Flights Houston → San Francisco
IAH → SFO
How long is the flight from Houston to San Francisco?
The flight from Houston (IAH) to San Francisco (SFO) takes 3h 35m on average. That is the median time recorded across 6 scheduled flights on this leg; the actual time varies by a few minutes with wind, routing and take-off queues.
Route overview
The flight route from Houston to San Francisco operates with a high frequency of 887 flights, featuring various aircraft models including the Boeing 787-8 and Airbus A320. With an on-time performance rate of 79%, the average delay for these flights is approximately 15 minutes, serving one of the busiest airports in terms of annual passenger traffic with over 50 million passengers.
Your rights on this US flight (DOT)
US flights have no statutory cash compensation for delays. Under the US DOT rules, if your flight is cancelled or significantly changed and you decline rebooking, you're owed an automatic refund of the unused ticket. The tarmac-delay limit is 3 hours (domestic) / 4 hours (international). Amenities for controllable delays depend on each airline's contract of carriage.
US flight refund rules & checker →General information, not legal advice.
The Houston (IAH) → San Francisco (SFO) route is operated by United Airlines. Across 2150 flights monitored in recent months, 72% arrived on time (within 15 min of schedule), with an average delay of 19 minutes. The cancellation rate is 1.81%. FlightGuard's average computed risk is 28.9/100 (medium), updated in real time from weather, ATC delays, strikes, NOTAMs, fuel and flight history. At San Francisco the average ATFM delay is 5.5 minutes (main cause: atfm). Departing from Houston the average ATFM delay is 5.5 minutes.
Heading to San Francisco: what to expect in this direction
Flying from Houston (IAH) to San Francisco (SFO) heads north-west for about 2,627 km, a flight time of roughly 3h 35m.
Departures from Houston on this leg cluster in the overnight window: about 34% of IAH-SFO flights take off then.
Air-traffic congestion: departing Houston the average ATFM delay is 5.5 min (atfm); arriving into San Francisco it is 5.5 min (atfm).
Across 2,150 tracked IAH-SFO flights, 72% left on time with an average delay of 19 min and a 1.8% cancellation rate.
Route facts
Flights on this route
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Airline punctuality on this route
| Airline | On-time | Average delay | Cancellations |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines (UA) | 83% | 5 min | 1.3% |
Airlines operating IAH-SFO
Airports
Frequently asked questions about IAH-SFO
The flight from Houston (IAH) to San Francisco (SFO) takes 3h 35m on average. That is the median time recorded across 6 scheduled flights on this leg; the actual time varies by a few minutes with wind, routing and take-off queues.
On the Houston (IAH) -> San Francisco (SFO) route, on-time performance is 72% with an average delay of 19 minutes, based on 2150 tracked flights.
The cancellation rate on Houston-San Francisco is 1.81% across 2150 monitored flights.
The route is operated by 1 airline: United Airlines.
Enter your flight number on FlightGuard for a real-time analysis based on 9 factors: weather at San Francisco, ATC delays, strikes, NOTAMs, fuel, airline punctuality and recent trends.
US flights have no statutory cash compensation for delays. Under US DOT rules, if the airline cancels or significantly changes your flight and you decline rebooking, you're owed an automatic refund of the unused ticket. The tarmac-delay limit is 3 hours (domestic) / 4 hours (international). Meals or hotels for controllable delays depend on each airline's contract of carriage.
