Flights San Francisco → Washington
SFO → IAD
Route overview
The flight route from San Francisco to Washington has an on-time performance rate of 84%, with an average delay of 7.8 minutes per flight. Over the past year, there have been 629 flights on this route using various aircraft models including Boeing 757-300, Boeing 757-200, Boeing 737-800, Boeing 737-900, Airbus A320, and Airbus A319. The destination airport serves over 21 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) → Washington (IAD) route is operated by United Airlines. Across 784 flights monitored in recent months, 82% arrived on time (within 15 min of schedule), with an average delay of 11 minutes. The cancellation rate is 4.34%. FlightGuard's average computed risk is 16.8/100 (medium), updated in real time from weather, ATC delays, strikes, NOTAMs, fuel and flight history. At Washington 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 Washington: what to expect in this direction
Flying from San Francisco (SFO) to Washington (IAD) heads east for about 3,883 km, a flight time of roughly 5h 16m.
Departures from San Francisco on this leg cluster in the overnight window: about 42% of SFO-IAD flights take off then.
Air-traffic congestion: departing San Francisco the average ATFM delay is 2.0 min (atfm); arriving into Washington it is 2.0 min (atfm).
Across 784 tracked SFO-IAD flights, 82% left on time with an average delay of 11 min and a 4.3% 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-IAD
Airports
Frequently asked questions about SFO-IAD
On the San Francisco (SFO) -> Washington (IAD) route, on-time performance is 82% with an average delay of 11 minutes, based on 784 tracked flights.
The cancellation rate on San Francisco-Washington is 4.34% across 784 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 Washington, 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.
