Airport month record
SATOCT
San Antonio International in October 2025
- Departures
- 3,656
- 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 SAT, see live FAA status.
SAT in October lands a B+, 4 points better than the national rate of 79.7%. About one flight in six 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 3,656 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 604 at 88.6% on time.
Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the four carriers covered here at 88.6% on time across 604 flights.
Key figures
On time
83.7%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 3,640 completed departures
Avg delay
68 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
0.38%
Nationally in October: 0.53%
Whole year
81.8%
SAT across all twelve months
These figures cover 3,656 departures from San Antonio 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 SAT's other months
Against SAT's own year, October ran 2 points better than the twelve-month rate of 81.8%, which makes it number five of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for SAT in October, at 0.38% against 1.28% across the year. Either side of it, September ran 85.6% on time and November 84.1%, so this month sits in line with its neighbours.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | 3,699 | 76.4% | 77 min | 1.49% | B |
| August 2025 | 3,444 | 81.5% | 79 min | 1.19% | B |
| September 2025 | 3,334 | 85.6% | 71 min | 0.63% | A+ |
| October 2025 (this page) | 3,656 | 83.7% | 68 min | 0.38% | B+ |
| November 2025 | 3,440 | 84.1% | 67 min | 1.19% | B |
| December 2025 | 3,588 | 83.7% | 66 min | 0.72% | B+ |
| January 2026 | 2,921 | 84.8% | 96 min | 3.70% | B− |
| February 2026 | 2,671 | 86.3% | 67 min | 1.27% | A |
| March 2026 | 3,439 | 79.9% | 74 min | 1.37% | B |
| April 2026 | 3,384 | 82.6% | 66 min | 0.74% | B+ |
| May 2026 | 3,485 | 80.7% | 79 min | 1.38% | B |
| June 2026 | 3,393 | 73.5% | 81 min | 1.65% | C |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave SAT in October
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 18 points, against 9 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,030 flights92.8%
- 8am–11am420 flights90.2%
- 11am–2pm722 flights84.9%
- 2pm–5pm701 flights74.8%
- 5pm–8pm616 flights75.0%
- 8pm–5am167 flights74.5%
Scale runs 65% to 100%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 92.8% of the time, against 74.5% for the overnight window. That is 18 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 5am–8am window is the busiest, with 1,030 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 89.8% on time and Sunday the weakest at 75.3%. 15 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at SAT in October
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 88.6% of the time; United Airlines manages 79.2%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 502 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 1,398 | 83.5% | 54 min | 0.14% | B+ |
| American Airlines | 684 | 84.7% | 72 min | 0.73% | B+ |
| Delta Air Lines | 604 | 88.6% | 104 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| United Airlines | 502 | 79.2% | 56 min | 0.40% | B+ |
| SkyWest Airlinesthin sample | 177 | 83.5% | 73 min | 0.56% | B+ |
| Spirit Airlinesthin sample | 101 | 82.8% | 88 min | 1.98% | B |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 93 | 76.3% | 97 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| Alaska Airlinesthin sample | 54 | 76.9% | 94 min | 3.70% | B− |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 38 | 78.9% | 61 min | 0.00% | B+ |
Delta leads United by 9 points. Real, but small enough that a better departure time on the weaker carrier can outweigh it.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of SAT in October
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SAT to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 383 | 81.4% | 76 min | 1.57% | B |
| SAT to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 275 | 89.1% | 73 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SAT to DAL · Dallasthin sample | 255 | 88.6% | 67 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SAT to DEN · Denverthin sample | 252 | 82.5% | 62 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SAT to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 213 | 72.2% | 37 min | 0.47% | C+ |
| SAT to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 202 | 80.2% | 51 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SAT to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample | 200 | 81.9% | 59 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SAT to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 179 | 78.2% | 70 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SAT to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample | 168 | 89.8% | 61 min | 0.60% | A+ |
| SAT to HOU · Houstonthin sample | 140 | 82.0% | 54 min | 0.71% | B+ |
| SAT to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 124 | 91.1% | 99 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SAT to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 87 | 82.8% | 57 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SAT to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 85 | 74.1% | 94 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| SAT to SLC · Salt Lake Citythin sample | 84 | 85.7% | 100 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SAT to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 84 | 95.2% | 148 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SAT to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 83 | 92.8% | 93 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SAT to BWI · Baltimorethin sample | 75 | 83.8% | 48 min | 1.33% | B |
| SAT to ELP · El Pasothin sample | 75 | 84.0% | 33 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SAT to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 62 | 88.7% | 83 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SAT to SAN · San Diegothin sample | 57 | 80.7% | 61 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SAT to SFO · San Franciscothin sample | 56 | 82.1% | 56 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SAT to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 55 | 81.8% | 71 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SAT to IAD · Washingtonthin sample | 55 | 94.4% | 174 min | 1.82% | A |
| SAT to SEA · Seattlethin sample | 54 | 76.9% | 94 min | 3.70% | B− |
| SAT to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 53 | 90.6% | 61 min | 0.00% | A+ |
Delay causes
What held SAT up in October
One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 44% of the 40,000 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.
- 44%Late-arriving aircraft
- 25%Carrier
- 23%National Airspace System
- 7%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
44% 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 40,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 6 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 40,191 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations are rare at 0.38%, below the national 0.53% and low enough to earn the plus on the grade. Roughly one flight in 100 is called off; the risk here is arriving late, not not arriving.
5.2% 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 SAT in October
For a October trip through SAT: expect 83.7% on time and 0.38% cancelled, going by October 2025. The 5am–8am window was the strongest part of the day.
Related
Where to go next
- San Antonio International (SAT), the whole year
- SAT in July76.4%
- SAT in August81.5%
- SAT in September85.6%
- SAT in November84.1%
- SAT in December83.7%
- SAT in January84.8%
- SAT in February86.3%
- SAT in March79.9%
- SAT in April82.6%
- SAT in May80.7%
- SAT in June73.5%
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.