The flight time from Detroit to San Diego is 4 hours, 39 minutes. See Data as Tables

Average Timeline

Leaves DTW Detroit, MI 1 minute early.
14 minutes taxiing out
4 hours, 16 minutes in the air
5 minutes taxiing in
Arrives SAN San Diego, CA 9 minutes early.

Flight Reliability By Airline ?

Delta
84%
Cancelled
Delayed*
Normal

Flight Summary

The flight time from Detroit to San Diego is 4 hours, 39 minutes. The time spent in the air is 4 hours, 16 minutes.

The flight distance from Detroit to San Diego is 1956 Miles.

Reverse Journey

San Diego to Detroit
4 hours, 18 minutes

Flight Time By Airline ?

Delta
4h 39m
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)

12AM06AM12PM06PM0.00.20.40.60.81.0

Flights Per Week

22

Distance

1956 Miles

Flights By Month ?

JFMAMJJASOND050100

Flights By Day of Week ?
(Average)

MonTueWedThuFriSatSun01234

Flights By Airline ?
(Per Week)

Delta
22

Frequently Asked Questions

How far is Detroit from San Diego by plane?

The distance from Detroit to San Diego by plane is 1956 Miles. This is the air distance on the most direct route taken by the vast majority of flights.

How long is the flight from Detroit to San Diego?

The flight time from Detroit to San Diego is 4 hours, 39 minutes. The time spent in the air is 4 hours, 16 minutes. These numbers are averages.

What airlines fly from Detroit to San Diego?

Delta is the only airline with direct flights from Detroit to San Diego.

Does Southwest fly from Detroit to San Diego?

Southwest does not fly from Detroit (DTW) 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 Detroit 1 minute early
Taxi Out Time 14 minutes
In the Air 256 minutes
Taxiing In 5 minutes
Arrives San Diego 9 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 Detroit to San Diego, Delta is 84% reliable, which means that Delta flights are on time 84% of the time, and cancelled or delayed the remaining time.

Airline Normal Flights Arrival Delayed* Flight Cancelled
Delta 84% 15% 1%

Flight Time By Airline Flight Time By Airline Chart

Each airline takes a different amount of time to fly between Detroit 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)
Delta 14 256 5 279

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
9pm 0.02
4pm 0.71
3pm 0.05
5pm 0.21
12pm 0.65
8pm 0.59
9am 0.15
8am 0.83

Flights By Month Flights By Month Chart

The quantity of flights from Detroit 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 75
February 54
March 84
April 97
May 109
June 108
July 121
August 109
September 104
October 109
November 101
December 113

Flights By Day Of Week Flights By Day of Week Chart

The quantity of flights from Detroit 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 3.42
Tuesday 2.92
Wednesday 2.96
Thursday 3.44
Friday 3.54
Saturday 3.02
Sunday 3.46

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
Delta 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)
9pm 17 252 4 271
4pm 14 256 4 276
3pm 13 266 4 288
5pm 12 262 5 281
12pm 12 253 5 273
8pm 14 257 7 283
9am 14 269 5 291
8am 16 255 5 280
* Delayed more than 20 minutes.
All data above is a median or mean as appropriate.