Route profile
AUS→SFO
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Austin to San Francisco, 1,504 miles.
Right now
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Route reliability
July 2023 – July 2026
Better than 39% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 7,271 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
AUS → SFO arrives on time 76.4% of the time; the return trip, SFO → AUS, arrives on time 80.2% of the time, a 3.8-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
AUS → SFO spends 25.8 minutes on the ground on a 1,504-mile trip: 18.3 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at AUS and 7.4 minutes from touchdown to gate at SFO.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
The airline matters unusually much on this route, a wider carrier-to-carrier gap than 94% of 2,692 comparable routes.
United Airlines arrived on time 79.7% of the time, against 59.6% for Southwest Airlines, flying the exact same route.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Ranked against every other route with the same kind of figure and at least 2,692 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where AUS to SFO differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
AUS to SFO struggles most at 4 PM: 56.3% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 14.6 points behind the 70.9% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 14.4 points.
AUS to SFO is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 6 AM: 94.1% arrive on time, 3.9 points ahead of the 90.2% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 3.3 points.
Wednesday is the day AUS to SFO slips furthest against routes of similar length, 76.0% on time where they average 80.1%, 4.1 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 4.8 points.
In May, AUS to SFO runs 13.6 points below routes of similar length, 61.2% on time to 74.8%. Against all other routes the gap is 14.1 points.
August is kinder to AUS to SFO than to routes of similar length: 85.5% on time against 76.2%, 9.3 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 9 points.
AUS to SFO against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 4 PM departures | 56.3% | routes of similar length | 70.9% | −14.6 pts | 430 here, 81,674 there |
| Hour: 6 AM departures | 94.1% | routes of similar length | 90.2% | +3.9 pts | 562 here, 106,823 there |
| Weekday: Wednesday | 76.0% | routes of similar length | 80.1% | −4.1 pts | 1,010 here, 206,215 there |
| Month: May | 61.2% | routes of similar length | 74.8% | −13.6 pts | 605 here, 125,758 there |
| Month: August | 85.5% | routes of similar length | 76.2% | +9.3 pts | 592 here, 126,090 there |
Each comparison pools the flights of other routes, with this route’s own left out. Similar length means within 15% of this route’s 1,504 miles, with at least 5 such routes. A bucket is set against the most comparable group that has enough flights: similar length, then the same origin (at least 3 routes), then all other routes. Hours, weekdays and months appear only where both sides have 120 completed flights, and airlines where both have 600. The gap must be at least 2 points and 2 standard errors, and only the largest gap each way is kept per measure. These are differences in the flights counted, not causes.
Why AUS → SFO flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
AUS → SFO cancelled 82 of 7,271 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 89. The reason filed most often was the airline, 87.8% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 101 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 82 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
72 cancellations, 87.8% of the total.
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
9 cancellations, 11.0% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
1 cancellation, 1.2% of the total.
A terminal evacuation, a security breach, screening equipment failure, or screening queues over 29 minutes.
0 cancellations, 0.0% of the total.
Reason codes are the operating airline’s own filing with US DOT, not an independent finding of fault. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
82 coded cancellations were recorded on AUS → SFO; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
51 min late
against a median of 6 min early
Percentiles over 7,271 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SFO after arriving from AUS.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 38% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 23% | High risk |
| 60 min | 16% | High risk |
| 90 min | 8.3% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.9% | Low risk |
This is one leg of a connection. Gate changes and the next flight's own schedule matter too. And a connection can fail before delay is even the question — this route cancels 1.13% of the time and diverts 0.11% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 7,181 arrivals on this route that landed later than the connection time less 30 minutes to reach the next gate.
