SLC to SFO flight delays
Salt Lake City, UT (SLC) San Francisco, CA (SFO) · 599 miles
3,472 flights · January 2025 – August 2026 · US Bureau of Transportation Statistics
69.04%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
0.95%
Cancelled
Share of scheduled flights
64 min
When late, late by
Average across delayed arrivals
21 min
Delay per flight
Averaged over every flight flown
What the record says about this route
Which airline you fly changes the odds here. United Airlines arrived on time 10.3 points more often than Frontier Airlines 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.
The season swings this route hard. In March it ran 41.5 points more punctual than in June — a difference bigger than the one between the best and worst airlines on most routes. If the date is flexible, it is worth more than the carrier.
The route has been getting worse. The later months run 13 points less punctual than the earlier ones. A drift of that size is rarely weather; it is more often an airline adding frequencies faster than the airports can absorb them.
This route does worse than its own airport. SLC as a whole runs 15.7 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.
Which airline should you fly on this route?
Over January 2025 – August 2026, United Airlines arrived on time most often on SLC to SFO. Frontier Airlines was late most often. Flights ran closest to schedule in March and worst in June.
Every airline on SLC 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 | 1,706 | 67.36% | 0.88% | 52 min | D |
| SkyWest Airlines | 1,104 | 68.75% | 1.27% | 76 min | D |
| United Airlines | 484 | 76.6% | 0.21% | 72 min | C |
| Frontier Airlines | 178 | 66.29% | 1.69% | 95 min | F |
Month by month
Share of flights that arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, by month flown.
Other routes from Salt Lake City
Common questions
Are flights from Salt Lake City to San Francisco usually delayed?
69.04% of flights on the SLC to SFO route arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, so roughly 3 in every ten arrived late. That is worse than the average route in this record.
Which airline is most on time from Salt Lake City to San Francisco?
United Airlines, at 76.6% on time across 484 flights. The least punctual on the route was Frontier Airlines at 66.29%.
How often are SLC to SFO flights cancelled?
0.95% of scheduled flights did not operate — about 10 in every thousand. That is in the normal range.
What is the best month to fly Salt Lake City to San Francisco?
March, when 83.9% of flights arrived on time. The worst was June at 42.4%.
When SLC to SFO flights are late, how late are they?
About 64 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 SLC to SFO during January 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 →