Route profile
SFO→IAH
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from San Francisco to Houston, 1,635 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 88% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 10,330 flights. How this is calculated
SFO → IAH arrives on time 84.3% of the time; the return trip, IAH → SFO, arrives on time 77.1% of the time, a 7.2-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
SFO → IAH spends 31.4 minutes on the ground on a 1,635-mile trip: 21.6 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SFO and 9.8 minutes from touchdown to gate at IAH.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route has stayed remarkably steady year over year, a smaller swing than 95% of 5,368 comparable routes.
84.3% on time over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), against 84.6% in the 12 months before (2024-08 to 2025-07), virtually unchanged.
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 5,368 in the comparison.
Why SFO → IAH flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
SFO → IAH cancelled 88 of 10,330 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 117. The reason filed most often was the airline, 60.2% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 195 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 88 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.
53 cancellations, 60.2% of the total.
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
24 cancellations, 27.3% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
11 cancellations, 12.5% 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. 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.
88 coded cancellations were recorded on SFO → IAH; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
26 min late
against a median of 8 min early
Percentiles over 10,330 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at IAH after arriving from SFO.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 32% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 15% | High risk |
| 60 min | 8.8% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.2% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.5% | 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 0.85% 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 10,206 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 26 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 10,330 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SFO → IAH flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 94.5% of the time, against 77.4% for 9 AM–12 PM departures, a gap of 17.1 percentage points.
By day and hour
On-time arrival rate for each weekday and scheduled departure hour, in local time at the departure airport (SFO).
Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 7.2 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 1.7 points.
| Hour | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
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On-time rate, % · stronger color, fewer on time
- 65–69
- 70–74
- 75–79
- 80–84
- 85–89
- 90–94
- 95–99
- 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.
View as tableHide table
| Hour | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 AM–1 AM | 83.5% on time134 flights | 85.6% on time125 flights | 88.6% on time123 flights | 88.8% on time134 flights | 90.1% on time132 flights | 85.7% on time129 flights | 87.9% on time126 flights |
| 1 AM–2 AM | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score |
| 2 AM–3 AM | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score |
| 3 AM–4 AM | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score |
| 4 AM–5 AM | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score |
| 5 AM–6 AM | 96.2% on time161 flights | 98.1% on time157 flights | 99.4% on time161 flights | 96.2% on time161 flights | 92.5% on time161 flights | 93.8% on time161 flights | 97.5% on time161 flights |
| 6 AM–7 AM | 0 flights, too few to score | 1 flight, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 2 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 1 flight, too few to score | 1 flight, too few to score |
| 7 AM–8 AM | 93.0% on time161 flights | 94.3% on time161 flights | 95.0% on time161 flights | 95.0% on time161 flights | 93.8% on time161 flights | 93.2% on time161 flights | 95.6% on time161 flights |
| 8 AM–9 AM | 32 flights, too few to score | 32 flights, too few to score | 32 flights, too few to score | 33 flights, too few to score | 32 flights, too few to score | 31 flights, too few to score | 33 flights, too few to score |
| 9 AM–10 AM | 79.8% on time129 flights | 88.8% on time129 flights | 84.3% on time129 flights | 83.2% on time128 flights | 84.4% on time129 flights | 88.3% on time130 flights | 81.0% on time128 flights |
| 10 AM–11 AM | 45 flights, too few to score | 49 flights, too few to score | 46 flights, too few to score | 45 flights, too few to score | 45 flights, too few to score | 47 flights, too few to score | 40 flights, too few to score |
| 11 AM–12 PM | 116 flights, too few to score | 112 flights, too few to score | 115 flights, too few to score | 116 flights, too few to score | 116 flights, too few to score | 114 flights, too few to score | 67.8% on time120 flights |
| 12 PM–1 PM | 54 flights, too few to score | 54 flights, too few to score | 57 flights, too few to score | 52 flights, too few to score | 52 flights, too few to score | 50 flights, too few to score | 53 flights, too few to score |
| 1 PM–2 PM | 107 flights, too few to score | 107 flights, too few to score | 104 flights, too few to score | 108 flights, too few to score | 114 flights, too few to score | 111 flights, too few to score | 108 flights, too few to score |
| 2 PM–3 PM | 78.8% on time153 flights | 85.5% on time153 flights | 85.4% on time151 flights | 83.0% on time153 flights | 76.9% on time148 flights | 83.3% on time152 flights | 80.1% on time152 flights |
