The flight time from San Diego to Los Angeles is 59 minutes. See Data as Tables

Average Timeline

Leaves SAN San Diego, CA 4 minutes early.
22 minutes taxiing out
26 minutes in the air
9 minutes taxiing in
Arrives LAX Los Angeles, CA 8 minutes early.

Flight Reliability By Airline ?

United
93%
Delta
91%
Cancelled
Delayed*
Normal

Flight Summary

The flight time from San Diego to Los Angeles is 59 minutes. The time spent in the air is 26 minutes.

The flight distance from San Diego to Los Angeles is 109 Miles.

Reverse Journey

Los Angeles to San Diego
53 minutes

Flight Time By Airline ?

United
56m
Delta
1h 1m
Taxiing Out
Air Time
Taxiing In

Flight Time by Time of Day ?

12AM06AM12PM06PM 15m 30m 45m1h
Taxiing Out
Air Time
Taxiing In

Flights By Time of Day ?
(Average)

12AM06AM12PM06PM0.00.51.01.52.0

Flights Per Week

36

Distance

109 Miles

Flights By Month ?

JFMAMJJASOND050100150

Flights By Day of Week ?
(Average)

MonTueWedThuFriSatSun0246

Flights By Airline ?
(Per Week)

United
18
Delta
18

Frequently Asked Questions

How far is San Diego from Los Angeles by plane?

The distance from San Diego to Los Angeles by plane is 109 Miles. This is the air distance on the most direct route taken by the vast majority of flights.

How long is the flight from San Diego to Los Angeles?

The flight time from San Diego to Los Angeles is 59 minutes. The time spent in the air is 26 minutes. These numbers are averages. In reality, it varies by airline with United being the fastest taking 56 minutes, and Delta the slowest taking 1 hour, 1 minute.

What airlines fly from San Diego to Los Angeles?

United and Delta are the airlines with direct flights from San Diego to Los Angeles.

Does Southwest fly from San Diego to Los Angeles?

Southwest does not fly from San Diego (SAN) to Los Angeles (LAX). 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 San Diego 4 minutes early
Taxi Out Time 22 minutes
In the Air 26 minutes
Taxiing In 9 minutes
Arrives Los Angeles 8 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 San Diego to Los Angeles, Delta is 91% reliable, which means that Delta flights are on time 91% of the time, and cancelled or delayed the remaining time.

Airline Normal Flights Arrival Delayed* Flight Cancelled
United 93% 7% 0%
Delta 91% 9% 0%

Flight Time By Airline Flight Time By Airline Chart

Each airline takes a different amount of time to fly between San Diego and Los Angeles, 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 21 26 7 56
Delta 23 26 11 61

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
3pm 0.2
6am 1.65
11am 0.02
2pm 0.16
7am 0.16
6pm 0.6
4pm 0.17
5pm 0.08
10am 1.08
1pm 0.02
8pm 0.65
12pm 0.43

Flights By Month Flights By Month Chart

The quantity of flights from San Diego to Los Angeles 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 93
February 84
March 138
April 150
May 182
June 180
July 186
August 186
September 175
October 186
November 176
December 168

Flights By Day Of Week Flights By Day of Week Chart

The quantity of flights from San Diego to Los Angeles 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 5.23
Tuesday 5.23
Wednesday 5.23
Thursday 5.19
Friday 5.27
Saturday 5.25
Sunday 5.21

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 0
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)
3pm 19 26 10 56
6am 25 26 9 62
11am 24 26 13 63
2pm 21 26 11 59
7am 23 27 10 61
6pm 21 26 11 59
4pm 18 27 10 55
5pm 20 26 9 57
10am 20 26 7 55
1pm 19 26 10 58
8pm 19 26 8 54
12pm 23 26 11 61
* Delayed more than 20 minutes.
All data above is a median or mean as appropriate.