Flights Sacramento → San Diego
SMF → SAN
Route overview
The flight route from Sacramento to San Diego operates with a Boeing 737-300 aircraft and has an on-time performance rate of 81%, with an average delay of 6.5 minutes per flight. Over the past year, this route has seen 1396 flights, serving one of the busiest airports in the United States, San Diego International Airport, which opened in 1928 and currently handles over 22 million passengers annually.
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) → San Diego (SAN) route is operated by Southwest Airlines. Across 1808 flights monitored in recent months, 82% arrived on time (within 15 min of schedule), with an average delay of 6 minutes. The cancellation rate is 0.83%. FlightGuard's average computed risk is 22.4/100 (medium), updated in real time from weather, ATC delays, strikes, NOTAMs, fuel and flight history. At San Diego the average ATFM delay is 2.0 minutes (main cause: atfm). Departing from Sacramento the average ATFM delay is 2.0 minutes.
Heading to San Diego: what to expect in this direction
Flying from Sacramento (SMF) to San Diego (SAN) heads south-east for about 773 km, a flight time of roughly 1h 23m.
Departures from Sacramento on this leg cluster in the overnight window: about 49% of SMF-SAN flights take off then.
Air-traffic congestion: departing Sacramento the average ATFM delay is 2.0 min (atfm); arriving into San Diego it is 2.0 min (atfm).
Across 1,808 tracked SMF-SAN flights, 82% left on time with an average delay of 6 min and a 0.8% cancellation rate.
Route facts
Flights on this route
Check the risk of a specific flight.
Flexible on this trip? Compare flights
Airline punctuality on this route
| Airline | On-time | Average delay | Cancellations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines (WN) | 73% | 6 min | 3.1% |
Airlines operating SMF-SAN
Airports
Frequently asked questions about SMF-SAN
On the Sacramento (SMF) -> San Diego (SAN) route, on-time performance is 82% with an average delay of 6 minutes, based on 1808 tracked flights.
The cancellation rate on Sacramento-San Diego is 0.83% across 1808 monitored flights.
The route is operated by 1 airline: Southwest Airlines.
Enter your flight number on FlightGuard for a real-time analysis based on 9 factors: weather at San Diego, 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.
