Holiday travel
Thanksgiving at SFO
San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, CA. July 2023 – July 2026. Set against SFO’s own ordinary days of the same weekday in the weeks around each holiday.
The window, year by year
The window runs the Wednesday before through the Sunday after, around Thanksgiving Day (the fourth Thursday of November). In the data: Nov 22–26, 2023; Nov 27 – Dec 1, 2024; Nov 26–30, 2025. Three windows are in the data: enough to see whether a day repeats, not enough to call it a rule.
Thanksgiving flights ran better than ordinary days in all three years. The gap ran from 2.4 points above usual in 2025 to 9.3 points above usual in 2023.
0.38% of scheduled departures were cancelled across the Thanksgiving windows, against 0.99% on ordinary days of the same weekdays. It was lower in two of the three years.
| Year | Departures | On time | Usual | Gap, points | Cancelled | Usual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023Nov 22–26, 2023 | 1,760 | 89.1% | 79.8% | +9.3better | 0.11% | 0.99% |
| 2024Nov 27 – Dec 1, 2024 | 2,010 | 86.1% | 79.8% | +6.3better | 0.30% | 0.99% |
| 2025Nov 26–30, 2025 | 1,948 | 82.2% | 79.8% | +2.4better | 0.72% | 0.99% |
| All years3 windows | 5,718 | 85.7% | 79.8% | +5.9better | 0.38% | 0.99% |
Day by day
The Sunday after Thanksgiving was the worst day of the window in two of the three years. Over the years it ran 79.3% on time, about level with an ordinary Sunday.
Thanksgiving Day was the best day of the window in all three years. Over the years it ran 93.1% on time, 12.8 points above an ordinary Thursday.
Thanksgiving Day itself carried 35% fewer departures than an ordinary Thursday and ran 93.1% on time.
- Better than usual
- Worse than usual
- About the same
- What ordinary days of the same weekday had
- Lowest to highest single year
- Lighter bars: days just outside the window
Bars show the on-time arrival rate and start at 50%, not zero. A dashed stub is a day with too few flights to print a rate.
| Day | Departures against an ordinary day | On time | Usual | Gap, points | Cancelled | Each year: 2023, 2024, 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday beforeoutside the window | about the same | 70.6% | 78.4% | −7.8worse | 1.14% | 72.2 · 54.7 · 85.1 |
| Tuesday beforeoutside the window | 11% more | 84.2% | 86.1% | −1.9about the same | 0.16% | 85.2 · 80.6 · 87.0 |
| Wednesday before | 13% more | 86.0% | 78.4% | +7.6better | 0.00% | 89.6 · 82.6 · 86.1 |
| Thanksgiving Day | 35% fewer | 93.1% | 80.3% | +12.8better | 0.00% | 95.3 · 91.9 · 92.5 |
| Friday after | 2% fewer | 89.9% | 79.1% | +10.8better | 0.08% | 92.3 · 89.6 · 88.0 |
| Saturday after | 14% more | 83.2% | 82.2% | +1.0about the same | 0.58% | 87.2 · 83.7 · 79.0 |
| Sunday after | 6% more | 79.3% | 79.3% | 0.0about the same | 1.09% | 83.6 · 84.8 · 69.7 |
| Monday afteroutside the window | 4% more | 80.8% | 78.4% | +2.4better | 0.72% | 84.9 · 80.7 · 77.0 |
| Tuesday afteroutside the window | 4% fewer | 88.5% | 86.1% | +2.4better | 0.84% | 89.4 · 89.4 · 86.6 |
A dash means fewer than 120 flights stood behind the figure, or behind the ordinary days it would be compared with: too few to print a rate, and nothing is estimated in its place. “Usual” is what ordinary days of the same weekday had at the same place in the weeks around the holiday, weighted by the flights being compared.
Which departure times held up
The busiest days at SFO were Wednesday, Nov 22, 2023 (393 departures), Sunday, Nov 26, 2023 (392 departures), Wednesday, Nov 27, 2024 (437 departures), Sunday, Dec 1, 2024 (453 departures), Wednesday, Nov 26, 2025 (417 departures), and Sunday, Nov 30, 2025 (439 departures).
Across the whole window, flights leaving 5–9 AM had the highest on-time rate: 92.2%, 3.7 points above usual for that time of day. Those leaving 3–6 PM had the lowest: 82.4%, still 6.0 points above usual for that time of day.
The holiday helped flights leaving 12–3 PM the most (8.3 points above usual for that time of day) and those leaving 5–9 AM the least (3.7 points above).
On each year’s two busiest days, flights leaving 5–9 AM had the highest on-time rate: 91.3%, 2.2 points above usual for that time of day. Those leaving 3–6 PM had the lowest: 76.8%, still 3.4 points above usual for that time of day.
The holiday helped flights leaving 12–3 PM the most (8.0 points above usual for that time of day) and those leaving 9 PM–5 AM the least (0.7 points above).
| Leaving | On time, whole window | Usual | Gap, points | On time, busiest days | Usual | Gap, points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5–9 AM | 92.2% | 88.5% | +3.7better | 91.3% | 89.1% | +2.2about the same |
| 9 AM–12 PM | 85.4% | 77.9% | +7.5better | 83.2% | 77.6% | +5.6better |
| 12–3 PM | 82.9% | 74.6% | +8.3better | 80.1% | 72.1% | +8.0better |
| 3–6 PM | 82.4% | 76.4% | +6.0better | 76.8% | 73.4% | +3.4about the same |
| 6–9 PM | 83.0% | 79.2% | +3.8better | 80.1% | 78.1% | +2.0about the same |
| 9 PM–5 AM | 84.7% | 80.1% | +4.6better | 80.0% | 79.3% | +0.7about the same |
SFO beside every covered airport
Storms and outages move whole regions at once. This puts SFO’s year beside the year of all covered airports together, each against its own usual, to show whether SFO did better or worse than the network.
| Year | SFO on time | SFO, gap from usual | All airports on time | All airports, gap from usual |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023Nov 22–26, 2023 | 89.1% | +9.3 | 83.7% | +1.9 |
| 2024Nov 27 – Dec 1, 2024 | 86.1% | +6.3 | 82.6% | +0.8 |
| 2025Nov 26–30, 2025 | 82.2% | +2.4 | 72.8% | −9.0 |
For every holiday at once, see the five holidays at SFO, or the network view.