Route profile
SFO→JFK
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from San Francisco to New York, 2,586 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 51% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 20,820 flights. How this is calculated
SFO → JFK arrives on time 80.4% of the time; the return trip, JFK → SFO, arrives on time 76.9% of the time, a 3.4-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
SFO → JFK spends 31.4 minutes on the ground on a 2,586-mile trip: 19.5 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SFO and 11.9 minutes from touchdown to gate at JFK.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
Why SFO → JFK flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
SFO → JFK cancelled 292 of 20,820 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 71. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 50.3% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 142 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 292 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
147 cancellations, 50.3% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
106 cancellations, 36.3% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
39 cancellations, 13.4% 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.
292 coded cancellations were recorded on SFO → JFK; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
42 min late
against a median of 10 min early
Percentiles over 20,820 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at JFK after arriving from SFO.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 33% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 19% | High risk |
| 60 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 7.3% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.7% | 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 1.40% of the time and diverts 0.64% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 20,395 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 42 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 20,820 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SFO → JFK flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 89.6% of the time, against 70.2% for 12–3 PM departures, a gap of 19.4 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 7.4 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 2.3 points.
| Hour | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
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On-time rate, % · stronger color, fewer on time
- 60–64
- 65–69
- 70–74
- 75–79
- 80–84
- 85–89
- 90–94
- 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 before 6 AM (61 flights) are not drawn: no slot in those hours has enough flights to score.
View as tableHide table
| Hour | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 AM–7 AM | 89.3% on time303 flights | 91.6% on time295 flights | 92.7% on time289 flights | 92.4% on time304 flights | 90.1% on time299 flights | 86.2% on time285 flights | 87.5% on time301 flights |
| 7 AM–8 AM | 88.5% on time318 flights | 94.3% on time320 flights | 93.5% on time322 flights | 92.7% on time319 flights | 91.9% on time319 flights | 88.7% on time306 flights | 85.8% on time328 flights |
| 8 AM–9 AM | 99 flights, too few to score | 106 flights, too few to score | 109 flights, too few to score | 100 flights, too few to score | 103 flights, too few to score | 98 flights, too few to score | 98 flights, too few to score |
| 9 AM–10 AM | 82.2% on time201 flights | 85.4% on time195 flights | 82.6% on time191 flights | 79.0% on time202 flights | 80.0% on time200 flights | 78.5% on time199 flights | 79.7% on time192 flights |
| 10 AM–11 AM | 78.1% on time265 flights | 77.3% on time269 flights | 79.4% on time269 flights | 78.5% on time261 flights | 79.8% on time263 flights | 74.5% on time206 flights | 76.6% on time268 flights |
| 11 AM–12 PM | 75.5% on time212 flights | 77.0% on time192 flights | 79.6% on time204 flights | 80.0% on time203 flights | 74.7% on time204 flights | 113 flights, too few to score | 68.5% on time212 flights |
| 12 PM–1 PM | 75.5% on time145 flights | 75.0% on time153 flights | 75.0% on time145 flights | 78.3% on time144 flights | 77.1% on time147 flights | 114 flights, too few to score | 68.5% on time138 flights |
| 1 PM–2 PM | 69.6% on time365 flights | 75.1% on time357 flights | 69.1% on time358 flights | 62.9% on time366 flights | 69.0% on time364 flights | 64.4% on time214 flights | 63.6% on time362 flights |
