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WanderNerd

Route Reliability

San Francisco → Chicago

SFOORD · 1,846 miles · San Francisco International Airport to Chicago O'Hare International Airport

78
Usually Fine
WanderNerd Reliability Score
78%
Arrive within 15 minutes
9 min
Average arrival delay
1.3%
Cancelled
5,609
Flights in the data

Data through May 2026.

Who flies it best

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

  1. 1.United Airlines80%3,774 flights
  2. 2.American Airlines74%1,755 flights

Not enough history to rank: Alaska Airlines (80 flights). We rank airlines only after 100 flights on the route.

What the data says

Morning flights do better here.

SFO–ORD flights departing between 3–6 AM arrived on time 95% of the time, versus 61% between 12–3 PM.

Monday is the weak spot.

SFO–ORD flights arrived on time 83% of the time on Tuesdays. On Mondays: 73%.

United Airlines has a slight edge here.

United Airlines arrived on time 80% of the time on this route; American Airlines managed 74%.

Slipping a little lately.

SFO–ORD flights arrived on time 74% of the time over the last three months in the data, compared with 80% 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%(798 flights)
  • Tue83%(766 flights)
  • Wed78%(769 flights)
  • Thu78%(804 flights)
  • Fri76%(801 flights)
  • Sat80%(751 flights)
  • Sun75%(814 flights)
On-time by departure window
  • 12–3 AM83%(71 flights)
  • 3–6 AM95%(240 flights)
  • 6–9 AM89%(1344 flights)
  • 9 AM–12 PM72%(722 flights)
  • 12–3 PM61%(1107 flights)
  • 3–6 PM76%(680 flights)
  • 6–9 PM83%(241 flights)
  • 9 PM–12 AM79%(1098 flights)
On-time trend by month
74%
May

Jun 75% → May 74% on time

On-time arrival percentage by month
MonthOn-time percentageFlights
June 202575%501
July 202572%514
August 202577%505
September 202584%485
October 202582%522
November 202579%401
December 202581%387
January 202675%327
February 202686%357
March 202677%443
April 202673%506
May 202674%555

Based on 5,609 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.