SFO → DTW Flight Reliability

Right now

Origin · SFONo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 12:56 UTC

San Francisco airport profile →

Destination · DTWNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 12:53 UTC

Detroit airport profile →

Route reliability

July 2023 – July 2026

Route Reliability Score

76/ 100Strong

Better than 79% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)

Calculated from 5,193 flights. How this is calculated

On-time arrivals

81.9%

4,216 of 5,148

Cancellation rate

0.67%

35 cancelled

Median arrival delay

-6 min

Average 2.7 min

Severe delays

5.3%

60+ minutes late

Delay when late

59 min

Average, when 15+ min late

Flights analyzed

5,193

2 carriers

SFO → DTW arrives on time 81.9% of the time; the return trip, DTW → SFO, arrives on time 74.0% of the time, a 7.9-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.

SFO → DTW spends 28.3 minutes on the ground on a 2,079-mile trip: 18.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SFO and 9.5 minutes from touchdown to gate at DTW.

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

What stands out

Every airline on this route performs about the same, a narrower carrier gap than 100% of 2,692 comparable routes.

Delta Air Lines (82.4% on time) and United Airlines (82.3%) are close together here.

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 DTW differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.

SFO to DTW struggles most at 11 PM: 58.2% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 22.6 points behind the 80.8% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 20.9 points.

SFO to DTW is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 1 PM: 88.3% arrive on time, 12.2 points ahead of the 76.1% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 11.2 points.

SFO to DTW holds up on Saturdays better than routes of similar length do: 86.3% on time to their 79.3%, a 7 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 7.2 points.

August is kinder to SFO to DTW than to routes of similar length: 84.8% on time against 77.1%, 7.7 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 8.3 points.

SFO to DTW against comparable routes

July 2023 – July 2026

Where SFO to DTW differs most from comparable routes, with the group each figure is compared with and the flights behind it
Measure	This route	Compared with	Them	Gap	Flights behind it
Hour: 11 PM departures	58.2%	routes of similar length	80.8%	−22.6 pts	177 here, 58,552 there
Hour: 1 PM departures	88.3%	routes of similar length	76.1%	+12.2 pts	120 here, 40,229 there
Weekday: Saturday	86.3%	routes of similar length	79.3%	+7.0 pts	657 here, 132,207 there
Month: August	84.8%	routes of similar length	77.1%	+7.7 pts	433 here, 82,223 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

One arrival in ten is worse than

33 min late

against a median of 6 min early

Arrived an hour or more late5.3%

Typical delay when late59 min

Cancelled0.67%

Landed somewhere else0.19%

Percentiles over 5,193 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.

Will your connection be tight enough?

Layovers at DTW after arriving from SFO.

Connection buffer and chance of missing by layover length, SFO → DTW arrivals
Connection time	Chance of missing	Reads as
30 min	36%	Likely to miss
45 min	17%	High risk
60 min	10%	Some risk
90 min	5.3%	Some risk
120 min	2.6%	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 0.67% 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 5,148 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 33 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 5,193 operations.

Any other layover length: connection checker.

Best time to fly

SFO → DTW flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 92.2% of the time, against 71.8% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 20.4 percentage points.

By departure window

5–9 AM92.2%

9 AM–12 PM78.1%

12–3 PM79.1%

3–6 PM71.8%

9 PM–5 AM78.5%

By departure hour

12 AM

3 AM

6 AM

9 AM

12 PM

3 PM

6 PM

9 PM

Why SFO → DTW runs late

July 2023 – July 2026

Late-arriving aircraft50.6%

the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late

The airline34.6%

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

Air traffic control13.9%

airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control

Weather0.9%

weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically

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

Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on SFO → DTW, at 50.6%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 92.2% of the time and 3–6 PM departures 71.8%.

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
Delta Air Lines	4,190	82.4%	0.69%	-6 min	5.2%
United Airlines	891	82.3%	0.67%	-6 min	5.7%

Delta Air Lines flew 82.5% of the 5,081 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.

Flights on this route
Flight	Scheduled	Operations	On time
DL772 Delta Air Lines	5:50 AM	785	94.5%
DL335 Delta Air Lines	10:45 PM	696	76.4%

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

Mon78.9%

Tue87.6%

Wed83.3%

Thu80.7%

Fri80.7%

Sat86.3%

Sun77.2%

Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 10.4 percentage points.

By month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

July is historically the weakest month and April the strongest, a spread of 12.3 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 78.9% against 82.7% in the 12 months before — declining by 3.8 percentage points.

Data and methodology

Calculated by FlyerIntel from 5,193 SFO → DTW 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

SFO airport DTW airport Return direction DTW → SFO

SFO→DTW

Right now

Route reliability

What stands out

What sets this route apart

SFO to DTW against comparable routes

When it goes wrong

Will your connection be tight enough?

Best time to fly

By departure window

By departure hour

Why SFO → DTW runs late

Airlines on this route

Flights on this route

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

By month

Reliability over time

Data and methodology