Flights San Francisco → Denver
SFO → DEN
Route overview
The flight route from San Francisco to Denver operates with a high level of punctuality, with 79% of flights arriving on time. The average delay for the remaining flights is approximately 11.5 minutes. This busy route sees around 1272 flights annually and serves one of the busiest airports in the United States, which handled 82,358,744 passengers per year as of the latest data available.
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 San Francisco (SFO) → Denver (DEN) route is operated by Frontier Airlines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines. Across 1671 flights monitored in recent months, 78% arrived on time (within 15 min of schedule), with an average delay of 12 minutes. The cancellation rate is 1.86%. FlightGuard's average computed risk is 26.3/100 (medium), updated in real time from weather, ATC delays, strikes, NOTAMs, fuel and flight history. At Denver the average ATFM delay is 2.0 minutes (main cause: atfm). Departing from San Francisco the average ATFM delay is 2.0 minutes.
Heading to Denver: what to expect in this direction
Flying from San Francisco (SFO) to Denver (DEN) heads east for about 1,553 km, a flight time of roughly 2h 22m.
Departures from San Francisco on this leg cluster in the overnight window: about 46% of SFO-DEN flights take off then.
Air-traffic congestion: departing San Francisco the average ATFM delay is 2.0 min (atfm); arriving into Denver it is 2.0 min (atfm).
Across 1,671 tracked SFO-DEN flights, 78% left on time with an average delay of 12 min and a 1.9% 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) | 74% | 10 min | 6.9% |
| Frontier Airlines (F9) | 74% | 15 min | 2.2% |
| Southwest Airlines (WN) | 73% | 6 min | 3.1% |
Airlines operating SFO-DEN
Airports
Frequently asked questions about SFO-DEN
On the San Francisco (SFO) -> Denver (DEN) route, on-time performance is 78% with an average delay of 12 minutes, based on 1671 tracked flights.
The cancellation rate on San Francisco-Denver is 1.86% across 1671 monitored flights.
The route is operated by 3 airlines: Frontier Airlines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines.
Enter your flight number on FlightGuard for a real-time analysis based on 9 factors: weather at Denver, 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.
