Historical on-time performance
Washington to Sacramento
2,358 miData through Dec 2025Source: US DOT · BTS
Flights on IAD–SMF arrive on time 72% of the time over the last 12 months.
On-time rate72%arrived within 15 min
p90 delay65 min1 in 10 flights is worse (tail risk)
Cancelled0.3%of scheduled flights
based on 337 flights over the last 12 months. On-time means arriving within 15 minutes (BTS standard).
By airline
How each carrier compares
- United AirlinesOn-time72%Medianon timep9065 minCancel0.3%Flights337
Why flights run late
Delay causes
- Airline29%
- Weather13%
- Air traffic (NAS)18%
- Late aircraft40%
- Security0%
Most delay minutes here are attributed to Late aircraft.
Over time
On-time trend
By season
On-time rate by month
When to fly
Best time to fly IAD → SMF
All airlines · rolling 36 months (2023-01 .. 2025-12).
Best day of week
On-time rates are fairly even by day on this route — ranging from 73% to 82% on time.
- Mondays82% on time · p90 65 min · 142 flights · limited
- Tuesdays80% on time · p90 40 min · 130 flights · limited
- Fridays77% on time · p90 35 min · 130 flights · limited
- Wednesdays75% on time · p90 55 min · 129 flights · limited
- Thursdays74% on time · p90 55 min · 139 flights · limited
- Saturdays73% on time · p90 55 min · 130 flights · limited
- Sundays73% on time · p90 40 min · 141 flights · limited
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