Route profile
BUR→SFO
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Burbank to San Francisco, 326 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 13% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 9,645 flights. How this is calculated
BUR → SFO arrives on time 69.3% of the time; the return trip, SFO → BUR, arrives on time 78.2% of the time, an 8.9-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
BUR → SFO spends 32.2 minutes on the ground on a 326-mile trip: 25.0 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at BUR and 7.2 minutes from touchdown to gate at SFO.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Unlike most, it barely matters what time you fly this route, a steadier spread than 98% of 4,023 comparable routes.
72.5% on time for 3–6 PM departures, against 67.9% for 6–9 PM, a narrow gap either way.
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 4,023 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where BUR to SFO differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
BUR to SFO struggles most at 8 AM: 48.4% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 38.7 points behind the 87.1% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 37.5 points.
Wednesday is the day BUR to SFO slips furthest against routes of similar length, 69.8% on time where they average 82.9%, 13.1 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 11 points.
In May, BUR to SFO runs 25.5 points below routes of similar length, 52.3% on time to 77.8%. Against all other routes the gap is 23 points.
Southwest Airlines’ flights on BUR to SFO arrive on time 62.6% of the time, 18.6 points below the 81.2% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 14.8 points.
BUR to SFO against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 8 AM departures | 48.4% | routes of similar length | 87.1% | −38.7 pts | 819 here, 77,162 there |
| Weekday: Wednesday | 69.8% | routes of similar length | 82.9% | −13.1 pts | 1,381 here, 155,695 there |
| Month: May | 52.3% | routes of similar length | 77.8% | −25.5 pts | 793 here, 94,482 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 62.6% | routes of similar length | 81.2% | −18.6 pts | 1,195 here, 373,525 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 326 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 BUR → SFO flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
BUR → SFO cancelled 121 of 9,645 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 80. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 38.8% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 205 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 121 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
47 cancellations, 38.8% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
44 cancellations, 36.4% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
30 cancellations, 24.8% 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.
121 coded cancellations were recorded on BUR → SFO; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
65 min late
against a median of 2 min early
BUR → SFO has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 2 min early, but the worst tenth are 67 minutes worse than that. If the trip has something unmissable at the end of it, the median is the wrong number to plan against.
Percentiles over 9,645 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SFO after arriving from BUR.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 46% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 30% | High risk |
| 60 min | 21% | High risk |
| 90 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 6.3% | Some 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 1.25% of the time and diverts 0.26% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 9,499 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 65 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 9,645 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
BUR → SFO flights departing 3–6 PM arrived on time 72.5% of the time, against 67.9% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 4.6 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 82.9% on time from 1,333 flights
- 8 AM: 48.4% on time from 847 flights
- 9 AM: 61.7% on time from 240 flights
- 10 AM: 69.6% on time from 995 flights
- 11 AM: 73.5% on time from 329 flights
- 12 PM: 68.5% on time from 456 flights
- 1 PM: 64.0% on time from 766 flights
- 2 PM: 72.4% on time from 650 flights
- 3 PM: 75.3% on time from 791 flights
- 4 PM: 63.1% on time from 318 flights
- 5 PM: 73.9% on time from 583 flights
- 6 PM: 67.0% on time from 1,015 flights
- 7 PM: 72.0% on time from 403 flights
- 8 PM: 67.1% on time from 903 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why BUR → 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 BUR → SFO. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SkyWest Airlines | 5,030 | 72.0% | 1.37% | -4 min | 10.1% |
| United Airlines | 3,292 | 68.1% | 0.97% | -1 min | 13.6% |
| Southwest Airlines | 1,214 | 62.6% | 1.48% | 3 min | 9.6% |
SkyWest Airlines flew 52.7% of the 9,536 flights listed.
SkyWest Airlines arrived on time 9.4 percentage points more often than Southwest Airlines on this route.
Other ways to fly Los Angeles to San Francisco
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LAX→SFO Los Angeles to San Francisco | 34,819 | 69.3% | 0.67% | -1 min | 55 |
| LAX→SJC Los Angeles to San Jose | 15,597 | 86.5% | 0.35% | -9 min | 87 |
| SNA→SFO Santa Ana to San Francisco | 13,797 | 71.6% | 1.26% | -3 min | 54 |
| BUR→SFO this route Burbank to San Francisco | 9,645 | 69.3% | 1.25% | -2 min | 49 |
LAX → SJC is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 86.5% on time, against 69.3% for BUR → SFO.
Flying to SFO from the Los Angeles area? Compare BUR, LAX, SNA, ONT for SFO, with the same test for what counts as a real difference.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| UA488 United Airlines | 7:00 AM | 740 | 83.8% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 14.4 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 78.4%
- Feb: 69.5%
- Mar: 68.4%
- Apr: 57.1%
- May: 52.3%
- Jun: 57.6%
- Jul: 69.6%
- Aug: 80.5%
- Sep: 76.5%
- Oct: 75.9%
- Nov: 74.6%
- Dec: 71.2%
May is historically the weakest month and August the strongest, a spread of 28.2 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 82.2% from 253 flights
- August 2023: 81.4% from 246 flights
- September 2023: 79.3% from 233 flights
- October 2023: 81.6% from 228 flights
- November 2023: 85.1% from 311 flights
- December 2023: 75.1% from 378 flights
- January 2024: 72.9% from 293 flights
- February 2024: 57.2% from 245 flights
- March 2024: 45.3% from 248 flights
- April 2024: 43.7% from 231 flights
- May 2024: 53.9% from 232 flights
- June 2024: 66.3% from 198 flights
- July 2024: 85.1% from 273 flights
- August 2024: 81.7% from 271 flights
- September 2024: 73.3% from 262 flights
- October 2024: 75.4% from 276 flights
- November 2024: 67.4% from 296 flights
- December 2024: 68.5% from 296 flights
- January 2025: 85.8% from 260 flights
- February 2025: 74.8% from 229 flights
- March 2025: 68.8% from 265 flights
- April 2025: 78.9% from 281 flights
- May 2025: 72.9% from 281 flights
- June 2025: 77.0% from 248 flights
- July 2025: 69.8% from 245 flights
- August 2025: 78.2% from 238 flights
- September 2025: 77.3% from 225 flights
- October 2025: 71.3% from 254 flights
- November 2025: 69.6% from 261 flights
- December 2025: 68.4% from 257 flights
- January 2026: 77.3% from 215 flights
- February 2026: 77.1% from 216 flights
- March 2026: 85.5% from 310 flights
- April 2026: 45.5% from 271 flights
- May 2026: 30.9% from 289 flights
- June 2026: 31.9% from 261 flights
- July 2026: 41.9% from 269 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 62.1% against 74.4% in the 12 months before — declining by 12.3 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 9,645 BUR → 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