Route profile
SFO→AUS
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from San Francisco to Austin, 1,504 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 63% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 7,271 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
SFO → AUS arrives on time 80.2% of the time; the return trip, AUS → SFO, arrives on time 76.4% of the time, a 3.8-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
SFO → AUS spends 29.5 minutes on the ground on a 1,504-mile trip: 20.7 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SFO and 8.8 minutes from touchdown to gate at AUS.
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 100% of 2,692 comparable routes.
United Airlines arrived on time 84.3% of the time, against 43.5% for Southwest 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.
What sets this route apart
Where SFO to AUS differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SFO to AUS is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 6 PM: 82.7% arrive on time, 12.4 points ahead of the 70.3% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 14.2 points.
SFO to AUS struggles most at 10 AM: 68.2% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 12.3 points behind the 80.5% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 14.5 points.
SFO to AUS holds up on Saturdays better than routes of similar length do: 86.0% on time to their 78.6%, a 7.4 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 6.9 points.
August is kinder to SFO to AUS than to routes of similar length: 85.2% on time against 76.2%, 9 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 8.7 points.
Alaska Airlines does better on SFO to AUS than on its routes of similar length: 83.7% on time here, 78.1% there, 5.6 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 5.7 points.
SFO to AUS against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 6 PM departures | 82.7% | routes of similar length | 70.3% | +12.4 pts | 1,237 here, 100,226 there |
| Hour: 10 AM departures | 68.2% | routes of similar length | 80.5% | −12.3 pts | 425 here, 84,638 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 86.0% | routes of similar length | 78.6% | +7.4 pts | 894 here, 193,666 there |
| Month: August | 85.2% | routes of similar length | 76.2% | +9.0 pts | 589 here, 126,093 there |
| Airline: Alaska Airlines | 83.7% | routes of similar length | 78.1% | +5.6 pts | 1,673 here, 93,471 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 1,504 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 SFO → AUS flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
SFO → AUS cancelled 71 of 7,271 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 102. The reason filed most often was the airline, 85.9% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 119 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 71 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
61 cancellations, 85.9% of the total.
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
9 cancellations, 12.7% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
1 cancellation, 1.4% 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.
71 coded cancellations were recorded on SFO → AUS; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
41 min late
against a median of 6 min early
Percentiles over 7,271 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at AUS after arriving from SFO.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 36% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 19% | High risk |
| 60 min | 13% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.5% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.7% | 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 0.98% of the time and diverts 0.30% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 7,178 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 41 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 7,271 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SFO → AUS flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 92.4% of the time, against 71.3% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 21.1 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 94.7% on time from 1,258 flights
- 8 AM: 86.2% on time from 446 flights
- 9 AM: 85.2% on time from 334 flights
- 10 AM: 68.2% on time from 426 flights
- 11 AM: 69.7% on time from 481 flights
- 12 PM: 73.9% on time from 472 flights
- 1 PM: 72.6% on time from 1,132 flights
- 2 PM to 3 PM: too few flights to score
- 4 PM: 73.2% on time from 153 flights
- 5 PM: 70.9% on time from 680 flights
- 6 PM: 82.7% on time from 1,252 flights
- 7 PM to 10 PM: too few flights to score
- 11 PM: 87.7% on time from 426 flights
Why SFO → AUS runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow 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 SFO → AUS. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on SFO → AUS, at 51.7%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 92.4% of the time and 3–6 PM departures 71.3%.
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 | 4,510 | 84.3% | 0.82% | -7 min | 5.0% |
| Alaska Airlines | 1,706 | 83.7% | 1.58% | -7 min | 4.9% |
| Delta Air Lines | 528 | 60.8% | 1.33% | 7 min | 14.8% |
| Southwest Airlines | 398 | 43.5% | 0.00% | 20 min | 22.4% |
United Airlines flew 63.1% of the 7,142 flights listed. Alaska Airlines cancelled 1.58% of its flights here against 0.00% for Southwest Airlines.
United Airlines arrived on time 40.8 percentage points more often than Southwest Airlines on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| UA1116 United Airlines | 12:55 PM | 960 | 82.4% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 9.2 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 79.5%
- Feb: 84.1%
- Mar: 83.9%
- Apr: 82.4%
- May: 71.8%
- Jun: 73.4%
- Jul: 76.4%
- Aug: 85.2%
- Sep: 84.8%
- Oct: 83.4%
- Nov: 79.4%
- Dec: 79.9%
May is historically the weakest month and August the strongest, a spread of 13.4 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 88.3% from 172 flights
- August 2023: 86.0% from 174 flights
- September 2023: 82.9% from 182 flights
- October 2023: 82.9% from 187 flights
- November 2023: 83.8% from 173 flights
- December 2023: 81.9% from 166 flights
- January 2024: 75.4% from 152 flights
- February 2024: 90.8% from 142 flights
- March 2024: 82.0% from 178 flights
- April 2024: 85.6% from 146 flights
- May 2024: 78.8% from 151 flights
- June 2024: 78.0% from 141 flights
- July 2024: 87.3% from 176 flights
- August 2024: 86.0% from 172 flights
- September 2024: 88.0% from 167 flights
- October 2024: 88.6% from 204 flights
- November 2024: 80.7% from 204 flights
- December 2024: 86.3% from 168 flights
- January 2025: 86.9% from 169 flights
- February 2025: 87.5% from 160 flights
- March 2025: 88.5% from 209 flights
- April 2025: 90.9% from 198 flights
- May 2025: 78.0% from 208 flights
- June 2025: 83.3% from 229 flights
- July 2025: 72.8% from 241 flights
- August 2025: 84.1% from 250 flights
- September 2025: 84.1% from 227 flights
- October 2025: 79.6% from 253 flights
- November 2025: 75.3% from 250 flights
- December 2025: 74.5% from 260 flights
- January 2026: 75.6% from 204 flights
- February 2026: 75.8% from 182 flights
- March 2026: 80.9% from 210 flights
- April 2026: 72.7% from 220 flights
- May 2026: 62.7% from 253 flights
- June 2026: 61.4% from 242 flights
- July 2026: 64.1% from 251 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 74.1% against 84.4% in the 12 months before — declining by 10.3 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 7,271 SFO → AUS 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