| 2 PM–3 PM | 69.6% on time165 flights | 75.0% on time153 flights | 75.2% on time155 flights | 65.8% on time159 flights | 71.6% on time160 flights | 114 flights, too few to score | 69.0% on time168 flights |
| 3 PM–4 PM | 110 flights, too few to score | 107 flights, too few to score | 111 flights, too few to score | 107 flights, too few to score | 104 flights, too few to score | 105 flights, too few to score | 101 flights, too few to score |
| 4 PM–5 PM | 77.1% on time132 flights | 110 flights, too few to score | 110 flights, too few to score | 70.4% on time137 flights | 74.6% on time136 flights | 24 flights, too few to score | 74.8% on time136 flights |
| 5 PM–6 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 | 1 flight, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score |
| 6 PM–7 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 |
| 7 PM–8 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 |
| 8 PM–9 PM | 72 flights, too few to score | 69 flights, too few to score | 71 flights, too few to score | 70 flights, too few to score | 67 flights, too few to score | 52 flights, too few to score | 68 flights, too few to score |
| 9 PM–10 PM | 86.6% on time134 flights | 100 flights, too few to score | 104 flights, too few to score | 79.6% on time137 flights | 85.0% on time136 flights | 74 flights, too few to score | 82.4% on time133 flights |
| 10 PM–11 PM | 85.4% on time414 flights | 89.5% on time414 flights | 86.8% on time422 flights | 84.1% on time414 flights | 83.3% on time410 flights | 87.1% on time364 flights | 79.3% on time423 flights |
| 11 PM–12 AM | 78.3% on time163 flights | 83.3% on time150 flights | 77.9% on time146 flights | 66.7% on time162 flights | 72.0% on time173 flights | 74.6% on time133 flights | 67.1% on time165 flights |
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 90.0% on time from 2,076 flights
- 7 AM: 90.8% on time from 2,232 flights
- 8 AM: 84.9% on time from 713 flights
- 9 AM: 81.1% on time from 1,380 flights
- 10 AM: 77.9% on time from 1,801 flights
- 11 AM: 75.8% on time from 1,340 flights
- 12 PM: 74.7% on time from 986 flights
- 1 PM: 67.8% on time from 2,386 flights
- 2 PM: 71.2% on time from 1,074 flights
- 3 PM: 81.7% on time from 745 flights
- 4 PM: 76.7% on time from 785 flights
- 5 PM to 7 PM: too few flights to score
- 8 PM: 80.3% on time from 469 flights
- 9 PM: 85.4% on time from 818 flights
- 10 PM: 85.0% on time from 2,861 flights
- 11 PM: 74.1% on time from 1,092 flights
Why SFO → JFK runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
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 → JFK. 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 JFK, where the flight lands. Its figure counts departures from JFK, so it says more about how that airport copes than about this route. Bad weather cancels 3.5 times the normal rate at JFK against 1.7 times at SFO. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: SFO 1.5% against 0.9%, JFK 6.0% against 1.7%. Flights that did leave JFK in bad weather arrived on time 64.1% of the time, against 79.7% in normal hours.
Bad weather and normal hours at the airports
Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026| Departures from | SFO | JFK |
|---|---|---|
| Cancelled in bad weather | 1.5% | 6.0% |
| Cancelled in normal hours | 0.9% | 1.7% |
| Arrived on time, bad weather | 73.0% | 64.1% |
| Arrived on time, normal hours | 79.8% | 79.7% |
| Departures in bad weather | 36,006 | 46,497 |
Delta Air Lines (0.8% cancelled against 1.5% for the other carriers at SFO) cancelled fewer departures from SFO in bad weather than the other carriers there did in the same months. None of the route’s other carriers was clearly worse.
This route’s airlines in bad weather at SFO
All departures from SFO| Airline | Bad-weather departures | Cancelled | Other carriers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 3,513 | 0.8%below the others | 1.5% |
| American Airlines | 3,143 | 1.2%about level | 1.5% |
| JetBlue | 1,072 | 1.3%about level | 1.5% |
| Alaska Airlines | 3,124 | 1.8%about level | 1.4% |
These are airport figures, not route figures: every scheduled departure from SFO and JFK, to any destination, in hours the weather report called bad. The airline rows count each carrier’s departures from SFO on every route.
