Historical on-time performance
Sacramento to Chicago
1,790 miData through Dec 2025Source: US DOT · BTS
Flights on SMF–MDW arrive on time 84% of the time over the last 12 months.
On-time rate84%arrived within 15 min
p90 delay15 min1 in 10 flights is worse (tail risk)
Cancelled0.2%of scheduled flights
based on 619 flights over the last 12 months. On-time means arriving within 15 minutes (BTS standard).
By airline
How each carrier compares
- Southwest AirlinesOn-time84%Medianon timep9015 minCancel0.2%Flights619
Why flights run late
Delay causes
- Airline41%
- Weather1%
- Air traffic (NAS)21%
- Late aircraft37%
- Security0%
Most delay minutes here are attributed to Airline.
Over time
On-time trend
By season
On-time rate by month
When to fly
Best time to fly SMF → MDW
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 10 min · 933 flights
- Middays78% on time · p90 25 min · 767 flights
- Afternoons70% on time · p90 35 min · 66 flights · limited
Best day of week
On-time rates are fairly even by day on this route — ranging from 83% to 91% on time.
- Sundays91% on time · p90 10 min · 174 flights · limited
- Saturdays91% on time · p90 10 min · 206 flights
- Wednesdays88% on time · p90 15 min · 282 flights
- Fridays84% on time · p90 20 min · 281 flights
- Mondays83% on time · p90 20 min · 280 flights
- Tuesdays83% on time · p90 25 min · 282 flights
- Thursdays83% on time · p90 25 min · 280 flights
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