Itineraries flown on 20+ days in the Jun 6 – Jul 31, 2026 schedule · each leg’s record Aug 2025 – Jul 2026

Connect in the morning. The same one-hour layover misses 3% of the time at 7 am and 64% of the time at 5 pm.

Nonstops


United	ORD	SFO	4h 52m	71%	1.1%	3,828	Flying now
Southwest	MDW	SJC	4h 35m	70%	1.5%	519	Flying now
United	ORD	SJC	4h 55m	69%	1.7%	293	Flying now
Southwest	MDW	OAK	4h 35m	65%	1.4%	505	Flying now
American	ORD	SFO	4h 47m	63%	1.8%	1,769	Flying now
Southwest	MDW	SFO	4h 40m	49%	1.2%	485	Flying now
American	ORD	SJC	–	88%few flights	0.0%	8	Not flying now
Alaska	ORD	SFO	4h 48m	56%few flights	5.3%	19	Not flying now

Best connections, one ticket

Most reliable Quickest (80%+ on time)

Ranked by chance you reach San Francisco Bay Area on time. Total trip = scheduled departure to arrival, layover included (San Francisco is 2 h behind Chicago). Layovers up to 4 hours. Pick a connection for the details.


Southwest Details →	MDW 05:20 → PHX 06:55WN 2858	2h 45m Phoenix	PHX 09:40 → SJC 11:35WN 3336	8h 15m	100%	96%
Southwest Details →	MDW 05:52 → SAN 08:00WN 3103	1h 30m San Diego	SAN 09:30 → SJC 11:00WN 4509	7h 08m	100%	93%
Southwest Details →	MDW 07:30 → LAS 09:20WN 347	2h 50m Las Vegas	LAS 12:10 → SJC 13:45WN 1242	8h 15m	100%	90%
Delta Details →	ORD 07:35 → LAX 10:01DL 1556	2h 56m Los Angeles	LAX 12:57 → SJC 14:19DL 3842 · flown by SkyWest	8h 44m	100%	90%
Alaska Details →	ORD 14:12 → PDX 16:47AS 325	3h 07m Portland	PDX 19:54 → OAK 21:41AS 2036 · flown by Horizon	9h 29m	98%	87%
Alaska Details →	ORD 08:02 → SEA 10:37AS 587	3h 41m Seattle	SEA 14:18 → SJC 16:32AS 1366	10h 30m	98%	87%
Southwest Details →	MDW 05:10 → LAX 07:25WN 4637	1h 35m Los Angeles	LAX 09:00 → SJC 10:15WN 2431	7h 05m	100%	86%
Southwest Details →	MDW 08:40 → PHX 10:20WN 3016	3h 35m Phoenix	PHX 13:55 → SJC 15:42WN 4102	9h 03m	100%	84%
Tight connection: often missed
American Details →	ORD 17:10 → LAX 19:33AA 1437	1h 02m Los Angeles	LAX 20:35 → SFO 22:06AA 6260 · flown by SkyWest	7h 01m	58%	36%
American Details →	ORD 13:25 → DFW 15:59AA 1120	1h 53m Dallas-Fort Worth	DFW 17:52 → SFO 19:39AA 3072	8h 14m	74%	28%
American Details →	ORD 08:10 → LAX 10:35AA 2012	59m Los Angeles	LAX 11:34 → SFO 13:08AA 6188 · flown by SkyWest	6h 58m	69%	26%

Same layover, different day-part

How often the first flight arrives too late to connect (45 min minimum), for one-ticket layovers of 45–80 minutes.

Morning

IAH · 1h 17m · leaves 05:30 1%

DEN · 55m · leaves 05:15 2%

BWI · 1h 05m · leaves 08:55 5%

Afternoon and evening

MIA · 51m · leaves 14:24 63%

DCA · 47m · leaves 14:00 64%

PHX · 59m · leaves 14:25 67%

Delays build through the day, so an afternoon first leg eats the layover. A short connection is fine early in the morning and a gamble later on.

Mixing airlines

One ticketMiss it and the airline rebooks you; bags go through. 45 min is enough.

Separate ticketsMiss it and you buy a new ticket. Re-check bags, clear security again: we require 90 min.


United UA 1994 ORD 09:00 → PDX Alaska AS 2035 PDX 15:08 → OAK Connection details →	3h 30m	9h 55m	99%	99%
American AA 2284 ORD 08:00 → PDX Alaska AS 3210 PDX 14:30 → SJC Connection details →	3h 58m	10h 25m	99%	95%
American AA 2434 ORD 05:00 → PHX Southwest WN 3336 PHX 09:40 → SJC Connection details →	3h 08m	8h 35m	97%	91%

Rank all connections, any airlines →

Regional partners count as the airline that sells them: SkyWest flying Delta Connection is one Delta ticket.

How these are worked out. Makes the connection: share of the last year’s flights where the first flight arrived with at least 45 minutes to spare (90 on separate tickets). Arrives on time: first flight not cancelled × connection made × second flight not cancelled and arriving within 15 minutes. Not yet counted: the second flight also leaving late (which helps), gate-to-gate distance at the hub, and rebooking after a missed connection.

About this data: US DOT on-time records, Aug 2025 – Jul 2026, all US airlines; regional flights count under the airline that sells them. Schedules (which flights and connections exist, and their times) are as of Jun 6 – Jul 31, 2026; seasonal flights outside that window aren’t ranked. Rebuilt monthly. JSON