Flights San Francisco → New York
SFO → JFK
How long is the flight from San Francisco to New York?
The flight from San Francisco (SFO) to New York (JFK) takes 5h 7m on average. That is the median time recorded across 8 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 New York has a high on-time performance rate of 83%, with an average delay of 11.6 minutes per flight. Over the past year, this route has seen 1541 flights operated by various aircraft including Boeing 767-300, Airbus A321, Airbus A320, and Boeing 757 models. The destination airport in New York opened in 1948 and currently handles over 62 million 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 York (JFK) route is operated by American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines. Across 4023 flights monitored in recent months, 77% arrived on time (within 15 min of schedule), with an average delay of 17 minutes. The cancellation rate is 3.11%. FlightGuard's average computed risk is 23.9/100 (medium), updated in real time from weather, ATC delays, strikes, NOTAMs, fuel and flight history. At New York 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 New York: what to expect in this direction
Flying from San Francisco (SFO) to New York (JFK) heads east for about 4,152 km, a flight time of roughly 5h 7m.
Departures from San Francisco on this leg cluster in the overnight window: about 50% of SFO-JFK flights take off then.
Air-traffic congestion: departing San Francisco the average ATFM delay is 5.5 min (atfm); arriving into New York it is 5.5 min (atfm).
Across 4,023 tracked SFO-JFK flights, 77% left on time with an average delay of 17 min and a 3.1% cancellation rate.
Route facts
Flights on this route
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Airline punctuality on this route
| Airline | On-time | Average delay | Cancellations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines (DL) | 85% | 1 min | 0.8% |
| Alaska Airlines (AS) | 85% | -1 min | 0.5% |
| United Airlines (UA) | 83% | 5 min | 1.3% |
| American Airlines (AA) | 79% | 6 min | 1.1% |
| JetBlue Airways (B6) | 79% | 7 min | 0.1% |
Airlines operating SFO-JFK
Airports
Frequently asked questions about SFO-JFK
The flight from San Francisco (SFO) to New York (JFK) takes 5h 7m on average. That is the median time recorded across 8 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) -> New York (JFK) route, on-time performance is 77% with an average delay of 17 minutes, based on 4023 tracked flights.
The cancellation rate on San Francisco-New York is 3.11% across 4023 monitored flights.
The route is operated by 5 airlines: American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines.
Enter your flight number on FlightGuard for a real-time analysis based on 9 factors: weather at New York, 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.
