Flights San Francisco → New Orleans
SFO → MSY
Route overview
The flight route from San Francisco to New Orleans operates with an average on-time performance rate of 75%, experiencing a mean delay of 12.8 minutes per flight. Over the course of a year, this route sees approximately 141 flights using aircraft such as Airbus A320 and Boeing 737-800, serving a busy destination airport that handles nearly 11,895,985 passengers annually.
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) → New Orleans (MSY) route is operated by United Airlines. Across 172 flights monitored in recent months, 75% arrived on time (within 15 min of schedule), with an average delay of 13 minutes. The cancellation rate is 0.58%. FlightGuard's average computed risk is 17.5/100 (medium), updated in real time from weather, ATC delays, strikes, NOTAMs, fuel and flight history. At New Orleans 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 New Orleans: what to expect in this direction
Flying from San Francisco (SFO) to New Orleans (MSY) heads east for about 3,069 km, a flight time of roughly 4h 15m.
Departures from San Francisco on this leg cluster in the overnight window: about 68% of SFO-MSY flights take off then.
Air-traffic congestion: departing San Francisco the average ATFM delay is 2.0 min (atfm); arriving into New Orleans it is 2.0 min (atfm).
Across 172 tracked SFO-MSY flights, 75% left on time with an average delay of 13 min and a 0.6% 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) | 74% | 10 min | 6.9% |
Airlines operating SFO-MSY
Airports
Frequently asked questions about SFO-MSY
On the San Francisco (SFO) -> New Orleans (MSY) route, on-time performance is 75% with an average delay of 13 minutes, based on 172 tracked flights.
The cancellation rate on San Francisco-New Orleans is 0.58% across 172 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 New Orleans, 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.
