SAN → SFO Flight Reliability

Right now

Origin · SANNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 08:51 UTC

San Diego 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

47/ 100Fair

Better than 11% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)

Calculated from 20,040 flights. How this is calculated

On-time arrivals

66.7%

13,159 of 19,741

Cancellation rate

1.14%

229 cancelled

Median arrival delay

1 min

Average 14.8 min

Severe delays

11.2%

60+ minutes late

Delay when late

60 min

Average, when 15+ min late

Flights analyzed

20,040

5 carriers

SAN → SFO arrives on time 66.7% of the time; the return trip, SFO → SAN, arrives on time 71.4% of the time, a 4.8-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.

SAN → SFO spends 31.0 minutes on the ground on a 447-mile trip: 24.5 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SAN and 6.5 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 97% of 2,692 comparable routes.

United Airlines arrived on time 73.8% of the time, against 50.7% for Frontier 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.

Why SAN → SFO flights are cancelled

July 2023 – July 2026

SAN → SFO cancelled 229 of 20,040 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 88. The reason filed most often was the airline, 41.0% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 213 scheduled flights.

Share of cancellations

Airline41.0%

Weather30.6%

Air traffic28.4%

Security0.0%

Of 229 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.

What each reason means

The airline1 in 213

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

94 cancellations, 41.0% of the total.

Extreme weather1 in 286

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

70 cancellations, 30.6% of the total.

The air traffic system1 in 308

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

65 cancellations, 28.4% 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. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.

229 coded cancellations were recorded on SAN → SFO; the section appears from 50.

When it goes wrong

July 2023 – July 2026

One arrival in ten is worse than

65 min late

against a median of 1 min late

Arrived an hour or more late11.2%

Typical delay when late60 min

Cancelled1.14%

Landed somewhere else0.35%

SAN → SFO has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 1 min late, but the worst tenth are 64 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 20,040 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.

Will your connection be tight enough?

Layovers at SFO after arriving from SAN.

Connection buffer and chance of missing by layover length, SAN → SFO arrivals
Connection time	Chance of missing	Reads as
30 min	50%	Likely to miss
45 min	33%	Likely to miss
60 min	23%	High risk
90 min	11%	Some risk
120 min	5.8%	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 1.14% of the time and diverts 0.35% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.

Chance of missing is the share of 19,741 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 20,040 operations.

Any other layover length: connection checker.

Best time to fly

SAN → SFO flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 74.7% of the time, against 55.2% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 19.5 percentage points.

By day and hour

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

Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 10.5 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 5.5 points.

On-time arrival rate for SAN 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

40–49
50–59
60–69
70–79
80–89
90–99

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 after 9 PM (712 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 SAN 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	94.4% on time289 flights	95.9% on time219 flights	94.5% on time222 flights	94.4% on time286 flights	93.2% on time285 flights	95.3% on time219 flights	92.9% on time269 flights
7 AM–8 AM	71.3% on time216 flights	67.0% on time223 flights	67.2% on time204 flights	72.1% on time221 flights	61.4% on time213 flights	60.6% on time211 flights	60.6% on time206 flights
8 AM–9 AM	50.5% on time200 flights	68.2% on time183 flights	59.9% on time178 flights	55.8% on time204 flights	47.1% on time214 flights	60.3% on time136 flights	62.4% on time170 flights
9 AM–10 AM	59.7% on time154 flights	97 flights, too few to score	96 flights, too few to score	62.0% on time147 flights	57.9% on time145 flights	102 flights, too few to score	119 flights, too few to score
10 AM–11 AM	62.8% on time201 flights	70.6% on time198 flights	65.3% on time196 flights	68.4% on time199 flights	55.7% on time202 flights	77.2% on time151 flights	66.1% on time231 flights
11 AM–12 PM	58.9% on time182 flights	75.8% on time166 flights	65.9% on time179 flights	59.0% on time183 flights	52.3% on time178 flights	74.6% on time123 flights	67.5% on time163 flights
12 PM–1 PM	68.6% on time122 flights	104 flights, too few to score	105 flights, too few to score	68.0% on time128 flights	58.3% on time122 flights	85 flights, too few to score	112 flights, too few to score
1 PM–2 PM	66.5% on time232 flights	80.2% on time251 flights	70.3% on time242 flights	60.0% on time257 flights	58.3% on time239 flights	70.0% on time193 flights	66.8% on time260 flights
2 PM–3 PM	55.1% on time127 flights	81 flights, too few to score	61 flights, too few to score	106 flights, too few to score	59.3% on time125 flights	62 flights, too few to score	57 flights, too few to score
3 PM–4 PM	61.4% on time141 flights	113 flights, too few to score	113 flights, too few to score	65.6% on time125 flights	62.3% on time141 flights	103 flights, too few to score	62.9% on time125 flights
4 PM–5 PM	71.1% on time254 flights	82.2% on time283 flights	74.4% on time285 flights	64.5% on time253 flights	70.7% on time251 flights	80.9% on time217 flights	71.5% on time255 flights
5 PM–6 PM	59.0% on time222 flights	75.0% on time181 flights	74.3% on time173 flights	55.1% on time220 flights	57.6% on time232 flights	86.5% on time165 flights	64.8% on time200 flights
6 PM–7 PM	58.9% on time147 flights	74.1% on time140 flights	72.7% on time139 flights	62.3% on time179 flights	64.6% on time160 flights	79.7% on time134 flights	56.7% on time170 flights
7 PM–8 PM	50.2% on time272 flights	68.0% on time260 flights	55.5% on time297 flights	56.2% on time263 flights	53.7% on time263 flights	72.6% on time197 flights	43.6% on time241 flights
8 PM–9 PM	46.8% on time222 flights	69.2% on time170 flights	61.3% on time169 flights	45.9% on time229 flights	49.3% on time224 flights	64.4% on time133 flights	43.8% on time216 flights

