Carrier performance at one airport
AA→SAT
American Airlines at San Antonio International
- Departures
- 7,405
- Period
- September 2025 to August 2026
- Routes
- 7
- Rank here
- #4 of 9
American Airlines at San Antonio lands a B, 5 points better than the national rate of 77.3%. About one flight in six arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by close to two hours on average. That rests on 7,405 flights, of which SkyWest Airlines flew 1,638 at 86.3% on time.
Measured against the airport rather than the country, American Airlines runs half a point behind the 82.0% weighted average across all carriers at SAT. That is the comparison worth making: every operator here works the same runways, the same airspace and the same weather.
Key figures
On time
81.9%
7,229 completed departures
Avg delay
111 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
2.17%
At SAT, this carrier only
Rank here
#4
Of 9 carriers clearing the floor at SAT
These figures cover 7,405 flights between September 2025 and August 2026. Beyond the headline rate, 8.5% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 8.3% nationally.
Against the competition
Every carrier at SAT, ranked
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. SkyWest Airlines arrives on time 86.3% of the time; Envoy Air manages 76.6%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 1,106 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SkyWest Airlines | 1,638 | 86.3% | 111 min | 1.16% | A |
| Delta Air Lines | 6,840 | 85.9% | 81 min | 1.52% | A |
| United Airlines | 5,647 | 83.8% | 73 min | 0.69% | B+ |
| American Airlines (this page) | 7,405 | 81.9% | 111 min | 2.17% | B |
| Southwest Airlines | 15,119 | 80.0% | 53 min | 0.54% | B+ |
| Spirit Airlines | 704 | 79.7% | 88 min | 4.26% | B− |
| Alaska Airlines | 550 | 78.9% | 57 min | 1.09% | B |
| Frontier Airlines | 950 | 77.5% | 86 min | 0.53% | B+ |
| Envoy Air | 1,106 | 76.6% | 67 min | 2.35% | B |
Spirit Airlines cancels 4.3% of what it schedules here, the highest in the table. A cancelled flight never appears in an on-time rate, so read that column alongside the punctuality one rather than after it.
Route by route
Where American Airlines flies from SAT
American Airlines operates 7 routes out of SAT with enough volume to report. Route records inside one carrier at one airport still spread widely, because a short shuttle and a transcontinental have very different exposure to a late inbound.
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SAT to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 3,530 | 79.7% | 107 min | 2.92% | B |
| SAT to CLT · Charlotte | 1,360 | 87.3% | 135 min | 1.84% | A |
| SAT to PHX · Phoenix | 987 | 79.9% | 115 min | 0.71% | B+ |
| SAT to ORD · Chicago | 500 | 74.2% | 87 min | 1.80% | C |
| SAT to MIA · Miami | 399 | 90.1% | 112 min | 0.75% | A+ |
| SAT to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 351 | 90.1% | 158 min | 1.99% | A |
| SAT to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 278 | 81.5% | 89 min | 2.52% | B |
Flight by flight
American Airlines flight numbers from SAT
5 American Airlines flight numbers leaving SAT flew their main route often enough to have a record of their own. Grouped by destination.
Departure window
Best time of day for this operation
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 31 points, against 10 points between the best and worst carrier.
- 5am–8am2,644 flights89.8%
- 8am–11am1,846 flights87.3%
- 11am–2pm740 flights73.9%
- 2pm–5pm1,030 flights74.3%
- 5pm–8pm946 flights68.3%
- 8pm–5am199 flights58.6%
Scale runs 50% to 95%.
The 8pm–5am window is where this operation falls apart: 58.6% on time, against 89.8% for the 5am–8am slot. By evening the aircraft flying these rotations have absorbed a full day of small delays and there is no slack left to recover in. The 5am–8am window is the busiest, with 2,644 flights scheduled in it.
Across the year
Seasonal pattern
June is the worst month at 71.0% on time, 18 points below February, the best at 88.6%. Summer afternoon convection and peak-season schedules land on the same weeks every year, so this is a pattern you can book around rather than a run of bad luck. October was the busiest month here, with 684 flights.
Delay causes
What holds this operation up
- 44%Late-arriving aircraft
- 33%Carrier
- 15%Extreme weather
- 8%National Airspace System
- 0%Security
Extreme weather accounts for 15% of delay minutes, well above the single-digit share typical across the system. Weather delays are lumpy: they arrive as whole bad days rather than as a steady drag, so the monthly strip above is the more useful view of the risk. The national share is 6%, so this operation carries roughly 2.5 times the usual weather exposure. The split is drawn from 145,089 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 2.17% against a national 1.89%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.20%.
8.5% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 8.3%, so a 60 to 75 minute layover is reasonable here while anything under 45 minutes is a bet. Most delays on this route last close to two hours, which a normal layover absorbs.
The sample behind these figures is 7,405 flights, enough that the headline rate is stable to within roughly a point. The hour-block and month splits divide that further, so read the thinner bars with more caution than the headline.
Put together: the calendar is the biggest lever here, not the carrier or the hour. February runs 88.6% on time and June 71.0%, a swing of 18 points. If the dates move at all, move them out of June before you think about anything else. 7,229 completed flights over 12 months sit behind that.
Common questions
American Airlines at SAT
How often is American Airlines at SAT delayed?
About one flight in six arrives at least 15 minutes late, which is the Department of Transportation's definition of a delayed arrival. That works out to 18.1% of the 7,405 flights in this analysis, against 22.7% nationally. Delayed flights are late by close to two hours on average.
Which airline is most reliable on American Airlines at SAT?
SkyWest Airlines leads at 86.3% on time across 1,638 flights. Envoy Air is at the other end on 76.6%, a gap of 10 points. Sample size matters as much as the percentage: a rate built from a few hundred flights moves around far more than one built from ten thousand.
What time of day has the fewest delays on American Airlines at SAT?
The 5am–8am departure window is the strongest at 89.8% on time. The 8pm–5am window is the weakest at 58.6%, 31 points behind. Later departures inherit delays from earlier flights the same aircraft has already flown, which is why the curve slopes the way it does.
How bad are June delays on American Airlines at SAT?
June is the weakest month at 71.0% on time, compared with 88.6% in February. Across the year that is 18 points between the best and worst months. Moving flexible dates out of that month is one of the few things that reliably helps.
Related
Where to go next
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, September 2025 to August 2026. Last updated ; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.