EWR → SFO Flight Reliability

Right now

Origin · EWRNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 08:51 UTC

Newark airport profile →

Destination · SFONo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 08:56 UTC

San Francisco airport profile →

Route reliability

July 2023 – July 2026

Route Reliability Score

45/ 100Fair

Better than 9% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)

Calculated from 13,053 flights. How this is calculated

On-time arrivals

72.6%

9,260 of 12,754

Cancellation rate

2.10%

274 cancelled

Median arrival delay

-6 min

Average 12.8 min

Severe delays

11.7%

60+ minutes late

Delay when late

86 min

Average, when 15+ min late

Flights analyzed

13,053

2 carriers

EWR → SFO arrives on time 72.6% of the time; the return trip, SFO → EWR, arrives on time 76.0% of the time, a 3.4-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.

EWR → SFO spends 36.7 minutes on the ground on a 2,565-mile trip: 28.0 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at EWR and 8.7 minutes from touchdown to gate at SFO.

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026

What stands out

This route's worst arrivals run unusually far past its typical one, a bigger gap than 95% of 4,598 comparable routes.

A typical arrival is 6 min early, but the worst tenth run 77 minutes worse than that.

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 4,598 in the comparison.

Why EWR → SFO flights are cancelled

July 2023 – July 2026

EWR → SFO cancelled 274 of 13,053 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 48. The reason filed most often was the airline, 58.0% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 82 scheduled flights.

Share of cancellations

Airline58.0%

Weather34.3%

Air traffic7.7%

Security0.0%

Of 274 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.

What each reason means

The airline1 in 82

Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.

159 cancellations, 58.0% of the total.

Extreme weather1 in 139

Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.

94 cancellations, 34.3% of the total.

The air traffic system1 in 622

Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.

21 cancellations, 7.7% of the total.

Security—

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. With only one or two carriers on the route, the split mostly reflects how they file. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.

274 coded cancellations were recorded on EWR → SFO; the section appears from 50.

When it goes wrong

July 2023 – July 2026

One arrival in ten is worse than

71 min late

against a median of 6 min early

Arrived an hour or more late11.7%

Typical delay when late86 min

Cancelled2.10%

Landed somewhere else0.19%

EWR → SFO has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 6 min early, but the worst tenth are 77 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 13,053 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.

Will your connection be tight enough?

Layovers at SFO after arriving from EWR.

Connection buffer and chance of missing by layover length, EWR → SFO arrivals
Connection time	Chance of missing	Reads as
30 min	41%	Likely to miss
45 min	27%	High risk
60 min	19%	High risk
90 min	12%	Some risk
120 min	8.1%	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 2.10% of the time and diverts 0.19% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.

Chance of missing is the share of 12,754 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 71 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 13,053 operations.

Any other layover length: connection checker.

Best time to fly

EWR → SFO flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 79.8% of the time, against 60.2% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 19.6 percentage points.

By day and hour

On-time arrival rate for each weekday and scheduled departure hour, in local time at the departure airport (EWR).

Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 7.3 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 2.9 points.

On-time arrival rate for EWR to SFO by weekday and scheduled departure hour, local time. Each button reads out one slot.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
6 AM–7 AM
7 AM–8 AM
8 AM–9 AM
9 AM–10 AM
10 AM–11 AM
11 AM–12 PM
12 PM–1 PM
1 PM–2 PM
2 PM–3 PM
3 PM–4 PM
4 PM–5 PM
5 PM–6 PM
6 PM–7 PM
7 PM–8 PM
8 PM–9 PM

On-time rate, % · stronger color, fewer on time

50–59
60–69
70–79
80–89

Fewer than 120 flights, not scored

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · On time is arrival within 15 minutes of schedule. Cells round to whole percentages; the table shows one decimal.

No slot is named best or worst: too few reach 500 flights. Departures before 6 AM and after 9 PM (153 flights) are not drawn: no slot in those hours has enough flights to score.

