Flights San Francisco → Houston
SFO → IAH
How long is the flight from San Francisco to Houston?
The flight from San Francisco (SFO) to Houston (IAH) takes 3h 28m on average. That is the median time recorded across 5 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 San Francisco to Houston operates with a high level of punctuality, with 86% of flights arriving on time. The average delay for the route is just 6.5 minutes, and it sees a total of 887 flights annually. The destination airport serves over 40 million passengers per year, indicating significant traffic. A variety of aircraft types are used on this route, including Airbus A319s, Boeing 737-900s, Boeing 757-300s, and others.
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) → Houston (IAH) route is operated by United Airlines. Across 2108 flights monitored in recent months, 82% arrived on time (within 15 min of schedule), with an average delay of 10 minutes. The cancellation rate is 1.57%. FlightGuard's average computed risk is 27.8/100 (medium), updated in real time from weather, ATC delays, strikes, NOTAMs, fuel and flight history. At Houston the average ATFM delay is 5.5 minutes (main cause: atfm). Departing from San Francisco the average ATFM delay is 5.5 minutes.
Heading to Houston: what to expect in this direction
Flying from San Francisco (SFO) to Houston (IAH) heads east for about 2,627 km, a flight time of roughly 3h 28m.
Departures from San Francisco on this leg cluster in the overnight window: about 38% of SFO-IAH flights take off then.
Air-traffic congestion: departing San Francisco the average ATFM delay is 5.5 min (atfm); arriving into Houston it is 5.5 min (atfm).
Across 2,108 tracked SFO-IAH flights, 82% left on time with an average delay of 10 min and a 1.6% 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 SFO-IAH
Airports
Frequently asked questions about SFO-IAH
The flight from San Francisco (SFO) to Houston (IAH) takes 3h 28m on average. That is the median time recorded across 5 scheduled flights on this leg; the actual time varies by a few minutes with wind, routing and take-off queues.
On the San Francisco (SFO) -> Houston (IAH) route, on-time performance is 82% with an average delay of 10 minutes, based on 2108 tracked flights.
The cancellation rate on San Francisco-Houston is 1.57% across 2108 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 Houston, 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.
