The flight time from Sacramento to San Diego is 1 hour, 27 minutes. See Data as Tables

Average Timeline

Leaves SMF Sacramento, CA 1 minute early.
12 minutes taxiing out
1 hour, 10 minutes in the air
3 minutes taxiing in
Arrives SAN San Diego, CA 3 minutes early.

Flight Reliability By Airline ?

Alaska
88%
Southwest
83%
Spirit
83%
Cancelled
Delayed*
Normal

Flight Summary

The flight time from Sacramento to San Diego is 1 hour, 27 minutes. The time spent in the air is 1 hour, 10 minutes.

The flight distance from Sacramento to San Diego is 480 Miles.

Reverse Journey

San Diego to Sacramento
1 hour, 33 minutes

Flight Time By Airline ?

Southwest
1h 25m
Spirit
1h 32m
Alaska
1h 34m
Taxiing Out
Air Time
Taxiing In

Flight Time by Time of Day ?

12AM06AM12PM06PM 30m1h
Taxiing Out
Air Time
Taxiing In

Flights By Time of Day ?
(Average)

12AM06AM12PM06PM0.00.51.01.52.0

Flights Per Week

102

Distance

480 Miles

Flights By Month ?

JFMAMJJASOND0100200300400

Flights By Day of Week ?
(Average)

MonTueWedThuFriSatSun051015

Flights By Airline ?
(Per Week)

Southwest
77
Alaska
22
Spirit
2

Frequently Asked Questions

How far is Sacramento from San Diego by plane?

The distance from Sacramento to San Diego by plane is 480 Miles. This is the air distance on the most direct route taken by the vast majority of flights.

How long is the flight from Sacramento to San Diego?

The flight time from Sacramento to San Diego is 1 hour, 27 minutes. The time spent in the air is 1 hour, 10 minutes. These numbers are averages. In reality, it varies by airline with Southwest being the fastest taking 1 hour, 25 minutes, and Alaska the slowest taking 1 hour, 34 minutes.

What airlines fly from Sacramento to San Diego?

Southwest, Alaska, and Spirit are the airlines with direct flights from Sacramento to San Diego.

Does Southwest fly from Sacramento to San Diego?

Yes! Southwest does fly from Sacramento (SMF) to San Diego (SAN). On average, they have 77 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 Sacramento 1 minute early
Taxi Out Time 12 minutes
In the Air 70 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 Sacramento to San Diego, Southwest is 83% reliable, which means that Southwest flights are on time 83% of the time, and cancelled or delayed the remaining time.

Airline Normal Flights Arrival Delayed* Flight Cancelled
Alaska 88% 12% 0%
Southwest 83% 16% 1%
Spirit 83% 15% 2%

Flight Time By Airline Flight Time By Airline Chart

Each airline takes a different amount of time to fly between Sacramento 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)
Southwest 11 70 3 85
Spirit 14 73 4 92
Alaska 15 73 4 94

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
11am 0.79
5am 0.02
7pm 0.63
9am 1.05
9pm 0.39
7am 1.37
4pm 0.67
6pm 0.91
6am 1.27
10am 1.25
5pm 1.15
2pm 0.72
1pm 0.79
8pm 0.87
12pm 0.99
3pm 1.09
8am 0.52

Flights By Month Flights By Month Chart

The quantity of flights from Sacramento 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 410
February 379
March 425
April 442
May 460
June 473
July 492
August 442
September 453
October 457
November 443
December 455

Flights By Day Of Week Flights By Day of Week Chart

The quantity of flights from Sacramento 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 16
Tuesday 14.21
Wednesday 14.25
Thursday 15.88
Friday 16
Saturday 10.38
Sunday 15.79

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
Alaska 0
Spirit 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)
11am 13 71 3 90
5am 11 69 4 83
7pm 12 70 3 86
9am 12 71 3 87
9pm 11 69 3 83
7am 13 71 3 89
4pm 11 71 3 86
6pm 12 69 3 85
6am 12 70 3 85
10am 14 71 3 90
5pm 14 71 3 89
2pm 11 70 3 85
1pm 11 70 3 85
8pm 12 70 3 86
12pm 12 70 3 86
3pm 12 70 3 86
8am 12 71 3 87
* Delayed more than 20 minutes.
All data above is a median or mean as appropriate.