Route profile
CLE→SFO
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Cleveland to San Francisco, 2,161 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 93% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 1,756 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
CLE → SFO arrives on time 87.1% of the time; the return trip, SFO → CLE, arrives on time 85.5% of the time.
CLE → SFO spends 24.4 minutes on the ground on a 2,161-mile trip: 15.5 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at CLE and 8.9 minutes from touchdown to gate at SFO.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where CLE to SFO differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
CLE to SFO is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 7 PM: 83.1% arrive on time, 14.7 points ahead of the 68.4% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 15.3 points.
CLE to SFO holds up on Sundays better than routes of similar length do: 86.9% on time to their 76.3%, a 10.6 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 12.1 points.
May is kinder to CLE to SFO than to routes of similar length: 92.4% on time against 77.5%, 14.9 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 17.2 points.
United Airlines does better on CLE to SFO than on its routes of similar length: 87.5% on time here, 81.5% there, 6 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 7.6 points.
CLE to SFO against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 7 PM departures | 83.1% | routes of similar length | 68.4% | +14.7 pts | 319 here, 46,313 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 86.9% | routes of similar length | 76.3% | +10.6 pts | 259 here, 164,504 there |
| Month: May | 92.4% | routes of similar length | 77.5% | +14.9 pts | 132 here, 97,558 there |
| Airline: United Airlines | 87.5% | routes of similar length | 81.5% | +6.0 pts | 1,717 here, 235,159 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 2,161 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.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
22 min late
against a median of 11 min early
Percentiles over 1,756 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SFO after arriving from CLE.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 26% | High risk |
| 45 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 7.7% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 3.6% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.2% | 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 0.91% of the time and diverts 0.06% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 1,739 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 22 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 1,756 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
CLE → SFO flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 90.4% of the time, against 77.3% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 13.1 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 88.2% on time from 272 flights
- 7 AM: 91.3% on time from 850 flights
- 8 AM to 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 76.7% on time from 219 flights
- 6 PM: too few flights to score
- 7 PM: 83.1% on time from 322 flights
- 8 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why CLE → SFO runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
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 CLE → 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 | 1,730 | 87.5% | 0.75% | -11 min | 3.6% |
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| UA2153 United Airlines | 7:00 AM | 792 | 91.4% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 6.1 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 86.9% against 87.8% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 1,756 CLE → 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