JFK to SFO flight delays
New York, NY (JFK) San Francisco, CA (SFO) · 2,586 miles
611 flights · March 2025 – August 2026 · US Bureau of Transportation Statistics
60.93%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
0.98%
Cancelled
Share of scheduled flights
66 min
When late, late by
Average across delayed arrivals
27 min
Delay per flight
Averaged over every flight flown
What the record says about this route
Which airline you fly changes the odds here. American Airlines arrived on time 7 points more often than Delta Air Lines over the same period on the same route — same airports, same weather, same air traffic control. A gap that survives all of that is about how the two airlines are run.
This is a late route. Flights from New York to San Francisco miss their scheduled arrival often enough that a tight connection at the far end is a connection at risk.
This route does worse than its own airport. JFK as a whole runs 16.8 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.
The two directions do not behave alike. SFO to JFK arrives on time 10.3 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.
Which airline should you fly on this route?
Over March 2025 – August 2026, American Airlines arrived on time most often on JFK to SFO. Delta Air Lines was late most often.
Every airline on JFK 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 193 | 59.47% | 1.55% | 61 min | F |
| JetBlue Airways | 172 | 59.76% | 1.16% | 67 min | F |
| American Airlines | 147 | 66.44% | 0.68% | 63 min | D |
| Alaska Airlines | 99 | 57.58% | 0% | 75 min | — |
The return leg
SFO to JFK San Francisco back to New York 71.24% on time DOther routes from New York
Common questions
Are flights from New York to San Francisco usually delayed?
60.93% of flights on the JFK to SFO route arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, so roughly 4 in every ten arrived late. That is worse than the average route in this record.
Which airline is most on time from New York to San Francisco?
American Airlines, at 66.44% on time across 147 flights. The least punctual on the route was Delta Air Lines at 59.47%.
How often are JFK to SFO flights cancelled?
0.98% of scheduled flights did not operate — about 10 in every thousand. That is in the normal range.
When JFK to SFO flights are late, how late are they?
About 66 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 JFK 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 →