Portland to San Francisco

What the Data Says About PDX to SFO

The Portland to San Francisco corridor (PDX → SFO) covers roughly 550 miles and is served by 21 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 19,485 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 81.6% on-time rate with an average delay of 66.2 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 7,122 flights were recorded on this pairing — 78 cancelled (1.1%) and 8 diverted (0.1%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 21 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 19,485 total flights analyzed, the 81.6% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 66.2-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 89% on-time, while Apr 2024 came in at 42% on-time — a 47-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the PDX to SFO route, the combination of a 81.6% on-time rate, 66.2-minute average delay, 1.1% recent cancellation rate, and 21 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.