Transatlantic route · frequency, carriers and airport records
MUC→SAN
Munich to San Diego
- Flights
- 584 both ways
- Carriers
- 1
- Distance
- 6,011 mi
- Period
- July 2025 to June 2026
No public record scores Munich to San Diego International flight by flight. The US Department of Transportation's on-time database covers domestic flights only, and in Europe only the United Kingdom publishes punctuality by route, so what follows is built from the three measurements that do exist. The DOT's international report counts 584 flights between the two airports in the twelve months to June 2026, about six departures a week in each direction, flown by Lufthansa. EUROCONTROL's year-to-date figure has 71.0% of all departures from Munich leaving within 15 minutes of schedule and 80.0% of arrivals landing within 15 minutes. At the other end, 76.3% of SAN's domestic departures arrived on time in the DOT data, which says something about how the airport itself runs, not about this route.
On EUROCONTROL's year-to-date arrival punctuality, Munich ranks 5th of the 41 European airports on this site with service to the United States. Bilbao leads that table at 84.3% and Manchester closes it at 65.7%. A long-haul departure inherits the airport's morning: an aircraft that arrived late from its previous sector, or a departure queue built up by weather, delays the transatlantic wave with everything else.
Key figures
Flights
584
Both directions, July 2025 to June 2026 (DOT)
Carriers
1
Lufthansa
MUC departures on time
71.0%
All destinations, year to date (EUROCONTROL)
SAN domestic on time
76.3%
US DOT, last twelve months of domestic departures
Without a route-level record, the useful question is what the two airports do to a schedule. EUROCONTROL attributes 0.4 minutes of air traffic flow management delay per arriving flight to Munich so far this year; that is delay imposed by the network to hold traffic on the ground elsewhere, not the airline's own. In the DOT data, a delayed domestic departure from SAN ran about an hour late on average over the last twelve months, and 1.27% of its scheduled flights were cancelled.
Carrier by carrier
Who flies MUC to SAN
Lufthansa is the only carrier the DOT report shows on MUC to SAN, with 584 flights and an average of 234 passengers aboard each. A single-carrier route gives a delayed passenger no same-day alternative on the same ticket, which is worth knowing before booking a tight onward connection.
| Airline | Flights | Share | Per month | Passengers / flight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lufthansa | 584 | 100% | 49 | 234 |
DOT international report, July 2025 to June 2026; flights in both directions together. No delay figures exist for this pair in any public source.
Across the year
How often MUC to SAN flies through the year
The DOT's international report puts 62 flights on the pair in July 2025, the busiest month of the window, and 24 in February 2026, the thinnest. A summer-to-winter swing of that size means the winter schedule is a different operation: fewer frequencies, so a cancellation leaves a longer wait for the next seat.
Flights per month, both directions
- July 202562
- August 202562
- September 202559
- October 202558
- November 202542
- December 202544
- January 202633
- February 202624
- March 202639
- April 202640
- May 202662
- June 202659
The DOT's international report counts flights in both directions together: 584 between MUC and SAN from July 2025 to June 2026, about six departures a week in each direction, carrying 136,632 passengers. That makes it the 11th busiest of 16 US routes from Munich and the 2nd busiest of 3 European routes into SAN.
The departure airport
How Munich is running
EUROCONTROL's figures for Munich as a whole, every airline and every destination: 71.0% of departures and 80.0% of arrivals within 15 minutes of schedule from 1 January to 21 October 2026, with 95.7% of scheduled flights operated. The last seven days ran at 70.4% for departures, in line with the year. Air traffic flow management delay attributed to the airport averaged 0.4 minutes per arriving flight this year, 0.6 over the last week.
