Sacramento, CA · departure reliability
SMF
Sacramento International
- Departures
- 56,038
- Period
- September 2025 to August 2026
- Carriers
- 8
- US rank
- #35 by volume
Sacramento
Sacramento International lands a B+, 5 points better than the national rate of 77.3%. Roughly one flight in five arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by about an hour on average. That rests on 56,038 flights, of which Delta Air Lines flew 3,329 at 90.8% on time.
Delta Air Lines is the most reliable of the eight carriers covered here at 90.8% on time across 3,329 flights.
Key figures
On time
81.8%
Departures arriving under 15 minutes late at their destination
Avg delay
57 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
0.70%
National rate is 1.89%
Best carrier
Delta
90.8% on time here
These figures cover 56,000 flights between September 2025 and August 2026. The median arrival is 6 minutes early, which is the part an average hides: most flights here are fine, and the on-time rate is decided by a tail of badly late ones. On-time means under 15 minutes late, the DOT's own threshold.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines run best out of SMF
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Delta Air Lines arrives on time 90.8% of the time; Frontier Airlines manages 76.2%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 672 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 31,928 | 79.6% | 48 min | 0.44% | B+ |
| SkyWest Airlines | 8,758 | 82.7% | 69 min | 0.86% | B+ |
| United Airlines | 4,416 | 87.6% | 70 min | 0.75% | A+ |
| American Airlines | 3,331 | 83.1% | 99 min | 1.77% | B |
| Delta Air Lines | 3,329 | 90.8% | 87 min | 1.08% | A |
| Alaska Airlines | 2,855 | 83.9% | 53 min | 0.88% | B+ |
| Frontier Airlines | 672 | 76.2% | 70 min | 1.34% | B |
| Hawaiian Airlines | 367 | 79.9% | 63 min | 1.09% | B |
The spread between Delta and Frontier is 15 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 15 more arrivals inside the on-time window.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of SMF
Route-level records vary far more than the airport average. These are the 25 busiest departures from SMF, each with its own on-time rate against the airport-wide 81.8%.
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SMF to LAX · Los Angeles | 5,717 | 85.6% | 67 min | 0.44% | A+ |
| SMF to SAN · San Diego | 5,179 | 69.8% | 46 min | 1.02% | C |
| SMF to SEA · Seattle | 4,396 | 83.0% | 47 min | 0.30% | B+ |
| SMF to LAS · Las Vegas | 4,009 | 78.9% | 55 min | 0.65% | B+ |
| SMF to DEN · Denver | 3,844 | 83.1% | 57 min | 0.23% | B+ |
| SMF to PHX · Phoenix | 3,615 | 80.8% | 61 min | 0.53% | B+ |
| SMF to BUR · Burbank | 2,596 | 85.2% | 52 min | 1.66% | A |
| SMF to SNA · Santa Ana | 2,288 | 83.9% | 44 min | 0.31% | B+ |
| SMF to SLC · Salt Lake City | 2,165 | 87.0% | 74 min | 0.88% | A+ |
| SMF to ONT · Ontario | 2,108 | 84.0% | 51 min | 0.28% | B+ |
| SMF to PDX · Portland | 1,950 | 83.4% | 53 min | 0.41% | B+ |
| SMF to LGB · Long Beach | 1,852 | 85.8% | 50 min | 0.27% | A+ |
| SMF to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 1,601 | 81.4% | 100 min | 2.37% | B |
| SMF to SFO · San Francisco | 1,360 | 62.2% | 72 min | 1.69% | D |
| SMF to ORD · Chicago | 1,347 | 79.3% | 84 min | 1.48% | B |
| SMF to ATL · Atlanta | 1,007 | 92.9% | 93 min | 1.39% | A |
| SMF to BOI · Boise | 870 | 80.5% | 47 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SMF to HNL · Honolulu | 730 | 81.3% | 57 min | 0.14% | B+ |
| SMF to MDW · Chicago | 674 | 86.6% | 36 min | 0.30% | A+ |
| SMF to IAH · Houston | 670 | 91.5% | 74 min | 0.15% | A+ |
| SMF to DAL · Dallas | 661 | 74.1% | 43 min | 0.61% | C+ |
| SMF to GEG · Spokane | 608 | 75.8% | 50 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SMF to MSP · Minneapolis | 593 | 92.4% | 81 min | 0.67% | A+ |
| SMF to PSP · Palm Springs | 523 | 87.9% | 59 min | 0.19% | A+ |
| SMF to KOA · Kailua-Kona | 522 | 87.8% | 45 min | 0.38% | A+ |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave SMF
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 19 points, against 15 points between the best and worst carrier.
