New York to San Francisco

What the Data Says About JFK to SFO

The New York to San Francisco corridor (JFK → SFO) covers roughly 2,586 miles and is served by 20 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 35,481 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 81.9% on-time rate with an average delay of 75.5 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 13,159 flights were recorded on this pairing — 125 cancelled (0.9%) and 24 diverted (0.2%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 20 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 35,481 total flights analyzed, the 81.9% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 75.5-minute average delay applies only to flights that actually ran late, so it is not the average wait across all departures — the majority of flights on this route depart on time under the BTS definition of a delay (15+ minutes past schedule).

Looking at recent months, Jan 2025 posted the best performance on this corridor at 92% on-time, while Dec 2025 came in at 66% on-time — a 26-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the JFK to SFO route, the combination of a 81.9% on-time rate, 75.5-minute average delay, 0.9% recent cancellation rate, and 20 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.