Route profile
SFO→CLT
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from San Francisco to Charlotte, 2,296 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 58% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 4,918 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
SFO → CLT arrives on time 81.3% of the time; the return trip, CLT → SFO, arrives on time 64.5% of the time, a 16.7-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
SFO → CLT spends 32.0 minutes on the ground on a 2,296-mile trip: 19.0 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SFO and 13.0 minutes from touchdown to gate at CLT.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route holds up about the same all year, a steadier seasonal pattern than 98% of 3,357 comparable routes.
85.7% on time in its best month (December) against 77.8% in its worst (July).
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 SFO to CLT differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SFO to CLT struggles most at 8 AM: 69.4% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 14.3 points behind the 83.7% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 16.5 points.
SFO to CLT is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 12 AM: 93.1% arrive on time, 11.1 points ahead of the 82.0% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 11.6 points.
SFO to CLT holds up on Saturdays better than routes of similar length do: 83.5% on time to their 79.0%, a 4.5 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 4.4 points.
July is kinder to SFO to CLT than to routes of similar length: 77.8% on time against 70.5%, 7.3 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 8.1 points.
American Airlines does better on SFO to CLT than on its routes of similar length: 81.3% on time here, 78.7% there, 2.6 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 6.2 points.
SFO to CLT against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 8 AM departures | 69.4% | routes of similar length | 83.7% | −14.3 pts | 350 here, 110,536 there |
| Hour: 12 AM departures | 93.1% | routes of similar length | 82.0% | +11.1 pts | 335 here, 4,866 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 83.5% | routes of similar length | 79.0% | +4.5 pts | 680 here, 156,966 there |
| Month: July | 77.8% | routes of similar length | 70.5% | +7.3 pts | 563 here, 137,688 there |
| Airline: American Airlines | 81.3% | routes of similar length | 78.7% | +2.6 pts | 4,856 here, 243,132 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 2,296 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
36 min late
against a median of 9 min early
Percentiles over 4,918 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at CLT after arriving from SFO.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 33% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 18% | High risk |
| 60 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.1% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.2% | 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 1.00% of the time and diverts 0.26% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 4,856 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 36 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 4,918 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SFO → CLT flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 86.1% of the time, against 71.0% for 12–3 PM departures, a gap of 15.1 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM: 93.1% on time from 336 flights
- 1 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 93.0% on time from 406 flights
- 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 89.0% on time from 997 flights
- 8 AM: 69.4% on time from 352 flights
- 9 AM: 73.5% on time from 439 flights
- 10 AM to 12 PM: too few flights to score
- 1 PM: 70.4% on time from 902 flights
- 2 PM to 8 PM: too few flights to score
- 9 PM: 83.4% on time from 257 flights
- 10 PM: 82.6% on time from 506 flights
- 11 PM: 80.1% on time from 601 flights
Why SFO → CLT 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 → CLT. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on SFO → CLT, at 45.3%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 86.1% of the time and 12–3 PM departures 71.0%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 4,918 | 81.3% | 1.00% | -9 min | 6.3% |
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA1960 American Airlines | 7:00 AM | 966 | 87.3% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 7.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 85.2%
- Feb: 83.1%
- Mar: 77.9%
- Apr: 80.3%
- May: 77.8%
- Jun: 78.0%
- Jul: 77.8%
- Aug: 83.0%
- Sep: 83.6%
- Oct: 84.6%
- Nov: 81.0%
- Dec: 85.7%
July is historically the weakest month and December the strongest, a spread of 7.9 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 80.7% from 150 flights
- August 2023: 77.1% from 154 flights
- September 2023: 87.2% from 134 flights
- October 2023: 86.4% from 141 flights
- November 2023: 79.7% from 138 flights
- December 2023: too few flights to score (117)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (118)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (115)
- March 2024: 58.5% from 124 flights
- April 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- May 2024: 65.8% from 150 flights
- June 2024: 80.7% from 142 flights
- July 2024: 81.2% from 143 flights
- August 2024: 84.2% from 149 flights
- September 2024: 82.2% from 138 flights
- October 2024: 75.3% from 146 flights
- November 2024: 78.8% from 132 flights
- December 2024: 84.7% from 144 flights
- January 2025: too few flights to score (119)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (117)
- March 2025: 84.7% from 152 flights
- April 2025: 84.2% from 146 flights
- May 2025: 82.4% from 154 flights
- June 2025: 75.6% from 140 flights
- July 2025: 80.4% from 140 flights
- August 2025: 88.5% from 131 flights
- September 2025: 81.3% from 136 flights
- October 2025: 91.9% from 148 flights
- November 2025: too few flights to score (103)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (110)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (96)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (97)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (118)
- April 2026: 85.0% from 133 flights
- May 2026: 85.3% from 143 flights
- June 2026: 77.5% from 141 flights
- July 2026: 69.0% from 143 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 84.5% against 82.4% in the 12 months before — improving by 2.1 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 4,918 SFO → CLT 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