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Route Reliability

Chicago → San Diego

ORD–SAN · 1,723 miles · Chicago O'Hare International Airport to San Diego International Airport

74
Usually Fine
WanderNerd Reliability Score
73%
Arrive within 15 minutes
11 min
Average arrival delay
1.1%
Cancelled
3,742
Flights in the data

Data through May 2026.

Who flies it best

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

  1. 1.United Airlines78%1,675 flights
  2. 2.Alaska Airlines70%605 flights
  3. 3.American Airlines68%1,381 flights

Not enough history to rank: Frontier Airlines (81 flights). We rank airlines only after 100 flights on the route.

What the data says

Morning flights do better here.

ORD–SAN flights departing between 6–9 AM arrived on time 85% of the time, versus 53% between 9 PM–12 AM.

Friday is doing you no favors.

ORD–SAN flights arrived on time 77% of the time on Saturdays. On Fridays: 68%.

United Airlines runs this route best.

United Airlines arrived on time 78% of the time on this route; American Airlines managed 68%.

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
  • Mon71%(549 flights)
  • Tue76%(507 flights)
  • Wed74%(499 flights)
  • Thu73%(545 flights)
  • Fri68%(545 flights)
  • Sat77%(490 flights)
  • Sun70%(551 flights)
On-time by departure window
  • 6–9 AM85%(877 flights)
  • 9 AM–12 PM73%(870 flights)
  • 12–3 PM73%(466 flights)
  • 3–6 PM68%(700 flights)
  • 6–9 PM63%(640 flights)
  • 9 PM–12 AM53%(133 flights)
On-time trend by month
78%
May

Jun 74% → May 78% on time

On-time arrival percentage by month
MonthOn-time percentageFlights
June 202574%313
July 202567%332
August 202575%318
September 202579%266
October 202576%351
November 202570%306
December 202564%301
January 202674%243
February 202677%241
March 202677%321
April 202664%331
May 202678%363

Same trip, other airports

Keep nerding

Based on 3,742 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.