Airport month record

SANOCT

San Diego International in October 2025

Departures: 8,687
Month: October 2025
National, same month: 79.7%
Carriers: 9

Historical statistics for October 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s October. For today’s conditions at SAN, see live FAA status.

SAN in October lands a B+, level with the national rate of 79.7%. About one flight in five arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by about an hour on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 8,687 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 851 at 90.3% on time.

Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the six carriers covered here at 90.3% on time across 851 flights.

On time

79.0%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 8,589 completed departures

Avg delay

63 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.92%

Nationally in October: 0.53%

Whole year

78.0%

SAN across all twelve months

These figures cover 8,687 departures from San Diego International in October 2025. On time means an arrival less than 15 minutes after the scheduled gate time, the DOT's threshold, and the national comparison uses every US departure in the same month rather than the whole year.

Against the year

October next to SAN's other months

Against SAN's own year, October ran about a point better than the twelve-month rate of 78.0%, which makes it number five of twelve months, best first. Either side of it, September ran 81.9% on time and November 77.1%, so this month sits in line with its neighbours.

SAN month by month
Month	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
July 2025	8,776	73.9%	62 min	1.32%	C
August 2025	8,406	76.7%	58 min	0.75%	B+
September 2025	7,875	81.9%	74 min	1.37%	B
October 2025 (this page)	8,687	79.0%	63 min	0.92%	B+
November 2025	8,246	77.1%	65 min	2.81%	B
December 2025	8,228	75.4%	63 min	1.42%	B
January 2026	7,406	83.1%	79 min	2.71%	B
February 2026	7,008	84.0%	64 min	0.97%	B+
March 2026	8,547	78.2%	64 min	1.03%	B
April 2026	8,505	80.8%	54 min	0.33%	B+
May 2026	8,947	76.9%	54 min	0.66%	B+
June 2026	8,996	71.1%	55 min	1.00%	C

Departure window

The best time of day to leave SAN in October

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 24 points, against 16 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am1,253 flights92.7%
8am–11am1,844 flights85.1%
11am–2pm1,734 flights77.4%
2pm–5pm1,312 flights69.0%
5pm–8pm1,369 flights70.0%
8pm–5am1,175 flights78.8%

Scale runs 60% to 100%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 92.7% of the time, against 69.0% for the afternoon window. That is 24 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 8am–11am window is the busiest, with 1,844 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Saturday is the strongest day at 87.3% on time and Sunday the weakest at 74.0%. 13 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at SAN in October

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 90.3% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 74.3%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 3,304 flights means less than a ten-point one.

Carriers at SAN in October 2025
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Southwest Airlines	3,304	74.3%	47 min	0.39%	C+
SkyWest Airlines	1,257	79.3%	64 min	2.15%	B
Alaska Airlines	1,083	79.2%	64 min	1.85%	B
United Airlines	926	84.8%	58 min	0.22%	B+
Delta Air Lines	851	90.3%	125 min	0.35%	A+
American Airlines	810	80.1%	104 min	0.99%	B+
Frontier Airlinesthin sample	208	77.1%	71 min	1.44%	B
JetBlue Airwaysthin sample	151	80.5%	98 min	1.32%	B
Hawaiian Airlinesthin sample	84	66.7%	74 min	2.38%	C

The spread between Delta and Southwest is 16 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 16 more arrivals inside the on-time window.

Route by route

Busiest routes out of SAN in October

Routes from SAN in October 2025
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
SAN to SFO · San Francisco	662	65.4%	58 min	1.36%	C
SAN to PHX · Phoenix	546	71.9%	71 min	0.92%	C+
SAN to LAS · Las Vegas	541	73.6%	56 min	1.29%	C
SAN to DEN · Denver	531	80.7%	52 min	0.56%	B+
SAN to SJC · San Jose	433	74.5%	44 min	0.92%	C+
SAN to SMF · Sacramento	421	76.5%	54 min	0.00%	B+
SAN to ORD · Chicagothin sample	357	83.0%	69 min	1.12%	B
SAN to SEA · Seattlethin sample	348	82.4%	95 min	2.30%	B
SAN to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample	296	79.1%	86 min	2.36%	B
SAN to OAK · Oaklandthin sample	271	71.5%	46 min	0.00%	C+
SAN to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample	238	85.3%	70 min	0.00%	A+
SAN to ATL · Atlantathin sample	233	90.6%	49 min	0.00%	A+
SAN to JFK · New Yorkthin sample	213	85.6%	100 min	1.41%	A
SAN to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample	208	88.0%	75 min	0.00%	A+
SAN to AUS · Austinthin sample	201	73.5%	42 min	0.00%	C+
SAN to FAT · Fresnothin sample	177	77.0%	64 min	1.69%	B
SAN to BOS · Bostonthin sample	163	75.8%	126 min	1.23%	B
SAN to IAH · Houstonthin sample	147	89.8%	57 min	0.00%	A+
SAN to EWR · Newarkthin sample	145	83.3%	68 min	0.00%	B+
SAN to HNL · Honoluluthin sample	145	73.8%	67 min	1.38%	C
SAN to PDX · Portlandthin sample	145	86.7%	72 min	1.38%	A
SAN to DAL · Dallasthin sample	140	77.4%	46 min	1.43%	B
SAN to CLT · Charlottethin sample	131	79.4%	82 min	0.00%	B+
SAN to IAD · Washingtonthin sample	119	95.0%	181 min	0.00%	A+
SAN to DTW · Detroitthin sample	118	93.2%	42 min	0.00%	A+

Delay causes

What held SAN up in October

One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 50% of the 113,000 delay minutes carriers reported, and the remaining four split what is left. The split is by minutes rather than by flights, so a few very long delays count for as much as many short ones.

Late-arriving aircraft
50%
Carrier
28%
National Airspace System
18%
Extreme weather
4%
Security
1%

50% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. That is a cascade, and cascades start small and grow through the day. Across 113,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 12 to one. It is the strongest argument for booking the first departure of the morning, when the aircraft has been sitting at the gate overnight with nothing to inherit. The split is drawn from 112,672 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations sit at 0.92% against a national 0.53%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.21%.

6.0% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 6.3%. That is the figure that decides a connection, and it says a 60 to 75 minute layover is reasonable here while anything under 45 minutes is a bet. Most delays on this route last about an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.

What to do with this

Flying from SAN in October

For a October trip through SAN: expect 79.0% on time and 0.92% cancelled, going by October 2025. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.

San Diego International (SAN), the whole year
SAN in July73.9%
SAN in August76.7%
SAN in September81.9%
SAN in November77.1%
SAN in December75.4%
SAN in January83.1%
SAN in February84.0%
SAN in March78.2%
SAN in April80.8%
SAN in May76.9%
SAN in June71.1%

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, July 2025 to June 2026. Last updated 15 September 2026; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.

Key figures