Atlanta (ATL) – San Diego (SAN)
- Distance
- 3,044 km
- 1,892 mi · 1,644 nm
- Flight time
- 4 h 33 min / 4 h 14 min
- Average gate to gate: ATL → SAN / back
- Time difference
- 3 h
- CO2 per passenger
- 382 kg
- One way, economy, incl. RF (226 kg CO2 only)
- Passengers / year
- 791,487
- Aug 2025 – Jul 2026 · −6.7%
- Flights / week
- 91
- Both directions, average
- Seats filled
- 87%
- 911,238 seats a year
- Airlines nonstop
- 2
- DL, AS
Traffic: U.S. DOT, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Segment (all carriers, scheduled service), Aug 2025 – Jul 2026. Distance: WGS-84 ellipsoid. CO2: UK DESNZ 2026 factors. Sources
The way there
- Heading from ATL
- 277°
- Heading from SAN
- 79°
- Halfway point
- 34.29, -100.90
- Great-circle km
- 3,038 km (sphere, for EU261)
- In the air ATL → SAN
- 4 h 9 min
- In the air SAN → ATL
- 3 h 41 min
- Clocks
- San Diego is 3 h behind Atlanta
The estimate for a route without real times is 4 h 25 min; how it is worked out is on Sources.
Show as a table
| Month | Passengers |
|---|---|
| Aug 2025 | 76,597 |
| Sep 2025 | 75,177 |
| Oct 2025 | 77,495 |
| Nov 2025 | 69,613 |
| Dec 2025 | 68,864 |
| Jan 2026 | 57,598 |
| Feb 2026 | 56,033 |
| Mar 2026 | 61,209 |
| Apr 2026 | 57,251 |
| May 2026 | 61,697 |
| Jun 2026 | 62,207 |
| Jul 2026 | 67,746 |
Show as a table
| Month | Flights |
|---|---|
| Aug 2025 | 452 |
| Sep 2025 | 430 |
| Oct 2025 | 463 |
| Nov 2025 | 429 |
| Dec 2025 | 422 |
| Jan 2026 | 348 |
| Feb 2026 | 329 |
| Mar 2026 | 367 |
| Apr 2026 | 354 |
| May 2026 | 370 |
| Jun 2026 | 354 |
| Jul 2026 | 388 |
Airlines flying ATL–SAN nonstop
| Airline | Flights / week | Share of passengers |
|---|---|---|
| DLDelta Air Lines | 82 | 93% |
| ASAlaska Airlines | 8.1 | 7% |
Both directions, Aug 2025 – Jul 2026. Airlines with at least one flight a month. U.S. DOT, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Segment (all carriers, scheduled service). Sources
Aircraft on this route
- Airbus Industrie A321Neoxlr · 2,819 flights
- Boeing 757-200 · 756 flights
- Boeing 757-300 · 459 flights
- Airbus Industrie A321-200n · 215 flights
- Boeing 737-900ER · 183 flights
- Boeing B737 Max 900 · 169 flights
- Boeing 737-800 · 57 flights
- Boeing 767-300/300ER · 20 flights
Also carried: 272 tonnes of freight and 129 tonnes of mail a year (passenger and cargo flights).
Punctuality
- On time
- 82.5%
- Arrived within 15 min of schedule
- Average delay
- 11 min
- Late arrivals count, early ones as 0
- Cancelled
- 0.6%
- Flights counted
- 4,757
- Aug 2025 – Jul 2026
| Airline | On time | Average delay |
|---|---|---|
| DLDelta Air Lines | 82.7% | 11 min |
| ASAlaska Airlines | 80.4% | 10 min |
Delay minutes by cause: airline 44% · aircraft arriving late 25% · air traffic system 25% · weather 6% · security 0%.
Both directions, Aug 2025 – Jul 2026. BTS Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance (US domestic flights of the larger US airlines). Sources
What passengers paid
- Average fare, Q1 2026
- $391
- One way, all cabins
- Average over a year
- $318
- Q2 2025 – Q1 2026
- Largest airline
- Delta Air Lines
- 64% of passengers · $476
- Lowest-fare airline
- Alaska Airlines
- 17% of passengers · $234
History, not a price to book: what the average passenger paid per one-way trip in each quarter (Q2 2025 $296 · Q3 2025 $290 · Q4 2025 $306 · Q1 2026 $391).
Fare outlook, Q1 2027: about $399, likely $345–$455
The average fare paid we expect a year after Q1 2026, the newest DOT quarter. On this route, past forecasts made this way fell inside the range 76% of the time over 21 quarters (median error 5.9%). An estimate from US DOT data: not a price you can book, not a guarantee, not advice on when to buy. How the outlook works
Cheapest quarter on this route: Q3, typically 4% below the year's average (9 years of DOT data, without 2020–21).
U.S. DOT Consumer Airfare Report, Table 6 (airline ticket sample, US domestic city pairs; each city here has this one airport). Sources
Delay compensation (EU261 / UK261)
Measured by great-circle distance: 3,038 km.
Neither EU261 nor UK261 covers this route: it neither starts nor ends in the EU, EEA, Switzerland or the UK. Other countries have their own rules (for example Canada's APPR or Brazil's ANAC rules).
Also owed for a cancellation with less than 14 days' notice or denied boarding. Not owed for extraordinary circumstances. On a connection, the distance to the final destination counts. From 23 October 2027 the EU's Regulation 2026/2202 applies; it keeps these amounts (what changes in 2027). Information, not legal advice.
Every airport pair between Atlanta and San Diego
Kilometres. Linked numbers have a page of their own. All Atlanta airports