Historical on-time performance
Sacramento to Washington
2,358 miData through Dec 2025Source: US DOT · BTS
Flights on SMF–IAD arrive on time 90% of the time over the last 12 months.
On-time rate90%arrived within 15 min
p90 delay10 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-time90%Medianon timep9010 minCancel0.3%Flights337
Why flights run late
Delay causes
- Airline38%
- Weather0%
- Air traffic (NAS)54%
- Late aircraft9%
- Security0%
Most delay minutes here are attributed to Air traffic (NAS).
Over time
On-time trend
By season
On-time rate by month
When to fly
Best time to fly SMF → IAD
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 — 90% on time.
- Mornings90% on time · p90 10 min · 608 flights
- Overnights79% on time · p90 35 min · 333 flights
Best day of week
On-time rates are fairly even by day on this route — ranging from 82% to 92% on time.
- Tuesdays92% on time · p90 10 min · 140 flights · limited
- Saturdays88% on time · p90 10 min · 130 flights · limited
- Wednesdays87% on time · p90 20 min · 131 flights · limited
- Fridays86% on time · p90 15 min · 140 flights · limited
- Thursdays85% on time · p90 30 min · 129 flights · limited
- Mondays83% on time · p90 35 min · 141 flights · limited
- Sundays82% on time · p90 25 min · 130 flights · limited
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