Historical on-time performance
Chicago to Sacramento
1,790 miData through Dec 2025Source: US DOT · BTS
Flights on MDW–SMF arrive on time 75% of the time over the last 12 months.
On-time rate75%arrived within 15 min
p90 delay40 min1 in 10 flights is worse (tail risk)
Cancelled0.6%of scheduled flights
based on 618 flights over the last 12 months. On-time means arriving within 15 minutes (BTS standard).
By airline
How each carrier compares
- Southwest AirlinesOn-time75%Medianon timep9040 minCancel0.6%Flights618
Why flights run late
Delay causes
- Airline32%
- Weather2%
- Air traffic (NAS)15%
- Late aircraft51%
- 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 MDW → SMF
All airlines · rolling 36 months (2023-01 .. 2025-12).
Best time of day
Mornings are the most reliable time of day to fly this route — 83% on time.
- Mornings83% on time · p90 20 min · 678 flights
- Evenings73% on time · p90 35 min · 208 flights
- Afternoons72% on time · p90 40 min · 256 flights
- Middays68% on time · p90 45 min · 223 flights
- Overnights54% on time · p90 65 min · 397 flights
Best day of week
On-time rates are fairly even by day on this route — ranging from 67% to 77% on time.
- Thursdays77% on time · p90 35 min · 275 flights
- Saturdays74% on time · p90 45 min · 206 flights
- Wednesdays73% on time · p90 45 min · 282 flights
- Tuesdays71% on time · p90 50 min · 282 flights
- Mondays71% on time · p90 35 min · 276 flights
- Sundays70% on time · p90 40 min · 165 flights · limited
- Fridays67% on time · p90 50 min · 276 flights
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