Palm Springs to San Francisco

What the Data Says About PSP to SFO

The Palm Springs to San Francisco corridor (PSP → SFO) covers roughly 421 miles and is served by 9 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 14,385 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 79.5% on-time rate with an average delay of 73.1 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 4,816 flights were recorded on this pairing — 40 cancelled (0.8%) and 25 diverted (0.5%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 9 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 14,385 total flights analyzed, the 79.5% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 73.1-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, Jun 2025 posted the best performance on this corridor at 84% on-time, while Mar 2024 came in at 43% on-time — a 40-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the PSP to SFO route, the combination of a 79.5% on-time rate, 73.1-minute average delay, 0.8% recent cancellation rate, and 9 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.