Houston (IAH) – San Diego (SAN)
- Distance
- 2,097 km
- 1,303 mi · 1,132 nm
- Flight time
- 3 h 21 min / 3 h 12 min
- Average gate to gate: IAH → SAN / back
- Time difference
- 2 h
- CO2 per passenger
- 263 kg
- One way, economy, incl. RF (156 kg CO2 only)
- Passengers / year
- 478,307
- Aug 2025 – Jul 2026 · −0.7%
- Flights / week
- 65
- Both directions, average
- Seats filled
- 81%
- 592,286 seats a year
- Airlines nonstop
- 1
- UA
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 IAH
- 284°
- Heading from SAN
- 93°
- Halfway point
- 31.83, -106.10
- Great-circle km
- 2,093 km (sphere, for EU261)
- In the air IAH → SAN
- 2 h 54 min
- In the air SAN → IAH
- 2 h 40 min
- Clocks
- San Diego is 2 h behind Houston
The estimate for a route without real times is 3 h 15 min; how it is worked out is on Sources.
Show as a table
| Month | Passengers |
|---|---|
| Aug 2025 | 38,568 |
| Sep 2025 | 38,012 |
| Oct 2025 | 40,899 |
| Nov 2025 | 39,414 |
| Dec 2025 | 41,485 |
| Jan 2026 | 35,498 |
| Feb 2026 | 37,282 |
| Mar 2026 | 42,728 |
| Apr 2026 | 41,104 |
| May 2026 | 39,468 |
| Jun 2026 | 41,321 |
| Jul 2026 | 42,528 |
Show as a table
| Month | Flights |
|---|---|
| Aug 2025 | 279 |
| Sep 2025 | 272 |
| Oct 2025 | 293 |
| Nov 2025 | 284 |
| Dec 2025 | 290 |
| Jan 2026 | 255 |
| Feb 2026 | 253 |
| Mar 2026 | 299 |
| Apr 2026 | 282 |
| May 2026 | 298 |
| Jun 2026 | 284 |
| Jul 2026 | 285 |
Airlines flying IAH–SAN nonstop
| Airline | Flights / week | Share of passengers |
|---|---|---|
| UAUnited Air Lines | 65 | 100% |
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
- Boeing B737 Max 900 · 904 flights
- Boeing 737-900ER · 828 flights
- Boeing 737-900 · 752 flights
- Boeing 737-800 · 628 flights
- Boeing B737 Max 800 · 261 flights
- Embraer ERJ-175 · 1 flight
Also carried: 92 tonnes of freight and 79 tonnes of mail a year (passenger and cargo flights).
Punctuality
- On time
- 82.9%
- Arrived within 15 min of schedule
- Average delay
- 12 min
- Late arrivals count, early ones as 0
- Cancelled
- 0.3%
- Flights counted
- 3,392
- Aug 2025 – Jul 2026
Delay minutes by cause: airline 23% · aircraft arriving late 44% · air traffic system 27% · weather 5% · 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
- $354
- One way, all cabins
- Average over a year
- $321
- Q2 2025 – Q1 2026
- Largest airline
- United Air Lines
- 91% of passengers · $364
- Lowest-fare airline
- Frontier Airlines
- 5% of passengers · $160
History, not a price to book: what the average passenger paid per one-way trip in each quarter (Q2 2025 $310 · Q3 2025 $296 · Q4 2025 $325 · Q1 2026 $354).
U.S. DOT Consumer Airfare Report, Table 1a (airline ticket sample, US domestic airport pairs). Sources
Delay compensation (EU261 / UK261)
Measured by great-circle distance: 2,093 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 Houston and San Diego
Kilometres. Linked numbers have a page of their own. All Houston airports
More routes from IAH
| Route | Distance | Passengers / year |
|---|---|---|
| IAH → ORD | 1,489 km | 1,711,056 |
| IAH → DEN | 1,387 km | 1,641,444 |
| IAH → LAX | 2,219 km | 1,544,652 |
| IAH → ATL | 1,109 km | 1,430,755 |
| IAH → DFW | 361 km | 1,257,452 |
| IAH → SFO | 2,632 km | 1,223,236 |
| IAH → MCO | 1,375 km | 1,147,728 |
| IAH → EWR | 2,252 km | 1,135,261 |
| IAH → LGA | 2,279 km | 1,049,227 |
| IAH → LAS | 1,966 km | 1,028,809 |