EWR to SFO flight delays
Newark, NJ (EWR) San Francisco, CA (SFO) · 2,565 miles
370 flights · March 2025 – August 2026 · US Bureau of Transportation Statistics
51.5%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
0.81%
Cancelled
Share of scheduled flights
72 min
When late, late by
Average across delayed arrivals
36 min
Delay per flight
Averaged over every flight flown
What the record says about this route
Flights from Newark to San Francisco arrive late more often than they arrive on time. At this rate lateness is the normal outcome, not the exception, and the schedule is better read as an aspiration than a plan.
The two directions do not behave alike. SFO to EWR arrives on time 26.1 points more often than the outbound. Delay accumulates through the flying day, so whichever direction is scheduled later tends to carry the worse record — which is an argument for booking the morning departure if the choice exists.
This route does worse than its own airport. EWR as a whole runs 29.9 points more punctual than these flights, which points at something specific to the route — the time of day it is scheduled, or the aircraft that feed it — rather than the airport.
Only United Airlines flies this route in the published record, so there is no choice to weigh — the route's figures and the airline's are the same figures.
Which airline should you fly on this route?
Over March 2025 – August 2026, United Airlines arrived on time most often on EWR to SFO.
Every airline on EWR to SFO
Ranked by how many flights each one operated. A carrier with fewer than 100 flights in the period is listed but not graded.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Avg delay | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 352 | 50.14% | 0.85% | 72 min | F |
| Alaska Airlines | 18 | 77.78% | 0% | 55 min | — |
The return leg
SFO to EWR San Francisco back to Newark 77.6% on time COther routes from Newark
Common questions
Are flights from Newark to San Francisco usually delayed?
51.5% of flights on the EWR to SFO route arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, so roughly 5 in every ten arrived late. That is worse than the average route in this record.
Which airlines fly from Newark to San Francisco?
Only United Airlines appears in the published record on this route, with 352 flights and 50.14% arriving on time.
How often are EWR to SFO flights cancelled?
0.81% of scheduled flights did not operate — about 8 in every thousand. That is in the normal range.
When EWR to SFO flights are late, how late are they?
About 72 minutes on average across the flights that arrived more than 15 minutes behind schedule.
What these figures do and do not tell you
Everything on this page is counted from the flights that actually operated on EWR to SFO during March 2025 – August 2026, as reported by the airlines to the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics. "On time" is the federal definition: arriving at the gate within 15 minutes of the scheduled time.
A route's record is a description of the past, not a forecast. Weather, air traffic control and the aircraft's earlier flights that day drive most delays, and none of them are predictable from a historical rate. What the record does tell you is whether this route runs late more often than others, and which carrier on it has the better history — which is the part you can actually act on when you book.
Cancellations are counted separately from delays because they are a different problem for a traveller: a late flight still gets you there. How the grade is calculated →