The flight time from Chicago to San Diego is 4 hours, 14 minutes. See Data as Tables

Average Timeline

Leaves ORD Chicago, IL 2 minutes early.
20 minutes taxiing out
3 hours, 48 minutes in the air
3 minutes taxiing in
Arrives SAN San Diego, CA 6 minutes early.

Flight Reliability By Airline ?

United
84%
American
75%
Cancelled
Delayed*
Normal

Flight Summary

The flight time from Chicago to San Diego is 4 hours, 14 minutes. The time spent in the air is 3 hours, 48 minutes.

The flight distance from Chicago to San Diego is 1723 Miles.

Reverse Journey

San Diego to Chicago
3 hours, 55 minutes

Flight Time By Airline ?

American
4h 12m
United
4h 14m
Taxiing Out
Air Time
Taxiing In

Flight Time by Time of Day ?

12AM06AM12PM06PM1h2h3h4h
Taxiing Out
Air Time
Taxiing In

Flights By Time of Day ?
(Average)

12AM06AM12PM06PM0.00.51.01.52.0

Flights Per Week

50

Distance

1723 Miles

Flights By Month ?

JFMAMJJASOND050100150200

Flights By Day of Week ?
(Average)

MonTueWedThuFriSatSun02468

Flights By Airline ?
(Per Week)

United
31
American
19

Frequently Asked Questions

How far is Chicago from San Diego by plane?

The distance from Chicago to San Diego by plane is 1723 Miles. This is the air distance on the most direct route taken by the vast majority of flights.

How long is the flight from Chicago to San Diego?

The flight time from Chicago to San Diego is 4 hours, 14 minutes. The time spent in the air is 3 hours, 48 minutes. These numbers are averages. In reality, it varies by airline with American being the fastest taking 4 hours, 12 minutes, and United the slowest taking 4 hours, 14 minutes.

What airlines fly from Chicago to San Diego?

United and American are the airlines with direct flights from Chicago to San Diego.

Does Southwest fly from Chicago to San Diego?

Southwest does not fly from Chicago (ORD) to San Diego (SAN). Keep in mind that Southwest may fly to other nearby airports, as they will often fly into smaller airpors instead of larger ones. This is because the costs are often lower to fly into smaller airports, and they pass the savings on to you.

Tables and Explanations

Data Source

Our information is computed from the latest available data from the US Department of Transportation.

Average Timeline Timeline Chart

The average timeline contains the median time a flight spends in 3 stages. The first of these three stages is taxiing out which includes the time from the flight leaving the gate to taking off. The second stage is in the air, which includes the time spent from the flight leaving the ground to touching back down at the end of it's journey. The last stage is taxiing in, which is from when the flight touches down to the flight arriving at it's gate.

The average timeline also estimates on average of when the flight will leave and arrive relative to it's stated departure time.

Leaves Chicago 2 minutes early
Taxi Out Time 20 minutes
In the Air 228 minutes
Taxiing In 3 minutes
Arrives San Diego 6 minutes early

Flight Reliability Reliability Chart

The reliability of an airline measures how often the airline's flights on this route are cancelled or delayed more than 20 minutes. For example, from Chicago to San Diego, American is 75% reliable, which means that American flights are on time 75% of the time, and cancelled or delayed the remaining time.

Airline Normal Flights Arrival Delayed* Flight Cancelled
United 84% 16% 0%
American 75% 24% 1%

Flight Time By Airline Flight Time By Airline Chart

Each airline takes a different amount of time to fly between Chicago and San Diego, this is due to different operational factors on the ground, as well as scheduling of planes. Each airline's flight time is split into three stages which are described above in the "Average Timeline" section. There are also miscellaneous operational issues which are included in the below total but are not accounted for in one of the three stages.

Airline Taxiing Out
(minutes)
In the Air
(minutes)
Taxiing In
(minutes)
Total
(minutes)
American 17 229 4 252
United 22 228 3 254

Flights By Time of Day Flight Time By Day Chart

This one is pretty self explanatory, it represents the number of flights that leave the gate in a given hour of the day. The tricky thing here is that this is normally not a whole number since it is an average over 52 weeks. Partial numbers may indicate that a flight may be seasonal or may take off at different times due to different operational factors.

Time Count
1pm 0.55
6pm 0.26
9am 1.08
10am 0.3
8am 0.59
3pm 0.1
7am 0.8
7pm 0.58
12pm 0.15
5pm 0.33
8pm 1
4pm 1.33
9pm 0.03

Flights By Month Flights By Month Chart

The quantity of flights from Chicago to San Diego that take off in a given month of the year. This number changes because some flights are seasonal, and almost all flights have uneven demand througout the year.

Month Count
January 203
February 182
March 223
April 219
May 233
June 227
July 225
August 233
September 230
October 229
November 188
December 213

Flights By Day Of Week Flights By Day of Week Chart

The quantity of flights from Chicago to San Diego that take off on a given day of the week. Some routes only have enough demand to sustain a few trips a week, while others have many flights a day. This number is also an average across the year, and hence may not be a whole number.

Day Count
Monday 7.5
Tuesday 7.08
Wednesday 6.92
Thursday 7.5
Friday 7.52
Saturday 6.38
Sunday 7.19

Flight per Airline (per Week) Flights By Airline Chart

How many times an airline flies this route in a week. Different factors play into how often a carrier chooses to fly a given route including it's need to connect disparate routes, and demand.

Airline Flights per Week
United 1
American 0

Flight Time By Time of Day Flight Time by Time of Day Chart

The total flight time varies by each hour of the day due to factors such as airport traffic. More flights leaving an airport may cause higher taxi in or taxi out times. See the description of the average timeline above for a deeper discussion of each of these times.

Time Taxi Out
(minutes)
In the Air
(minutes)
Taxi In
(minutes)
Total
(minutes)
1pm 20 228 3 253
6pm 19 230 4 253
9am 25 229 3 260
10am 18 231 4 253
8am 17 227 4 247
3pm 20 226 3 249
7am 21 226 3 252
7pm 19 232 4 259
12pm 20 239 3 264
5pm 15 230 4 254
8pm 23 224 3 253
4pm 18 227 3 250
9pm 15 225 4 249
* Delayed more than 20 minutes.
All data above is a median or mean as appropriate.