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Route Reliability

San Francisco → Los Angeles

SFO–LAX · 337 miles · San Francisco International Airport to Los Angeles International Airport

80
Pretty Reliable
WanderNerd Reliability Score
76%
Arrive within 15 minutes
9 min
Average arrival delay
1.1%
Cancelled
11,753
Flights in the data

Data through May 2026.

Who flies it best

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

  1. 1.United Airlines81%3,587 flights
  2. 2.American Airlines77%1,775 flights
  3. 3.Delta Air Lines77%2,374 flights
  4. 4.Alaska Airlines76%2,305 flights
  5. 5.Frontier Airlines69%387 flights
  6. 6.Southwest Airlines66%1,325 flights

What the data says

Morning flights do better here.

SFO–LAX flights departing between 3–6 AM arrived on time 98% of the time, versus 70% between 3–6 PM.

Thursday is the weak spot.

SFO–LAX flights arrived on time 82% of the time on Tuesdays. On Thursdays: 72%.

United Airlines runs this route best.

United Airlines arrived on time 81% of the time on this route; Southwest Airlines managed 66%.

Slipping a little lately.

SFO–LAX flights arrived on time 74% of the time over the last three months in the data, compared with 79% 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
  • Mon73%(1745 flights)
  • Tue82%(1566 flights)
  • Wed79%(1544 flights)
  • Thu72%(1738 flights)
  • Fri74%(1747 flights)
  • Sat81%(1554 flights)
  • Sun73%(1732 flights)
On-time by departure window
  • 3–6 AM98%(230 flights)
  • 6–9 AM91%(2469 flights)
  • 9 AM–12 PM73%(2527 flights)
  • 12–3 PM71%(1497 flights)
  • 3–6 PM70%(1886 flights)
  • 6–9 PM72%(2107 flights)
  • 9 PM–12 AM70%(910 flights)
On-time trend by month
66%
May

Jun 81% → May 66% on time

On-time arrival percentage by month
MonthOn-time percentageFlights
June 202581%984
July 202573%980
August 202578%997
September 202578%960
October 202574%1052
November 202574%954
December 202572%973
January 202686%861
February 202678%852
March 202686%1002
April 202671%987
May 202666%1024

Same trip, other airports

Keep nerding

Based on 11,753 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.