| Window | Departures on time | Arrivals on time | Schedules operated | ATFM delay / arrival |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yesterday (21 October 2026) | 80.8% | 86.4% | 95.8% | 0.0 min |
| Last 7 days | 70.4% | 78.1% | 97.6% | 0.6 min |
| Year to date | 71.0% | 80.0% | 95.7% | 0.4 min |
The arrival airport
Landing at San Diego International
San Diego International is scored on this site from the DOT's domestic data: 76.3% of its 101,169 domestic departures arrived on time over the last twelve months, with delayed flights running about an hour late, and 1.27% were cancelled. Those are domestic flights, not this route, but an arriving transatlantic flight shares the same runways, the same weather and the same ground delay programmes, so a bad day at SAN reaches a flight from MUC just as surely. The airport's own page has the hour-by-hour and month-by-month detail, and its live FAA status appears above when the FAA has something to say.
Domestic on time
76.3%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late (DOT)
Avg delay
61 min
Delayed domestic flights only
Cancelled
1.27%
Domestic departures
101,169
Last twelve months
San Diego International (SAN) delay statistics, hour by hour and month by month
Your rights
EC 261/2004 on MUC to SAN
Every flight that departs Munich falls under Regulation (EC) 261/2004, whichever airline flies it and wherever it lands. If it arrives at San Diego International three hours or more late, or is cancelled with under 14 days' notice, and the cause was within the airline's control, each passenger is owed €600 (€300 if the airline got you there under four hours late), on top of rebooking and care. Weather, air traffic control restrictions and strikes outside the airline are the usual exemptions. The return flight from SAN is covered only when the carrier is EU based. The sector is about 6,011 miles, 9,672 km, which puts it in the top distance band.
Delayed three hours or more? Check a claim with Compensair →
What to do with this
Booking MUC to SAN
There is no grade to give MUC to SAN without a route record, and this site does not invent one. What the three sources support: about six departures a week in each direction, a single carrier, a departure airport that gets 71% of its departures away on time and an arrival airport that runs 76% on time domestically. Leave two hours for any onward connection at SAN; immigration comes before the connecting flight.
Common questions
MUC to SAN questions
How often are MUC to SAN flights delayed?
No public dataset records delays for this route flight by flight: the US on-time database is domestic only and only the UK publishes route-level punctuality in Europe. The nearest measurements are the departure airport's EUROCONTROL punctuality (71.0% of departures within 15 minutes this year) and SAN's domestic record in the DOT data (76.3% on time).
Which airlines fly MUC to SAN?
Lufthansa. Lufthansa accounted for 100% of the 584 flights the DOT counted on the pair.
Can I claim compensation for a delayed MUC to SAN flight?
Yes, if the flight arrived three hours or more late or was cancelled at short notice for a reason within the airline's control: departures from Munich are covered by EC 261/2004 whichever airline operates them. The fixed amount for a sector of this length is €600 a passenger, €300 if the airline got you there under four hours late. The return from SAN is covered only on an EU carrier.
How many flights a day are there from MUC to SAN?
About six departures a week in each direction: the DOT counted 584 flights in both directions over twelve months, peaking at 62 in July 2025 and falling to 24 in February 2026.
Related
Where to go next
- Munich (MUC): every US route
- San Diego International (SAN) delay statistics
- MUC to ORD, Chicago (ORD)1,689 flights
- MUC to EWR, Newark (EWR)1,417 flights
- MUC to SFO, San Francisco (SFO)1,415 flights
- MUC to CLT, Charlotte (CLT)1,321 flights
- LHR to SAN, from London1,040 flights
- AMS to SAN, from Amsterdam208 flights
- Every Europe-to-US route and airport
Germany publishes no route-level punctuality, so this page cannot grade the route. The UK pages in this section can, because the CAA does.
Sources: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, International Report (flights and passengers by carrier and airport pair), July 2025 to June 2026; EUROCONTROL Aviation Intelligence Portal, airport punctuality and ATFM delay to 21 October 2026. Rebuilt 22 October 2026; the EUROCONTROL figures refresh with each weekly build, the others when their publisher releases a month. How these sources differ.