Flight profile · American Airlines

AA686

Phoenix (PHX) to San Francisco (SFO) · scheduled 8:31 PM – 10:36 PM

FlyerIntel does not track flights in the air. This page describes how AA686 has historically performed, which is a different and more useful question when you are deciding what to book. For today’s status, check with American Airlines.

How AA686 performs

535 operations, 2023-07-01 to 2026-06-30.

On-time arrivals
63.1%
337 of 534 completed
Cancellation rate
0.19%
1 cancelled
Median arrival delay
4 min
Average 20.2 min
Severe delays
13.1%
Arrived 60+ minutes late
Delay when late
63 min
Average, when 15+ min late
Departure punctuality
64.0%
Left the gate on time

AA686 arrived on time 63.1% of the time, against 70.8% for all PHXSFO flights — this specific departure is 7.7 percentage points worse than the route as a whole. Against American Airlines’s own flights on this route it is 7.3 points worse.

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · 535 operations between 2023-07-01 to 2026-06-30

Against the rest of the route

On timeCancelledMedian delaySevereFlights
AA68663.1%0.19%4 min13.1%535
American Airlines on PHXSFO70.4%0.44%-1 min11.4%3,861
All PHXSFO flights70.8%0.54%-2 min9.7%14,134

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · 2023-07-01 to 2026-06-30

Other routes AA686 has flown

A flight number is a slot in a schedule, and carriers reassign it. These are the other city pairs this number served in the analysis period.

RouteOperatedFlightsOn time
RSWORD Fort Myers to Chicago2026-02-122026-03-0724
LAXORD Los Angeles to Chicago2025-12-192026-01-042
MCOORD Orlando to Chicago2025-11-302025-11-301
ATLAUS Atlanta to Austin2025-01-012025-01-011
ONTCLT Ontario to Charlotte2024-12-062024-12-1813
MCODCA Orlando to Washington2023-11-052024-04-0314979.9%
JFKORD New York to Chicago2023-12-192023-12-191

Because the same number has served different journeys, the statistics above describe only the route AA686 currently operates. Blending them would produce an average of two different flights.

Data and methodology

Calculated by FlyerIntel from 535 records of AA686 operating PHXSFO, published by the US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics. A flight counts as delayed when it arrives 15 or more minutes after schedule. Cancelled and diverted flights are excluded from the on-time rate and reported separately. Flight numbers are resolved as carrier plus number plus route, because the same number serves different routes over time.

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