The flight time from Denver to San Diego is 2 hours, 16 minutes. See Data as Tables

Average Timeline

Leaves DEN Denver, CO 1 minute late.
14 minutes taxiing out
1 hour, 57 minutes in the air
3 minutes taxiing in
Arrives SAN San Diego, CA 3 minutes early.

Flight Reliability By Airline ?

United
81%
Southwest
76%
Frontier
72%
Cancelled
Delayed*
Normal

Flight Summary

The flight time from Denver to San Diego is 2 hours, 16 minutes. The time spent in the air is 1 hour, 57 minutes.

The flight distance from Denver to San Diego is 853 Miles.

Reverse Journey

San Diego to Denver
2 hours, 15 minutes

Flight Time By Airline ?

United
2h 15m
Southwest
2h 16m
Frontier
2h 21m
Taxiing Out
Air Time
Taxiing In

Flight Time by Time of Day ?

12AM06AM12PM06PM 30m1h1h 30m2h
Taxiing Out
Air Time
Taxiing In

Flights By Time of Day ?
(Average)

12AM06AM12PM06PM0.00.51.01.52.0

Flights Per Week

102

Distance

853 Miles

Flights By Month ?

JFMAMJJASOND0100200300400

Flights By Day of Week ?
(Average)

MonTueWedThuFriSatSun051015

Flights By Airline ?
(Per Week)

Southwest
44
United
42
Frontier
15

Frequently Asked Questions

How far is Denver from San Diego by plane?

The distance from Denver to San Diego by plane is 853 Miles. This is the air distance on the most direct route taken by the vast majority of flights.

How long is the flight from Denver to San Diego?

The flight time from Denver to San Diego is 2 hours, 16 minutes. The time spent in the air is 1 hour, 57 minutes. These numbers are averages. In reality, it varies by airline with United being the fastest taking 2 hours, 15 minutes, and Frontier the slowest taking 2 hours, 21 minutes.

What airlines fly from Denver to San Diego?

Southwest, Frontier, and United are the airlines with direct flights from Denver to San Diego.

Does Southwest fly from Denver to San Diego?

Yes! Southwest does fly from Denver (DEN) to San Diego (SAN). On average, they have 44 flights per week on this route. This may vary seasonally, please check the chart above for more details.

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 Denver 1 minute late
Taxi Out Time 14 minutes
In the Air 117 minutes
Taxiing In 3 minutes
Arrives San Diego 3 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 Denver to San Diego, Southwest is 76% reliable, which means that Southwest flights are on time 76% of the time, and cancelled or delayed the remaining time.

Airline Normal Flights Arrival Delayed* Flight Cancelled
United 81% 18% 1%
Southwest 76% 23% 1%
Frontier 72% 26% 2%

Flight Time By Airline Flight Time By Airline Chart

Each airline takes a different amount of time to fly between Denver 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)
United 15 115 3 135
Southwest 13 117 3 136
Frontier 14 118 5 141

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
8am 1.39
1pm 1.43
9am 0.31
10pm 0.92
10am 0.53
11pm 0.01
4pm 0.9
8pm 0.73
5pm 0.68
11am 1.63
3pm 0.75
6am 1.04
6pm 0.31
12pm 0.44
7am 0.63
9pm 0.94
7pm 1.23
5am 0.34
2pm 0.25

Flights By Month Flights By Month Chart

The quantity of flights from Denver 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 382
February 344
March 436
April 447
May 462
June 478
July 490
August 479
September 445
October 478
November 457
December 447

Flights By Day Of Week Flights By Day of Week Chart

The quantity of flights from Denver 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 15.08
Tuesday 14.92
Wednesday 14.54
Thursday 15.04
Friday 14.85
Saturday 13.19
Sunday 15.17

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
Southwest 1
United 1
Frontier 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)
8am 14 117 3 135
1pm 14 116 3 135
9am 14 119 3 137
10pm 14 118 5 138
10am 13 116 3 135
11pm 27 118 4 146
4pm 14 117 3 135
8pm 15 115 3 135
5pm 14 118 3 137
11am 15 116 3 137
3pm 14 116 3 135
6am 15 117 3 137
6pm 14 116 3 135
12pm 13 117 5 137
7am 14 117 3 136
9pm 14 116 3 135
7pm 16 115 3 136
5am 16 122 3 142
2pm 12 116 3 132
* Delayed more than 20 minutes.
All data above is a median or mean as appropriate.