San Francisco to Washington

What the Data Says About SFO to IAD

The San Francisco to Washington corridor (SFO → IAD) covers roughly 2,419 miles and is served by 3 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 13,278 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 82.9% on-time rate with an average delay of 65.3 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 5,633 flights were recorded on this pairing — 49 cancelled (0.9%) and 12 diverted (0.2%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 3 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 13,278 total flights analyzed, the 82.9% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 65.3-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, Apr 2025 posted the best performance on this corridor at 91% on-time, while Jul 2025 came in at 66% on-time — a 25-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the SFO to IAD route, the combination of a 82.9% on-time rate, 65.3-minute average delay, 0.9% recent cancellation rate, and 3 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.