The worst tenth of arrivals on this route land at least 51 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 7,271 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
AUS → SFO flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 85.5% of the time, against 66.5% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 19.0 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 93.8% on time from 192 flights
- 6 AM: 94.1% on time from 566 flights
- 7 AM: 86.5% on time from 972 flights
- 8 AM: 75.8% on time from 787 flights
- 9 AM: 82.3% on time from 469 flights
- 10 AM: 75.4% on time from 543 flights
- 11 AM: 68.7% on time from 247 flights
- 12 PM: too few flights to score
- 1 PM: 74.1% on time from 371 flights
- 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 75.4% on time from 1,200 flights
- 4 PM: 56.3% on time from 445 flights
- 5 PM: 69.1% on time from 386 flights
- 6 PM: too few flights to score
- 7 PM: 65.7% on time from 499 flights
- 8 PM: 63.2% on time from 380 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why AUS → SFO runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
screening or terminal security incidents
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for AUS → SFO. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Airlines on this route
Carriers with at least 200 flights, by the airline that operated each one.
| Carrier | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Severe |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 4,510 | 79.7% | 0.95% | -8 min | 8.3% |
| Alaska Airlines | 1,704 | 75.3% | 1.88% | -2 min | 7.0% |
| Delta Air Lines | 528 | 66.7% | 0.95% | 1 min | 11.5% |
| Southwest Airlines | 398 | 59.6% | 0.50% | 7 min | 11.9% |
United Airlines flew 63.2% of the 7,140 flights listed. Alaska Airlines cancelled 1.88% of its flights here against 0.50% for Southwest Airlines.
United Airlines arrived on time 20.1 percentage points more often than Southwest Airlines on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| UA1668 United Airlines | 9:30 AM | 885 | 79.5% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 9.7 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 81.0%
- Feb: 73.0%
- Mar: 77.6%
- Apr: 70.2%
- May: 61.2%
- Jun: 63.6%
- Jul: 70.9%
- Aug: 85.5%
- Sep: 84.0%
- Oct: 86.4%
- Nov: 82.1%
- Dec: 83.0%
May is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 25.2 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 82.2% from 172 flights
- August 2023: 86.5% from 174 flights
- September 2023: 83.0% from 182 flights
- October 2023: 87.7% from 187 flights
- November 2023: 89.6% from 173 flights
- December 2023: 83.0% from 165 flights
- January 2024: 72.4% from 153 flights
- February 2024: 60.3% from 142 flights
- March 2024: 65.7% from 178 flights
- April 2024: 57.9% from 146 flights
- May 2024: 53.4% from 149 flights
- June 2024: 68.6% from 140 flights
- July 2024: 77.9% from 176 flights
- August 2024: 84.4% from 173 flights
- September 2024: 86.0% from 165 flights
- October 2024: 87.1% from 205 flights
- November 2024: 76.0% from 205 flights
- December 2024: 82.2% from 169 flights
- January 2025: 90.5% from 168 flights
- February 2025: 79.4% from 160 flights
- March 2025: 80.0% from 210 flights
- April 2025: 90.8% from 196 flights
- May 2025: 76.3% from 208 flights
- June 2025: 69.6% from 229 flights
- July 2025: 72.1% from 241 flights
- August 2025: 85.5% from 251 flights
- September 2025: 83.3% from 228 flights
- October 2025: 84.8% from 252 flights
- November 2025: 81.9% from 251 flights
- December 2025: 83.4% from 261 flights
- January 2026: 77.9% from 203 flights
- February 2026: 77.3% from 182 flights
- March 2026: 85.2% from 210 flights
- April 2026: 60.0% from 220 flights
- May 2026: 53.2% from 253 flights
- June 2026: 55.1% from 243 flights
- July 2026: 57.4% from 251 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 73.6% against 80.6% in the 12 months before — declining by 7.0 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 7,271 AUS → SFO flight records from the US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, covering July 2023 – July 2026. Late means 15 or more minutes past scheduled arrival; cancelled and diverted flights are left out of on-time rates.
Full methodology · Data sources · Report a problem
Related research: How Long a Layover Needs to Be · Two Airlines on One Route · Best Time of Day to Fly From Major US Airports
Analysis last recomputed