| 3 PM–4 PM | 8 flights, too few to score | 8 flights, too few to score | 10 flights, too few to score | 6 flights, too few to score | 8 flights, too few to score | 9 flights, too few to score | 9 flights, too few to score |
| 4 PM–5 PM | 73 flights, too few to score | 73 flights, too few to score | 73 flights, too few to score | 73 flights, too few to score | 74 flights, too few to score | 73 flights, too few to score | 73 flights, too few to score |
| 5 PM–6 PM | 3 flights, too few to score | 3 flights, too few to score | 3 flights, too few to score | 3 flights, too few to score | 3 flights, too few to score | 3 flights, too few to score | 3 flights, too few to score |
| 6 PM–7 PM | 82.1% on time127 flights | 90 flights, too few to score | 119 flights, too few to score | 78.4% on time127 flights | 119 flights, too few to score | 88 flights, too few to score | 80.0% on time127 flights |
| 7 PM–8 PM | 31 flights, too few to score | 31 flights, too few to score | 31 flights, too few to score | 31 flights, too few to score | 27 flights, too few to score | 22 flights, too few to score | 30 flights, too few to score |
| 8 PM–9 PM | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score |
| 9 PM–10 PM | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score |
| 10 PM–11 PM | 1 flight, too few to score | 1 flight, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 2 flights, too few to score | 2 flights, too few to score |
| 11 PM–12 AM | 86.2% on time160 flights | 85.5% on time160 flights | 84.0% on time163 flights | 82.6% on time162 flights | 77.4% on time161 flights | 84.4% on time162 flights | 80.0% on time161 flights |
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM: 87.2% on time from 903 flights
- 1 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 96.2% on time from 1,123 flights
- 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 94.3% on time from 1,127 flights
- 8 AM: 87.4% on time from 225 flights
- 9 AM: 84.3% on time from 902 flights
- 10 AM: 70.6% on time from 317 flights
- 11 AM: 72.3% on time from 809 flights
- 12 PM: 76.0% on time from 372 flights
- 1 PM: 78.8% on time from 759 flights
- 2 PM: 81.9% on time from 1,062 flights
- 3 PM: too few flights to score
- 4 PM: 82.8% on time from 512 flights
- 5 PM: too few flights to score
- 6 PM: 81.1% on time from 797 flights
- 7 PM: 88.2% on time from 203 flights
- 8 PM to 10 PM: too few flights to score
- 11 PM: 82.9% on time from 1,129 flights
Why SFO → IAH runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for SFO → IAH. 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 IAH, where the flight lands. Its figure counts departures from IAH, so it says more about how that airport copes than about this route. Bad weather cancels 3.4 times the normal rate at IAH against 1.7 times at SFO. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: SFO 1.5% against 0.9%, IAH 4.1% against 1.2%. Flights that did leave IAH in bad weather arrived on time 63.8% of the time, against 78.6% in normal hours.
Bad weather and normal hours at the airports
Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026| Departures from | SFO | IAH |
|---|---|---|
| Cancelled in bad weather | 1.5% | 4.1% |
| Cancelled in normal hours | 0.9% | 1.2% |
| Arrived on time, bad weather | 73.0% | 63.8% |
| Arrived on time, normal hours | 79.8% | 78.6% |
| Departures in bad weather | 36,006 | 28,922 |
These are airport figures, not route figures: every scheduled departure from SFO and IAH, to any destination, in hours the weather report called bad.
Weather source and limits. In full: SFO, IAH, 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.
| Carrier | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Severe |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 10,330 | 84.3% | 0.85% | -8 min | 4.3% |
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| UA505 United Airlines | 11:59 PM | 1,023 | 82.9% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 5.4 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 83.2%
- Feb: 88.6%
- Mar: 85.9%
- Apr: 89.3%
- May: 82.6%
- Jun: 81.3%
- Jul: 77.6%
- Aug: 82.1%
- Sep: 90.5%
- Oct: 89.7%
- Nov: 84.1%
- Dec: 79.7%
July is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 12.9 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 72.9% from 280 flights
- August 2023: 82.4% from 279 flights
- September 2023: 87.1% from 264 flights
- October 2023: 89.1% from 277 flights
- November 2023: 90.0% from 259 flights
- December 2023: 83.2% from 279 flights
- January 2024: 80.8% from 251 flights
- February 2024: 88.6% from 230 flights
- March 2024: 85.8% from 248 flights
- April 2024: 87.9% from 240 flights
- May 2024: 82.1% from 257 flights
- June 2024: 83.4% from 270 flights
- July 2024: 78.0% from 279 flights
- August 2024: 84.9% from 280 flights
- September 2024: 91.8% from 270 flights
- October 2024: 89.9% from 279 flights
- November 2024: 82.0% from 268 flights
- December 2024: 71.7% from 282 flights
- January 2025: 82.3% from 238 flights
- February 2025: 90.4% from 229 flights
- March 2025: 84.5% from 284 flights
- April 2025: 91.4% from 291 flights
- May 2025: 86.8% from 303 flights
- June 2025: 78.7% from 296 flights
- July 2025: 82.3% from 299 flights
- August 2025: 79.1% from 299 flights
- September 2025: 92.4% from 289 flights
- October 2025: 90.1% from 306 flights
- November 2025: 80.8% from 299 flights
- December 2025: 83.9% from 311 flights
- January 2026: 85.7% from 303 flights
- February 2026: 87.0% from 277 flights
- March 2026: 87.3% from 310 flights
- April 2026: 88.3% from 300 flights
- May 2026: 78.8% from 307 flights
- June 2026: 81.9% from 300 flights
- July 2026: 76.9% from 297 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 84.3% against 84.6% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 10,330 SFO → IAH 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