutes (main cause: atfm). Departing from Sacramento the average ATFM delay is 2.0 minutes.
Heading to Houston: what to expect in this direction
Flying from Sacramento (SMF) to Houston (IAH) heads east for about 2,586 km, a flight time of roughly 3h 39m.
Departures from Sacramento on this leg cluster in the evening window: about 53% of SMF-IAH flights take off then.
Air-traffic congestion: departing Sacramento the average ATFM delay is 2.0 min (atfm); arriving into Houston it is 2.0 min (atfm).
Across 193 tracked SMF-IAH flights, 94% left on time with an average delay of 1 min and a 3.1% cancellation rate.
Route facts
Flights on this route
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Airline punctuality on this route
| Airline | On-time | Average delay | Cancellations |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines (UA) | 74% | 10 min | 6.9% |
Airlines operating SMF-IAH
Airports
Frequently asked questions about SMF-IAH
On the Sacramento (SMF) -> Houston (IAH) route, on-time performance is 94% with an average delay of 1 minutes, based on 193 tracked flights.
The cancellation rate on Sacramento-Houston is 3.11% across 193 monitored flights.
The route is operated by 1 airline: United Airlines.
Enter your flight number on FlightGuard for a real-time analysis based on 9 factors: weather at Houston, ATC delays, strikes, NOTAMs, fuel, airline punctuality and recent trends.
US flights have no statutory cash compensation for delays. Under US DOT rules, if the airline cancels or significantly changes your flight and you decline rebooking, you're owed an automatic refund of the unused ticket. The tarmac-delay limit is 3 hours (domestic) / 4 hours (international). Meals or hotels for controllable delays depend on each airline's contract of carriage.
