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Route Reliability

Denver → Sacramento

DEN–SMF · 909 miles · Denver International Airport to Sacramento International Airport

80
Pretty Reliable
WanderNerd Reliability Score
74%
Arrive within 15 minutes
10 min
Average arrival delay
0.4%
Cancelled
3,832
Flights in the data

Data through May 2026.

Who flies it best

Ranked by on-time arrivals. Historical results, not predictions.

  1. 1.Frontier Airlines82%164 flights
  2. 2.United Airlines81%1,803 flights
  3. 3.Southwest Airlines67%1,865 flights

What the data says

Morning flights do better here.

DEN–SMF flights departing between 3–6 AM arrived on time 92% of the time, versus 55% between 9 PM–12 AM.

Friday is doing you no favors.

DEN–SMF flights arrived on time 78% of the time on Wednesdays. On Fridays: 71%.

Frontier Airlines has a clear lead on this route.

Frontier Airlines arrived on time 82% of the time on this route; Southwest Airlines managed 67%.

Slipping a little lately.

DEN–SMF flights arrived on time 74% of the time over the last three months in the data, compared with 78% in the three months before that.

Best historical flights

Ranked by on-time arrivals, minimum 100 flights. Past performance, not a promise.

Top flights by on-time rate

More flights on this route

The breakdown

On-time by weekday
  • Mon73%(599 flights)
  • Tue78%(509 flights)
  • Wed78%(533 flights)
  • Thu72%(571 flights)
  • Fri71%(603 flights)
  • Sat77%(439 flights)
  • Sun73%(562 flights)
On-time by departure window
  • 12–3 AM—(2 flights)
  • 3–6 AM92%(24 flights)
  • 6–9 AM91%(726 flights)
  • 9 AM–12 PM82%(766 flights)
  • 12–3 PM73%(475 flights)
  • 3–6 PM73%(595 flights)
  • 6–9 PM62%(931 flights)
  • 9 PM–12 AM55%(297 flights)
On-time trend by month
72%
May

Jun 61% → May 72% on time

On-time arrival percentage by month
MonthOn-time percentageFlights
June 202561%368
July 202564%379
August 202575%348
September 202577%344
October 202579%336
November 202586%317
December 202569%303
January 202682%263
February 202682%258
March 202675%289
April 202674%289
May 202672%322

Keep nerding

Based on 3,832 historical flights, because apparently we checked. Historical flight data: U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, June 2025 – May 2026. Data through May 2026. How we calculate this.