Best time to fly Chicago to San Francisco

Every month pooled across the years on record, so "July" means July generally rather than one particular July. Full ORD to SFO record →

Best month

September

82.5% on time · 944 flights

Worst month

June

63.5% on time · 1,040 flights

Month Flights On time Cancelled When late, by
January 666 79% 0.45% 71 min
February 654 70.2% 0% 56 min
March 853 76.2% 1.41% 78 min
April 970 74.1% 0.82% 65 min
May 1,051 69.2% 0.76% 71 min
June 1,040 63.5% 1.54% 65 min
July 1,040 65.1% 2.69% 71 min
August 1,025 71.4% 1.56% 68 min
September 944 82.5% 0% 65 min
October 970 77% 0.52% 59 min
November 801 70.8% 1.87% 84 min
December 790 70.7% 0.38% 69 min

What a seasonal pattern can and cannot tell you

Months differ for reasons that repeat — summer thunderstorms in the American interior, winter fog and de-icing in northern Europe, school holidays filling every seat and leaving no slack in the schedule. Those are real and they come back each year.

What the pattern cannot do is forecast a particular flight. A quiet month has late days and a bad month has punctual ones. Treat this as a way to choose between two dates you are indifferent about, not as a promise.