View as tableHide table

On-time arrival rate (%) with flights beneath, by scheduled departure hour and weekday for EWR to SFO. A dash means fewer than 120 flights, which are not scored.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
6 AM–7 AM	85.4% on time156 flights	83.6% on time156 flights	87.3% on time155 flights	78.2% on time157 flights	83.7% on time157 flights	83.6% on time154 flights	82.1% on time155 flights
7 AM–8 AM	77.3% on time124 flights	77.6% on time123 flights	116 flights, too few to score	86.6% on time124 flights	79.8% on time126 flights	71.3% on time122 flights	117 flights, too few to score
8 AM–9 AM	80.6% on time165 flights	79.0% on time165 flights	78.7% on time165 flights	74.5% on time165 flights	72.6% on time165 flights	77.4% on time165 flights	79.5% on time165 flights
9 AM–10 AM	77.2% on time124 flights	81.3% on time125 flights	82.3% on time124 flights	77.5% on time120 flights	72.9% on time120 flights	79.7% on time122 flights	113 flights, too few to score
10 AM–11 AM	74.8% on time130 flights	81.9% on time128 flights	79.4% on time128 flights	74.0% on time131 flights	71.8% on time132 flights	73.2% on time125 flights	74.4% on time130 flights
11 AM–12 PM	87 flights, too few to score	87 flights, too few to score	87 flights, too few to score	89 flights, too few to score	89 flights, too few to score	88 flights, too few to score	87 flights, too few to score
12 PM–1 PM	69 flights, too few to score	69 flights, too few to score	69 flights, too few to score	67 flights, too few to score	67 flights, too few to score	75 flights, too few to score	69 flights, too few to score
1 PM–2 PM	95 flights, too few to score	95 flights, too few to score	99 flights, too few to score	95 flights, too few to score	95 flights, too few to score	95 flights, too few to score	95 flights, too few to score
2 PM–3 PM	77.5% on time132 flights	81.7% on time132 flights	76.4% on time128 flights	66.9% on time132 flights	73.8% on time132 flights	76.0% on time131 flights	72.5% on time132 flights
3 PM–4 PM	72.4% on time138 flights	80.1% on time143 flights	77.5% on time142 flights	69.9% on time138 flights	73.1% on time135 flights	112 flights, too few to score	74.4% on time131 flights
4 PM–5 PM	69.3% on time155 flights	74.1% on time152 flights	70.5% on time151 flights	70.5% on time150 flights	72.5% on time156 flights	74.0% on time160 flights	70.3% on time159 flights
5 PM–6 PM	55.0% on time124 flights	116 flights, too few to score	62.8% on time124 flights	65.3% on time127 flights	63.6% on time125 flights	101 flights, too few to score	57.7% on time134 flights
6 PM–7 PM	56.9% on time185 flights	69.2% on time177 flights	56.6% on time179 flights	50.6% on time182 flights	59.3% on time184 flights	64.8% on time168 flights	55.7% on time176 flights
7 PM–8 PM	61 flights, too few to score	54 flights, too few to score	54 flights, too few to score	57 flights, too few to score	61 flights, too few to score	46 flights, too few to score	60 flights, too few to score
8 PM–9 PM	61.7% on time133 flights	72.8% on time127 flights	59.5% on time129 flights	55.2% on time130 flights	58.9% on time132 flights	66 flights, too few to score	57.9% on time130 flights

By departure window

5–9 AM79.8%

9 AM–12 PM75.9%

12–3 PM75.6%

3–6 PM70.9%

6–9 PM60.2%

9 PM–5 AM60.7%

By departure hour

12 AM

3 AM

6 AM

9 AM

12 PM

3 PM

6 PM

9 PM

Why EWR → SFO runs late

July 2023 – July 2026

The airline36.0%

crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control

Late-arriving aircraft34.0%

the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late

Air traffic control25.5%

airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control

Weather4.4%

weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically

Security0.1%

screening or terminal security incidents

Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for EWR → SFO. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.

