Flights San Diego → Detroit
SAN → DTW
Route overview
The flight route from San Diego to Detroit, with an airport that opened in 1928, operates primarily using Boeing 757 aircraft and boasts a high on-time performance rate of 91%, with an average delay of just 4.4 minutes across the total 283 flights recorded. The destination city's airport serves over 28 million passengers annually, highlighting its significance as a major travel hub.
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 San Diego (SAN) → Detroit (DTW) route is operated by Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines. Across 347 flights monitored in recent months, 90% arrived on time (within 15 min of schedule), with an average delay of 6 minutes. The cancellation rate is 0.86%. FlightGuard's average computed risk is 16.7/100 (medium), updated in real time from weather, ATC delays, strikes, NOTAMs, fuel and flight history. At Detroit the average ATFM delay is 2.0 minutes (main cause: atfm). Departing from San Diego the average ATFM delay is 2.0 minutes.
Heading to Detroit: what to expect in this direction
Flying from San Diego (SAN) to Detroit (DTW) heads north-east for about 3,142 km, a flight time of roughly 4h 21m.
Departures from San Diego on this leg cluster in the overnight window: about 69% of SAN-DTW flights take off then.
Air-traffic congestion: departing San Diego the average ATFM delay is 2.0 min (atfm); arriving into Detroit it is 2.0 min (atfm).
Across 347 tracked SAN-DTW flights, 90% left on time with an average delay of 6 min and a 0.9% cancellation rate.
Route facts
Flights on this route
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Airline punctuality on this route
| Airline | On-time | Average delay | Cancellations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines (DL) | 80% | 8 min | 1.8% |
| Alaska Airlines (AS) | 67% | 10 min | 11.9% |
Airlines operating SAN-DTW
Airports
Frequently asked questions about SAN-DTW
On the San Diego (SAN) -> Detroit (DTW) route, on-time performance is 90% with an average delay of 6 minutes, based on 347 tracked flights.
The cancellation rate on San Diego-Detroit is 0.86% across 347 monitored flights.
The route is operated by 2 airlines: Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines.
Enter your flight number on FlightGuard for a real-time analysis based on 9 factors: weather at Detroit, 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.
