Route profile
DTW→SFO
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Detroit to San Francisco, 2,079 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 41% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 5,196 flights. How this is calculated
DTW → SFO arrives on time 74.0% of the time; the return trip, SFO → DTW, arrives on time 81.9% of the time, a 7.9-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
DTW → SFO spends 26.6 minutes on the ground on a 2,079-mile trip: 18.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DTW and 7.9 minutes from touchdown to gate at SFO.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Reliability here swings unusually widely by season, a wider month-to-month spread than 95% of 3,357 comparable routes.
90.7% on time in a typical September, against 64.8% in June.
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 3,357 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where DTW to SFO differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DTW to SFO struggles most at 6 PM: 53.2% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 16.4 points behind the 69.6% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 15.4 points.
Friday is the day DTW to SFO slips furthest against routes of similar length, 69.8% on time where they average 77.6%, 7.8 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 6.4 points.
In February, DTW to SFO runs 13.7 points below routes of similar length, 68.1% on time to 81.8%. Against all other routes the gap is 13.4 points.
September is kinder to DTW to SFO than to routes of similar length: 90.7% on time against 83.4%, 7.3 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 8.3 points.
Delta Air Lines’ flights on DTW to SFO arrive on time 74.0% of the time, 8 points below the 82.0% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 7.5 points.
DTW to SFO against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 6 PM departures | 53.2% | routes of similar length | 69.6% | −16.4 pts | 158 here, 51,987 there |
| Weekday: Friday | 69.8% | routes of similar length | 77.6% | −7.8 pts | 776 here, 141,333 there |
| Month: February | 68.1% | routes of similar length | 81.8% | −13.7 pts | 307 here, 63,642 there |
| Month: September | 90.7% | routes of similar length | 83.4% | +7.3 pts | 440 here, 75,917 there |
| Airline: Delta Air Lines | 74.0% | routes of similar length | 82.0% | −8.0 pts | 4,156 here, 254,355 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 2,079 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
49 min late
against a median of 3 min early
Percentiles over 5,196 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SFO after arriving from DTW.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 43% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 25% | High risk |
| 60 min | 16% | High risk |
| 90 min | 7.7% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.5% | 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 0.73% of the time and diverts 0.15% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 5,150 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 49 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 5,196 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DTW → SFO flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 80.2% of the time, against 64.2% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 16.0 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 75.7% on time from 138 flights
- 7 AM: 74.1% on time from 393 flights
- 8 AM: 82.9% on time from 1,166 flights
- 9 AM to 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 78.2% on time from 872 flights
- 1 PM: 64.2% on time from 124 flights
- 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 68.7% on time from 243 flights
- 4 PM: 73.3% on time from 659 flights
- 5 PM: 74.8% on time from 356 flights
- 6 PM: 53.2% on time from 158 flights
- 7 PM: 70.9% on time from 263 flights
- 8 PM: 64.3% on time from 727 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why DTW → SFO runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow 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 DTW → 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 4,190 | 74.0% | 0.69% | -3 min | 7.5% |
| United Airlines | 894 | 75.5% | 0.89% | -6 min | 9.4% |
Delta Air Lines flew 82.4% of the 5,084 flights listed.
Carriers on this route performed within a couple of percentage points of each other.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
DL361 (8:30 AM) arrived on time 81.8% of the time, 11.8 points more often than DL442 (3:50 PM) at 70.0%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 10.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 73.8%
- Feb: 68.1%
- Mar: 70.0%
- Apr: 75.6%
- May: 69.5%
- Jun: 64.8%
- Jul: 69.7%
- Aug: 78.0%
- Sep: 90.7%
- Oct: 83.0%
- Nov: 72.8%
- Dec: 71.8%
June is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 25.9 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 72.2% from 145 flights
- August 2023: 85.3% from 131 flights
- September 2023: 90.5% from 139 flights
- October 2023: 81.0% from 142 flights
- November 2023: too few flights to score (117)
- December 2023: 89.1% from 128 flights
- January 2024: too few flights to score (96)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (85)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (106)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (108)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (110)
- June 2024: too few flights to score (117)
- July 2024: 70.9% from 136 flights
- August 2024: 73.8% from 150 flights
- September 2024: 88.0% from 158 flights
- October 2024: 87.7% from 163 flights
- November 2024: 69.3% from 153 flights
- December 2024: 74.1% from 147 flights
- January 2025: 80.3% from 127 flights
- February 2025: too few flights to score (113)
- March 2025: 72.8% from 138 flights
- April 2025: 87.5% from 153 flights
- May 2025: 88.4% from 166 flights
- June 2025: 83.2% from 182 flights
- July 2025: 72.0% from 190 flights
- August 2025: 76.1% from 160 flights
- September 2025: 93.8% from 145 flights
- October 2025: 79.9% from 154 flights
- November 2025: 71.0% from 146 flights
- December 2025: 52.9% from 141 flights
- January 2026: 63.5% from 126 flights
- February 2026: too few flights to score (112)
- March 2026: 69.7% from 145 flights
- April 2026: 67.6% from 146 flights
- May 2026: 58.3% from 156 flights
- June 2026: 42.6% from 178 flights
- July 2026: 64.7% from 187 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 66.9% against 78.5% in the 12 months before — declining by 11.6 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 5,196 DTW → 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