- 5am–8am12,024 flights92.1%
- 8am–11am10,396 flights88.0%
- 11am–2pm10,523 flights80.9%
- 2pm–5pm8,341 flights73.4%
- 5pm–8pm7,721 flights73.1%
- 8pm–5am7,033 flights75.5%
Scale runs 65% to 100%.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 92.1% of the time, against 73.1% for the evening window. That is 19 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 12,024 flights scheduled in it.
Explore
Filter SMF departures by airline, time, month and day
Pick a breakdown and a carrier. The dashed mark on each row is the same slice for every US flight.
On departures from Sacramento (SMF), the best departure window is 5am–8am at 92.1% on time and the worst is 5pm–8pm at 73.1%, a wide gap of 19.0 points. All US flights leaving 5am–8am ran 89.3%.
- 5–8am92.1%
- 8–11am88.0%
- 11am–2pm80.9%
- 2–5pm73.4%
- 5–8pm73.1%
- 8pm–5am75.5%
best all US flightsScale 60% to 95%.
Across the year
When SMF runs late
Twelve months, one bar each, drawn from the same 56,038 flights. The strip shows how much of SMF's record is set by the calendar rather than by the operation.
June is the worst month at 78.0% on time, 7 points below February, the best at 85.3%. 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. July was the busiest month here, with 5,071 flights.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 86.0% on time and Friday the weakest at 78.5%, a spread of 8 points.
SMF month by month
Delay causes
Why SMF gets delayed
Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 46% of the 576,000 delay minutes carriers reported here, and the remaining four split what is left.
- 46%Late-arriving aircraft
- 32%Carrier
- 19%National Airspace System
- 3%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
46% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. Across 576,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 15 to one. The split is drawn from 576,032 reported delay minutes.
The practical consequence: the 5am–8am departure is the one that starts clean. Its aircraft has no earlier leg to be late from, which is exactly why that window shows 92.1% on time here.
Cancellations are rare at 0.70%, below the national 1.89% 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.
Badly late arrivals are rare here: only 4.8% land an hour or more behind schedule, against 8.3% nationally. Connections built on this flight are about as safe as US domestic connections get, though a cancelled flight still ignores every layover you give it.
56,038 flights sit behind these numbers, which is a large enough sample that the headline rate is not moving on noise. Where a sub-group falls below 30 flights the site shows a dash instead of a percentage.
What to do with this
Flying out of SMF
Put together: avoid the 5pm–8pm departure. It runs 73.1% on time against 92.1% for the 5am–8am slot, and that 19 points is the largest single thing you control here. Delta Air Lines is the strongest operator if the fares are close. 55,520 completed flights over 12 months sit behind that.
Common questions
SMF delay questions
How often is Sacramento (SMF) delayed?
Roughly one flight in five arrives at least 15 minutes late, which is the Department of Transportation's definition of a delayed arrival. That works out to 18.2% of the 56,038 flights in this analysis, against 22.7% nationally. Delayed flights are late by about an hour on average.
Which airline is most reliable on Sacramento (SMF)?
Delta Air Lines leads at 90.8% on time across 3,329 flights. Frontier Airlines is at the other end on 76.2%, a gap of 15 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 Sacramento (SMF)?
The 5am–8am departure window is the strongest at 92.1% on time. The 5pm–8pm window is the weakest at 73.1%, 19 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 Sacramento (SMF)?
June is the weakest month at 78.0% on time, compared with 85.3% in February. Across the year that is 7 points between the best and worst months. The seasonal swing is modest enough that it should not decide when you travel.
Related
Where to go next
- SMF to LAX — Los Angeles85.6%
- SMF to SAN — San Diego69.8%
- SMF to SEA — Seattle83.0%
- SMF to LAS — Las Vegas78.9%
- SMF to DEN — Denver83.1%
- SMF to PHX — Phoenix80.8%
- Southwest Airlines on-time record79.6%
- SkyWest Airlines on-time record82.7%
- United Airlines on-time record87.6%
- American Airlines on-time record83.1%
- Why the first flight of the morning is statistically safest
- US airports with the biggest gap between their best and worst month
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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.