By departure window

5–9 AM74.7%

9 AM–12 PM64.8%

12–3 PM67.7%

3–6 PM69.4%

6–9 PM57.9%

9 PM–5 AM55.2%

By departure hour

12 AM

3 AM

6 AM

9 AM

12 PM

3 PM

6 PM

9 PM

Why SAN → SFO runs late

July 2023 – July 2026

Air traffic control46.3%

airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control

Late-arriving aircraft35.6%

the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late

The airline15.3%

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

Weather2.7%

weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically

Security<0.1%

screening or terminal security incidents

Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for SAN → 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 3.5 times the normal rate at SAN against 1.7 times at SFO. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: SAN 3.5% against 1.0%, SFO 1.5% against 0.9%. Flights that did leave SAN in bad weather arrived on time 66.7% of the time, against 78.4% in normal hours.

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026

Departures from SAN and SFO in hours of bad weather and in normal hours
Departures from	SAN	SFO
Cancelled in bad weather	3.5%	1.5%
Cancelled in normal hours	1.0%	0.9%
Arrived on time, bad weather	66.7%	73.0%
Arrived on time, normal hours	78.4%	79.8%
Departures in bad weather	19,707	36,006

Of the carriers on this route, United Airlines (2.8% cancelled against 3.5% for the other carriers at SAN) cancelled the fewest departures from SAN in bad weather and SkyWest Airlines (5.5% cancelled against 3.3% for the other carriers at SAN) the most.

This route’s airlines in bad weather at SAN

All departures from SAN

Cancellation rates in bad weather at SAN for the airlines that fly SAN to SFO, against the other carriers at SAN in the same months
Airline	Bad-weather departures	Cancelled	Other carriers
United Airlines	2,190	2.8%below the others	3.5%
Alaska Airlines	2,278	3.2%about level	3.6%
Southwest Airlines	6,793	4.5%above the others	3.2%
Frontier Airlines	580	5.1%above the others	3.4%
SkyWest Airlines	2,629	5.5%above the others	3.3%

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

Weather source and limits. In full: SAN (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	7,351	73.8%	1.05%	-4 min	8.3%
SkyWest Airlines	5,833	67.7%	1.17%	0 min	11.1%
Southwest Airlines	5,238	59.9%	0.86%	6 min	13.4%
Alaska Airlines	898	53.0%	0.89%	11 min	15.1%
Frontier Airlines	720	50.7%	4.31%	14 min	20.3%

United Airlines flew 36.7% of the 20,040 flights listed. Frontier Airlines cancelled 4.31% of its flights here against 0.86% for Southwest Airlines.

United Airlines arrived on time 23.1 percentage points more often than Frontier Airlines on this route.

Other ways to fly San Diego to San Francisco

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

Other ways to fly San Diego to San Francisco
Route	Flights	On time	Cancelled	Median delay	Score
SAN→SFO this route San Diego to San Francisco	20,040	66.7%	1.14%	1 min	47
SAN→SJC San Diego to San Jose	16,699	78.1%	0.87%	-4 min	71
SAN→OAK San Diego to Oakland	10,639	76.7%	1.17%	-4 min	68

SAN → SJC is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 78.1% on time, against 66.7% for SAN → SFO.

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
UA2117 United Airlines	4:10 PM	1,030	78.9%

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

Mon62.8%

Tue75.5%

Wed69.0%

Thu63.7%

Fri60.6%

Sat74.9%

Sun63.4%

Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 14.9 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 23.5 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 62.4% against 69.9% in the 12 months before — declining by 7.5 percentage points.

Data and methodology

Calculated by FlyerIntel from 20,040 SAN → 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

SAN airport SFO airport Return direction SFO → SAN

SAN→SFO

Right now

Route reliability

What stands out

Why SAN → 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 SAN → 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 SAN

Airlines on this route

Other ways to fly San Diego to San Francisco

Flights on this route

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

By month

Reliability over time

Data and methodology