WN3978Southwest Airlines · SMF → SNA
live · 5h ago
Route confirmed Southwest Airlines

WN3978 SacramentoSMF · 09:30 Santa AnaSNA · 11:00

WN3978 by Southwest Airlines flies from Sacramento (SMF) to Santa Ana (SNA) for the Fri, Oct 30 departure.

Right nowLanded in Santa Ana · position data
10:54

arrived at SNA · 6 min early

⚖ WN3978 typically leaves +9 and lands −14. The air wins minutes back.
Typical gate push+9 minmedian posted departure
Typical arrival−14 minmedian over 11 operations
Wins back in air~23 minmedian gate push vs arrival · how planes make up time → Cancellation0 in 11tracked operations · cancellation odds calculator →

Where the minutes go

last 7 operations · gate push → arrival
0+30+60+90 min
10-30
+12 gate · −5 arrival
10-29
+4 gate · −12 arrival
10-28
+11 gate · −16 arrival
10-27
+14 gate · −20 arrival
10-26
+2 gate · −22 arrival
10-23
+4 gate · −22 arrival
10-22
+18 gate · −1 arrival

The bar is how late it left the gate; the ring is where it actually arrived. Board clocks, not estimates.

The last 30 days

arrival outcome per operation

median arrival −14 min · 0 cancelled · 11 operations tracked

The route today

live boards
SMFSacramentoOn-time likelySMF delay board →
SNASanta AnaOn-time likelySNA delay board →
SMF→SNAevery carrier, schedules and on-time historyRoute intelligence →

Weather lens

Delay & cancellation outlook for this flight

Measured, 90-day sample
40%Chance of 15+ min delay
0.3%Chance of cancellation
+8 minTypical airport delay in this weather

Conditions at SMF and SNA are near their clear-air norm right now, so this reflects the route's recent baseline rather than a weather penalty. These figures come from both airports' records under conditions like today's, over the last 90 days.

Pro Flight Search tracking, 90 days · the weather × delay correlation study → · live weather risk by airport →

Tomorrow on this route

Forecast

Sacramento to Santa Ana with Southwest Airlines · Sat 31 Oct, local date

Outlook: about usual
Chance a departure leaves 60+ min late
6.8%1.2× usual

Forecast weather: 78% chance of rain at Santa Ana

No cancellation outlook here: this airport's board does not publish cancellations reliably.

Forecast: WeatherTomorrow · incl. data from ECMWF (CC BY 4.0, modified) · About 6 departures a day on this route with this airline. · Expected values for tomorrow from a forecast model, kept apart from today's measured figures.

When it flies

scheduled departures
061422
M
T
W
T
F
S
S

Each mark is a scheduled departure at its origin-local time. Today is highlighted.

Other Sacramento to Santa Ana flights today

same route · Southwest Airlines
WN3563departs 06:15
WN3749departs 07:20
WN2383departs 07:25
WN1226departs 08:50
WN3208departs 09:20
WN3310departs 09:20

If WN3978 is cancelled, these are the other Southwest Airlines nonstop flights from Sacramento to Santa Ana on the same day, with scheduled departure times in SMF local time. Most flights that show a delay still operate. Rebooking usually helps only when that delay is very large. Every airline on this route →

How WN3978 actually runs

Pro Flight Search has tracked every published board update for WN3978 across the SMF and SNA boards: schedule changes, gate pushes and actual clocks. Usually lands ~5 min early. Based on 10 confirmed landings · 10/10 within 15 min of schedule.

The verdict above is that record speaking, so it reflects how WN3978 operates rather than what the timetable promises. Numbers refresh as new flights operate.

Technical record

How this operation is measured

board clocksaircraft

Board log

scheduled → actual, per operation
10-30SMF 09:30 09:42 (+12)SNA 11:00 10:55 (−5)
10-29SMF 09:30 09:34 (+4)SNA 11:00 10:48 (−12)
10-28SMF 11:25 11:36 (+11)SNA 12:55 12:39 (−16)
10-27SMF 11:25 11:39 (+14)SNA 12:55 12:35 (−20)
10-26SMF 09:30 09:32 (+2)SNA 11:00 10:38 (−22)
10-23SMF 09:30 09:34 (+4)SNA 11:00 10:38 (−22)
10-22SMF 09:30 09:48 (+18)SNA 11:00 10:59 (−1)
10-21SMF 11:25 11:51 (+26)SNA 12:55 13:10 (+15)
10-20SMF 11:25 11:33 (+8)SNA 12:55 12:43 (−12)
10-19SMF 09:30 09:33 (+3)SNA 11:00 10:46 (−14)
10-16SMF 09:30 09:39 (+9)SNA 11:00 10:45 (−15)

Aircraft

Recent tails: N566WN, N8996Q, N8859Q, N246LV.

Board clocks recorded as SMF and SNA published them.

Planning around WN3978? Will a delayed flight be cancelled? · Do planes make up time in the air? · How we measure

Cite this data

Journalists, bloggers, and researchers may cite this page with attribution and a link to Pro Flight Search.

Suggested citation

Pro Flight Search: WN3978 Sacramento to Santa Ana on-time performance, measured from the SMF and SNA airport boards.

Canonical URL
https://proflightsearch.com/flight/WN3978
How we measure this →