Route profile
SFO→MIA
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from San Francisco to Miami, 2,585 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 66% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 5,021 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
SFO → MIA arrives on time 80.1% of the time; the return trip, MIA → SFO, arrives on time 69.3% of the time, a 10.8-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
SFO → MIA spends 31.2 minutes on the ground on a 2,585-mile trip: 21.1 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SFO and 10.1 minutes from touchdown to gate at MIA.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Unlike most, it barely matters what time you fly this route, a steadier spread than 94% of 4,023 comparable routes.
82.2% on time for 5–9 AM departures, against 74.8% for 12–3 PM, a narrow gap either way.
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 4,023 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where SFO to MIA differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SFO to MIA struggles most at 9 PM: 60.3% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 18.8 points behind the 79.1% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 9.2 points.
SFO to MIA is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 7 AM: 88.4% arrive on time, 3.3 points ahead of the 85.1% those routes manage at that hour.
October is kinder to SFO to MIA than to routes of similar length: 89.4% on time against 82.6%, 6.8 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 6.4 points.
SFO to MIA against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 9 PM departures | 60.3% | routes of similar length | 79.1% | −18.8 pts | 174 here, 49,360 there |
| Hour: 7 AM departures | 88.4% | routes of similar length | 85.1% | +3.3 pts | 594 here, 88,168 there |
| Month: October | 89.4% | routes of similar length | 82.6% | +6.8 pts | 359 here, 70,326 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 2,585 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
35 min late
against a median of 8 min early
Percentiles over 5,021 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at MIA after arriving from SFO.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 36% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 19% | High risk |
| 60 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.6% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.5% | 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 0.68% 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 4,974 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 35 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 5,021 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SFO → MIA flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 82.2% of the time, against 74.8% for 12–3 PM departures, a gap of 7.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 88.4% on time from 597 flights
- 8 AM: 79.0% on time from 1,276 flights
- 9 AM to 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 73.0% on time from 420 flights
- 1 PM: 76.2% on time from 547 flights
- 2 PM to 8 PM: too few flights to score
- 9 PM: 60.3% on time from 174 flights
- 10 PM: 85.0% on time from 652 flights
- 11 PM: 82.1% on time from 1,148 flights
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why SFO → MIA 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
screening or terminal security incidents
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for SFO → MIA. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
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 | 3,300 | 79.3% | 0.52% | -9 min | 6.7% |
| United Airlines | 1,721 | 81.6% | 0.99% | -6 min | 4.1% |
American Airlines flew 65.7% of the 5,021 flights listed.
United Airlines arrived on time 2.3 percentage points more often than American Airlines on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 7.7 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 81.7%
- Feb: 85.5%
- Mar: 80.7%
- Apr: 82.6%
- May: 77.3%
- Jun: 73.4%
- Jul: 71.5%
- Aug: 76.4%
- Sep: 82.5%
- Oct: 89.4%
- Nov: 86.2%
- Dec: 79.0%
July is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 17.9 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 83.9% from 125 flights
- August 2023: 82.8% from 123 flights
- September 2023: too few flights to score (95)
- October 2023: too few flights to score (108)
- November 2023: 86.8% from 121 flights
- December 2023: 77.3% from 132 flights
- January 2024: 71.4% from 154 flights
- February 2024: 85.4% from 130 flights
- March 2024: 71.5% from 123 flights
- April 2024: 74.2% from 120 flights
- May 2024: too few flights to score (119)
- June 2024: too few flights to score (96)
- July 2024: 70.9% from 120 flights
- August 2024: 79.5% from 124 flights
- September 2024: 80.5% from 120 flights
- October 2024: 88.3% from 130 flights
- November 2024: 89.3% from 149 flights
- December 2024: 78.6% from 146 flights
- January 2025: 91.0% from 146 flights
- February 2025: 87.9% from 132 flights
- March 2025: 87.5% from 153 flights
- April 2025: 92.6% from 149 flights
- May 2025: 85.1% from 155 flights
- June 2025: 78.0% from 150 flights
- July 2025: 72.1% from 155 flights
- August 2025: 68.1% from 141 flights
- September 2025: too few flights to score (91)
- October 2025: 88.6% from 123 flights
- November 2025: 82.5% from 143 flights
- December 2025: 81.2% from 138 flights
- January 2026: 82.2% from 153 flights
- February 2026: 83.2% from 137 flights
- March 2026: 81.3% from 154 flights
- April 2026: 79.5% from 152 flights
- May 2026: 69.3% from 164 flights
- June 2026: 68.4% from 174 flights
- July 2026: 62.5% from 176 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 76.4% against 84.2% in the 12 months before — declining by 7.8 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 5,021 SFO → MIA 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