Historical on-time performance
Sacramento to Houston
1,609 miData through Dec 2025Source: US DOT · BTS
Flights on SMF–IAH arrive on time 88% of the time over the last 12 months.
On-time rate88%arrived within 15 min
p90 delay15 min1 in 10 flights is worse (tail risk)
Cancelled0.3%of scheduled flights
based on 667 flights over the last 12 months. On-time means arriving within 15 minutes (BTS standard).
By airline
How each carrier compares
- United AirlinesOn-time88%Medianon timep9015 minCancel0.3%Flights667
Why flights run late
Delay causes
- Airline19%
- Weather4%
- Air traffic (NAS)40%
- Late aircraft37%
- 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 → IAH
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 — 93% on time.
- Mornings93% on time · p90 on time · 1,068 flights
- Middays77% on time · p90 45 min · 506 flights
Best day of week
On-time rates are fairly even by day on this route — ranging from 87% to 93% on time.
- Saturdays93% on time · p90 5 min · 193 flights · limited
- Mondays89% on time · p90 10 min · 239 flights
- Fridays88% on time · p90 10 min · 237 flights
- Sundays88% on time · p90 15 min · 218 flights
- Thursdays87% on time · p90 15 min · 237 flights
- Wednesdays87% on time · p90 20 min · 240 flights
- Tuesdays87% on time · p90 15 min · 232 flights
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