The flight time from San Diego to Sacramento is 1 hour, 32 minutes. See Data as Tables

Average Timeline

Leaves SAN San Diego, CA 1 minute early.
15 minutes taxiing out
1 hour, 12 minutes in the air
4 minutes taxiing in
Arrives SMF Sacramento, CA 4 minutes early.

Flight Reliability By Airline ?

Alaska
86%
Southwest
84%
Cancelled
Delayed*
Normal

Flight Summary

The flight time from San Diego to Sacramento is 1 hour, 32 minutes. The time spent in the air is 1 hour, 12 minutes.

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

Reverse Journey

Sacramento to San Diego
1 hour, 26 minutes

Flight Time By Airline ?

Southwest
1h 30m
Alaska
1h 41m
Taxiing Out
Air Time
Taxiing In

Flight Time by Time of Day ?

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

Flights By Time of Day ?
(Average)

12AM06AM12PM06PM0.00.51.01.52.0

Flights Per Week

113

Distance

480 Miles

Flights By Month ?

JFMAMJJASOND0200400

Flights By Day of Week ?
(Average)

MonTueWedThuFriSatSun051015

Flights By Airline ?
(Per Week)

Southwest
89
Alaska
23

Frequently Asked Questions

How far is San Diego from Sacramento by plane?

The distance from San Diego to Sacramento 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 San Diego to Sacramento?

The flight time from San Diego to Sacramento is 1 hour, 32 minutes. The time spent in the air is 1 hour, 12 minutes. These numbers are averages. In reality, it varies by airline with Southwest being the fastest taking 1 hour, 30 minutes, and Alaska the slowest taking 1 hour, 41 minutes.

What airlines fly from San Diego to Sacramento?

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

Does Southwest fly from San Diego to Sacramento?

Yes! Southwest does fly from San Diego (SAN) to Sacramento (SMF). On average, they have 89 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 San Diego 1 minute early
Taxi Out Time 15 minutes
In the Air 72 minutes
Taxiing In 4 minutes
Arrives Sacramento 4 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 Sacramento, Southwest is 84% reliable, which means that Southwest flights are on time 84% of the time, and cancelled or delayed the remaining time.

Airline Normal Flights Arrival Delayed* Flight Cancelled
Alaska 86% 14% 0%
Southwest 84% 15% 1%

Flight Time By Airline Flight Time By Airline Chart

Each airline takes a different amount of time to fly between San Diego and Sacramento, 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 14 71 4 90
Alaska 19 75 6 101

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
7am 1.13
11am 0.78
9pm 0.61
8pm 0.78
5pm 1.05
8am 0.96
9am 1.41
2pm 1.39
6am 0.71
10pm 0.03
10am 0.95
12pm 0.74
1pm 1.09
6pm 1.33
3pm 0.87
7pm 1.37
4pm 0.79

Flights By Month Flights By Month Chart

The quantity of flights from San Diego to Sacramento 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 554
February 496
March 529
April 511
May 532
June 517
July 460
August 459
September 468
October 460
November 442
December 455

Flights By Day Of Week Flights By Day of Week Chart

The quantity of flights from San Diego to Sacramento 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 18.46
Tuesday 16.08
Wednesday 16.21
Thursday 18.27
Friday 18.31
Saturday 10.04
Sunday 15.77

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 2
Alaska 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)
7am 15 73 4 94
11am 15 72 4 92
9pm 13 71 4 89
8pm 14 72 4 91
5pm 14 72 4 91
8am 14 72 4 91
9am 16 73 5 95
2pm 16 72 5 94
6am 18 71 3 93
10pm 24 72 5 101
10am 15 72 4 93
12pm 15 71 4 91
1pm 16 72 4 94
6pm 14 72 4 92
3pm 13 71 4 88
7pm 16 73 4 94
4pm 12 71 3 88
* Delayed more than 20 minutes.
All data above is a median or mean as appropriate.