Carrier performance at one airport
AS→SFO
Alaska Airlines at San Francisco International
- Departures
- 10,622
- Period
- June 2025 to May 2026
- Routes
- 19
- Rank here
- #6 of 9
Alaska Airlines at San Francisco lands a B, about a point worse than the national rate of 77.4%. About one flight in four arrive 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by about an hour on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 10,622 flights, of which United Airlines flew 59,976 at 81.7% on time.
Measured against the airport rather than the country, Alaska Airlines runs 2 points behind the 78.3% weighted average across all carriers at SFO. That is the comparison worth making: every operator here works the same runways, the same airspace and the same weather.
Key figures
On time
76.1%
10,475 completed departures
Avg delay
55 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
1.13%
At SFO, this carrier only
Rank here
#6
Of 9 carriers clearing the floor at SFO
These figures cover 11,000 flights between June 2025 and May 2026. The median arrival is 5 minutes early, which is the part an average hides: most flights here are fine, and the on-time rate is decided by a tail of badly late ones. On-time means under 15 minutes late, the DOT's own threshold.
Against the competition
Every carrier at SFO, ranked
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. United Airlines arrives on time 81.7% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 61.9%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 9,132 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 59,976 | 81.7% | 59 min | 0.56% | B+ |
| Delta Air Lines | 13,738 | 80.0% | 70 min | 1.21% | B |
| JetBlue Airways | 4,340 | 80.0% | 75 min | 1.57% | B |
| American Airlines | 11,739 | 78.5% | 101 min | 1.88% | B |
| SkyWest Airlines | 32,426 | 77.8% | 74 min | 1.19% | B |
| Alaska Airlines (this page) | 10,622 | 76.1% | 55 min | 1.13% | B |
| Hawaiian Airlines | 593 | 75.6% | 65 min | 1.85% | B |
| Frontier Airlines | 3,323 | 65.5% | 83 min | 1.93% | C |
| Southwest Airlines | 9,132 | 61.9% | 58 min | 0.79% | D+ |
The spread between United and Southwest is 20 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 20 more arrivals inside the on-time window.
Route by route
Where Alaska Airlines flies from SFO
Alaska Airlines operates 19 routes out of SFO with enough volume to report. Route records inside one carrier at one airport still spread widely, because a short shuttle and a transcontinental have very different exposure to a late inbound.
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SFO to SEA · Seattle | 2,747 | 67.7% | 53 min | 1.64% | C |
| SFO to PDX · Portland | 1,383 | 81.5% | 61 min | 0.51% | B+ |
| SFO to LAS · Las Vegas | 1,134 | 76.7% | 64 min | 0.88% | B+ |
| SFO to JFK · New York | 1,109 | 74.9% | 58 min | 1.98% | C |
| SFO to EWR · Newark | 664 | 85.7% | 61 min | 1.20% | A |
| SFO to LAX · Los Angeles | 506 | 73.0% | 48 min | 0.99% | C+ |
| SFO to AUS · Austin | 403 | 84.4% | 54 min | 0.99% | B+ |
| SFO to MCO · Orlando | 370 | 84.9% | 58 min | 0.54% | B+ |
| SFO to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 363 | 77.7% | 56 min | 1.10% | B |
| SFO to SAN · San Diegothin sample | 304 | 88.5% | 52 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SFO to HNL · Honoluluthin sample | 301 | 64.4% | 54 min | 1.99% | D |
| SFO to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 294 | 76.8% | 52 min | 0.34% | B+ |
| SFO to KOA · Kailua-Konathin sample | 203 | 89.1% | 54 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SFO to LIH · Lihuethin sample | 179 | 88.8% | 25 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SFO to OGG · Kahuluithin sample | 176 | 87.4% | 53 min | 1.14% | A |
| SFO to IAD · Washingtonthin sample | 158 | 48.4% | 52 min | 0.63% | F+ |
| SFO to ANC · Anchoragethin sample | 157 | 85.4% | 34 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| SFO to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 80 | 61.3% | 52 min | 3.75% | D− |
| SFO to SNA · Santa Anathin sample | 79 | 87.3% | 56 min | 0.00% | A+ |
Departure window
Best time of day for this operation
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 23 points, against 20 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am2,511 flights89.2%
- 8am–11am2,433 flights75.6%
- 11am–2pm1,434 flights66.6%
- 2pm–5pm1,215 flights72.1%
- 5pm–8pm1,746 flights72.1%
- 8pm–5am1,283 flights71.4%
Scale runs 60% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The weak window here is the middle of the day, not the evening: 11am–2pm runs 66.6% on time against 89.2% for 5am–8am. That shape usually means a departure bank rather than an accumulating delay, so the recovery later in the afternoon is real rather than noise.
Across the year
Seasonal pattern
June is the worst month at 67.6% on time, 21 points below February, the best at 88.3%. Summer afternoon convection and peak-season schedules land on the same weeks every year, so this is a pattern you can book around rather than a run of bad luck.
Delay causes
What holds this operation up
- 41%Late-arriving aircraft
- 29%National Airspace System
- 29%Carrier
- 2%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
41% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. That is a cascade, and cascades start small and grow through the day. Across 138,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 27 to one. It is the strongest argument for booking the first departure of the morning, when the aircraft has been sitting at the gate overnight with nothing to inherit.
Cancellations sit at 1.13% against a national 1.80%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.25%.
6.8% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 8.2%. That is the figure that decides a connection, and it says a 60 to 75 minute layover is reasonable here while anything under 45 minutes is a bet. Most delays on this route are the about an hour kind, which a normal layover absorbs.
The sample behind these figures is 10,622 flights, enough that the headline rate is stable to within roughly a point. The hour-block and month splits divide that further, so read the thinner bars with more caution than the headline.
Put together: the calendar is the biggest lever here, not the carrier or the hour. February runs 88.3% on time and June 67.6%, a swing of 21 points. If the dates move at all, move them out of June before you think about anything else.
Common questions
Alaska Airlines at SFO
How often is Alaska Airlines at SFO delayed?
About one flight in four arrive at least 15 minutes late, which is the Department of Transportation's definition of a delayed arrival. That works out to 23.9% of the 10,622 flights in this analysis, against 22.6% nationally. Delayed flights are late by about an hour on average.
Which airline is most reliable on Alaska Airlines at SFO?
United Airlines leads at 81.7% on time across 59,976 flights. Southwest Airlines is at the other end on 61.9%, a gap of 20 points. Sample size matters as much as the percentage: a rate built from a few hundred flights moves around far more than one built from ten thousand.
What time of day has the fewest delays on Alaska Airlines at SFO?
The 5am–8am departure window is the strongest at 89.2% on time. The 11am–2pm window is the weakest at 66.6%, 23 points behind. Later departures inherit delays from earlier flights the same aircraft has already flown, which is why the curve slopes the way it does.
How bad are June delays on Alaska Airlines at SFO?
June is the weakest month at 67.6% on time, compared with 88.3% in February. Across the year that is 21 points between the best and worst months. Moving flexible dates out of that month is one of the few things that reliably helps.
Related
Where to go next
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, June 2025 to May 2026. Updated monthly. How this data is collected.