Flights Washington → San Francisco
IAD → SFO
Route overview
The flight route from Washington to San Francisco operates with a high level of punctuality, with 86% of flights arriving on time. Over the course of a year, an average of 627 flights are conducted using various aircraft models including Boeing 757-200 and Airbus A320, serving a destination airport that sees over 50 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 Washington (IAD) → San Francisco (SFO) route is operated by United Airlines. Across 780 flights monitored in recent months, 84% arrived on time (within 15 min of schedule), with an average delay of 13 minutes. The cancellation rate is 3.59%. FlightGuard's average computed risk is 19.7/100 (medium), updated in real time from weather, ATC delays, strikes, NOTAMs, fuel and flight history. At San Francisco the average ATFM delay is 2.0 minutes (main cause: atfm). Departing from Washington the average ATFM delay is 2.0 minutes.
Heading to San Francisco: what to expect in this direction
Flying from Washington (IAD) to San Francisco (SFO) heads west for about 3,883 km, a flight time of roughly 5h 16m.
Departures from Washington on this leg cluster in the overnight window: about 30% of IAD-SFO flights take off then.
Air-traffic congestion: departing Washington the average ATFM delay is 2.0 min (atfm); arriving into San Francisco it is 2.0 min (atfm).
Across 780 tracked IAD-SFO flights, 84% left on time with an average delay of 13 min and a 3.6% 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 IAD-SFO
Airports
Frequently asked questions about IAD-SFO
On the Washington (IAD) -> San Francisco (SFO) route, on-time performance is 84% with an average delay of 13 minutes, based on 780 tracked flights.
The cancellation rate on Washington-San Francisco is 3.59% across 780 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 San Francisco, 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.