Weather source and limits. In full: SFO (airlines), JFK, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 6,919 | 82.2% | 1.07% | -12 min | 6.5% |
| JetBlue | 5,679 | 79.7% | 1.32% | -9 min | 8.6% |
| American Airlines | 4,398 | 83.0% | 1.59% | -14 min | 7.2% |
| Alaska Airlines | 3,824 | 75.1% | 1.91% | -4 min | 7.8% |
Delta Air Lines flew 33.2% of the 20,820 flights listed.
American Airlines arrived on time 7.9 percentage points more often than Alaska Airlines on this route.
Other ways to fly San Francisco to New York
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SFO→JFK this route San Francisco to New York | 20,820 | 80.4% | 1.40% | -10 min | 66 |
| SFO→EWR San Francisco to Newark | 13,049 | 76.0% | 1.86% | -7 min | 54 |
SFO → JFK is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 80.4% on time, against 76.0% for SFO → EWR.
Flying to JFK from the San Francisco area? Compare SFO, SJC, OAK for JFK, with the same test for what counts as a real difference.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA276 American Airlines | 10:30 PM | 1,098 | 89.1% |
| AA234 American Airlines | 6:15 AM | 1,096 | 90.7% |
| AA16 American Airlines | 10:40 AM | 1,044 | 77.4% |
| B6416 JetBlue | 1:10 PM | 1,012 | 75.9% |
| AS20 Alaska Airlines | 1:25 PM | 966 | 67.4% |
| B6816 JetBlue | 6:00 AM | 836 | 83.8% |
| B6616 JetBlue | 4:30 PM | 800 | 77.1% |
| DL405 Delta Air Lines | 7:00 AM | 785 | 89.0% |
| DL383 Delta Air Lines | 9:00 AM | 785 | 85.8% |
AA234 (6:15 AM) arrived on time 90.7% of the time, 23.3 points more often than AS20 (1:25 PM) at 67.4%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 7.5 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 84.4%
- Feb: 83.4%
- Mar: 81.3%
- Apr: 82.8%
- May: 76.1%
- Jun: 73.8%
- Jul: 70.1%
- Aug: 81.8%
- Sep: 81.3%
- Oct: 87.1%
- Nov: 86.7%
- Dec: 81.0%
July is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 17.0 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 69.8% from 656 flights
- August 2023: 85.6% from 659 flights
- September 2023: 73.2% from 628 flights
- October 2023: 87.9% from 656 flights
- November 2023: 89.5% from 609 flights
- December 2023: 81.6% from 545 flights
- January 2024: 83.3% from 474 flights
- February 2024: 82.0% from 439 flights
- March 2024: 78.6% from 500 flights
- April 2024: 79.3% from 513 flights
- May 2024: 81.2% from 599 flights
- June 2024: 78.4% from 575 flights
- July 2024: 74.7% from 600 flights
- August 2024: 74.7% from 581 flights
- September 2024: 85.0% from 547 flights
- October 2024: 88.8% from 537 flights
- November 2024: 89.1% from 543 flights
- December 2024: 81.6% from 551 flights
- January 2025: 89.1% from 498 flights
- February 2025: 83.0% from 448 flights
- March 2025: 81.4% from 522 flights
- April 2025: 88.3% from 579 flights
- May 2025: 71.5% from 623 flights
- June 2025: 71.9% from 587 flights
- July 2025: 69.2% from 582 flights
- August 2025: 84.2% from 591 flights
- September 2025: 86.4% from 579 flights
- October 2025: 84.6% from 611 flights
- November 2025: 81.3% from 546 flights
- December 2025: 79.5% from 536 flights
- January 2026: 80.9% from 539 flights
- February 2026: 85.3% from 465 flights
- March 2026: 83.7% from 533 flights
- April 2026: 80.1% from 543 flights
- May 2026: 75.7% from 593 flights
- June 2026: 71.2% from 611 flights
- July 2026: 66.4% from 622 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 79.7% against 80.8% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 20,820 SFO → JFK 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