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WanderNerd

Route Reliability

Denver → San Francisco

DENSFO · 967 miles · Denver International Airport to San Francisco International Airport

73
Usually Fine
WanderNerd Reliability Score
69%
Arrive within 15 minutes
13 min
Average arrival delay
0.5%
Cancelled
5,391
Flights in the data

Data through May 2026.

Who flies it best

Ranked by on-time arrivals. Historical results, not predictions.

  1. 1.United Airlines74%3,367 flights
  2. 2.Frontier Airlines72%565 flights
  3. 3.Southwest Airlines57%1,459 flights

What the data says

Morning flights do better here.

DEN–SFO flights departing between 3–6 AM arrived on time 95% of the time, versus 52% between 6–9 PM.

Thursday is the weak spot.

DEN–SFO flights arrived on time 76% of the time on Saturdays. On Thursdays: 63%.

United Airlines has a clear lead on this route.

United Airlines arrived on time 74% of the time on this route; Southwest Airlines managed 57%.

Recent months have been rougher.

DEN–SFO flights arrived on time 66% of the time over the last three months in the data, compared with 74% in the three months before that.

Best historical flights

Ranked by on-time arrivals, minimum 100 flights. Past performance, not a promise.

Top flights by on-time rate

More flights on this route

The breakdown

On-time by weekday
  • Mon68%(799 flights)
  • Tue75%(739 flights)
  • Wed72%(744 flights)
  • Thu63%(796 flights)
  • Fri69%(799 flights)
  • Sat76%(712 flights)
  • Sun64%(770 flights)
On-time by departure window
  • 3–6 AM95%(235 flights)
  • 6–9 AM77%(913 flights)
  • 9 AM–12 PM71%(917 flights)
  • 12–3 PM74%(611 flights)
  • 3–6 PM73%(949 flights)
  • 6–9 PM52%(913 flights)
  • 9 PM–12 AM63%(821 flights)
On-time trend by month
55%
May

Jun 66% → May 55% on time

On-time arrival percentage by month
MonthOn-time percentageFlights
June 202566%465
July 202557%453
August 202571%460
September 202575%451
October 202572%459
November 202571%433
December 202565%456
January 202681%435
February 202675%398
March 202682%444
April 202662%423
May 202655%482

Based on 5,391 historical flights, because apparently we checked. Historical flight data: U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, June 2025 – May 2026. Data through May 2026. How we calculate this.