How this route holds up in bad weather

July 2023 – July 2026

The harder-hit end is the one the flight leaves from, where a cancellation keeps it from departing at all. Bad weather cancels 3.3 times the normal rate at EWR against 1.7 times at SFO. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: EWR 6.9% against 2.1%, SFO 1.5% against 0.9%. Flights that did leave EWR in bad weather arrived on time 65.8% of the time, against 80.0% in normal hours.

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026

Departures from EWR and SFO in hours of bad weather and in normal hours
Departures from	EWR	SFO
Cancelled in bad weather	6.9%	1.5%
Cancelled in normal hours	2.1%	0.9%
Arrived on time, bad weather	65.8%	73.0%
Arrived on time, normal hours	80.0%	79.8%
Departures in bad weather	51,613	36,006

United Airlines (5.3% cancelled against 8.9% for the other carriers at EWR) and Alaska Airlines (4.9% cancelled against 6.9% for the other carriers at EWR) cancelled fewer departures from EWR in bad weather than the other carriers there did in the same months. None of the route’s other carriers was clearly worse.

This route’s airlines in bad weather at EWR

All departures from EWR

Cancellation rates in bad weather at EWR for the airlines that fly EWR to SFO, against the other carriers at EWR in the same months
Airline	Bad-weather departures	Cancelled	Other carriers
United Airlines	28,226	5.3%below the others	8.9%
Alaska Airlines	1,216	4.9%below the others	6.9%

These are airport figures, not route figures: every scheduled departure from EWR and SFO, to any destination, in hours the weather report called bad. The airline rows count each carrier’s departures from EWR on every route.

Weather source and limits. In full: EWR (airlines), SFO, What Weather Costs Each Airport, Who Cancels More When the Weather Turns, Airports That Change Places When Weather Turns.

Airlines on this route

Carriers with at least 200 flights, by the airline that operated each one.

Airlines on this route
Carrier	Flights	On time	Cancelled	Median delay	Severe
United Airlines	10,919	72.1%	2.19%	-5 min	12.1%
Alaska Airlines	2,134	75.1%	1.64%	-8 min	9.5%

United Airlines flew 83.7% of the 13,053 flights listed.

Alaska Airlines arrived on time 3.0 percentage points more often than United Airlines on this route.

Other ways to fly New York to San Francisco

Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.

Other ways to fly New York to San Francisco
Route	Flights	On time	Cancelled	Median delay	Score
JFK→SFO New York to San Francisco	20,819	76.9%	1.36%	-10 min	62
EWR→SFO this route Newark to San Francisco	13,053	72.6%	2.10%	-6 min	45

JFK → SFO is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 76.9% on time, against 72.6% for EWR → SFO.

Flying to SFO from the New York area? Compare EWR, LGA, JFK 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.

Flights on this route
Flight	Scheduled	Operations	On time
UA648 United Airlines	10:00 AM	956	73.9%

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

Mon71.2%

Tue78.6%

Wed73.7%

Thu69.0%

Fri70.8%

Sat74.0%

Sun71.0%

Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 9.6 percentage points.

By month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

June is historically the weakest month and January the strongest, a spread of 19.8 percentage points.

Reliability over time

July 2023 – July 2026

24

25

26

Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 69.5% against 75.3% in the 12 months before — declining by 5.8 percentage points.

Data and methodology

Calculated by FlyerIntel from 13,053 EWR → 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

Analysis last recomputed September 26, 2026

EWR airport SFO airport Return direction SFO → EWR

EWR→SFO

Right now

Route reliability

What stands out

Why EWR → SFO flights are cancelled

Share of cancellations

What each reason means

When it goes wrong

Will your connection be tight enough?

Best time to fly

By day and hour

By departure window

By departure hour

Why EWR → SFO runs late

How this route holds up in bad weather

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

This route’s airlines in bad weather at EWR

Airlines on this route

Other ways to fly New York to San Francisco

Flights on this route

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

By month

Reliability over time

Data and methodology