Carrier performance at one airport

AS→SFO

Alaska Airlines at San Francisco International

Departures: 10,554
Period: July 2025 to June 2026
Routes: 19
Rank here: #5 of 9

Alaska Airlines at San Francisco lands a B, about a point worse than the national rate of 77.6%. About one flight in four arrive 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by about 55 minutes on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 10,554 flights, of which United Airlines flew 60,681 at 81.1% on time.

Measured against the airport rather than the country, Alaska Airlines runs about a point behind the 77.3% 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.

On time

76.3%

10,414 completed departures

Avg delay

55 min

Across delayed flights only

Cancelled

1.07%

At SFO, this carrier only

Rank here

Of 9 carriers clearing the floor at SFO

These figures cover 11,000 flights between July 2025 and June 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 81.1% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 59.0%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 9,408 flights means less than a ten-point one.

On-time performance of all carriers departing SFO
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
United Airlines	60,681	81.1%	59 min	0.55%	B+
Delta Air Lines	13,817	78.7%	68 min	1.19%	B
JetBlue Airways	4,397	78.6%	75 min	1.61%	B
American Airlines	11,833	77.9%	106 min	1.88%	B
Alaska Airlines (this page)	10,554	76.3%	55 min	1.07%	B
SkyWest Airlines	32,078	76.3%	74 min	1.26%	B
Hawaiian Airlines	507	75.1%	67 min	1.97%	B
Frontier Airlines	3,407	65.2%	83 min	1.97%	C
Southwest Airlines	9,408	59.0%	59 min	0.82%	D+

The spread between United and Southwest is 22 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 22 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.

Alaska Airlines routes from SFO
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
SFO to SEA · Seattle	2,719	69.1%	53 min	1.62%	C
SFO to PDX · Portland	1,383	80.2%	57 min	0.51%	B+
SFO to LAS · Las Vegas	1,116	76.5%	66 min	0.81%	B+
SFO to JFK · New York	1,107	76.8%	55 min	1.63%	B
SFO to LAX · Los Angeles	685	69.7%	47 min	0.73%	C+
SFO to EWR · Newark	611	86.0%	60 min	0.82%	A+
SFO to DCA · Washingtonthin sample	364	77.6%	55 min	1.10%	B
SFO to HNL · Honoluluthin sample	361	66.3%	51 min	2.22%	C
SFO to AUS · Austinthin sample	343	84.9%	59 min	0.87%	B+
SFO to MCO · Orlandothin sample	340	84.5%	56 min	0.59%	B+
SFO to SAN · San Diegothin sample	304	88.8%	49 min	0.33%	A+
SFO to BOS · Bostonthin sample	234	77.3%	57 min	0.43%	B+
SFO to KOA · Kailua-Konathin sample	218	89.9%	62 min	0.00%	A+
SFO to OGG · Kahuluithin sample	206	88.2%	55 min	0.97%	A+
SFO to LIH · Lihuethin sample	197	89.8%	31 min	0.00%	A+
SFO to ANC · Anchoragethin sample	157	81.5%	37 min	0.00%	B+
SFO to IAD · Washingtonthin sample	98	46.4%	60 min	1.02%	F
SFO to ORD · Chicagothin sample	50	52.2%	49 min	6.00%	F−
SFO to SNA · Santa Anathin sample	49	87.8%	71 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 25 points, against 22 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am2,535 flights89.8%
8am–11am2,427 flights75.3%
11am–2pm1,390 flights64.9%
2pm–5pm1,241 flights71.6%
5pm–8pm1,735 flights73.2%
8pm–5am1,226 flights72.4%

Scale runs 55% 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 64.9% on time against 89.8% 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. The 5am–8am window is the busiest, with 2,535 flights scheduled in it.

Across the year

Seasonal pattern

Darker means more delays. Figures are on-time percentages.February best, July worst

July is the worst month at 68.4% on time, 20 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. July was the busiest month here, with 1,041 flights.

Delay causes

What holds this operation up

Late-arriving aircraft
44%
Carrier
28%
National Airspace System
26%
Extreme weather
1%
Security
0%

44% 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 135,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 30 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. The split is drawn from 135,091 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations sit at 1.07% against a national 1.81%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.26%.

6.6% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 8.1%. 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 55 minutes kind, which a normal layover absorbs.

The sample behind these figures is 10,554 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 July 68.4%, a swing of 20 points. If the dates move at all, move them out of July before you think about anything else. 10,414 completed flights over 12 months sit behind that.

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 23.7% of the 10,554 flights in this analysis, against 22.4% nationally. Delayed flights are late by about 55 minutes on average.

Which airline is most reliable on Alaska Airlines at SFO?

United Airlines leads at 81.1% on time across 60,681 flights. Southwest Airlines is at the other end on 59.0%, a gap of 22 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 89.8% on time. The 11am–2pm window is the weakest at 64.9%, 25 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 July delays on Alaska Airlines at SFO?

July is the weakest month at 68.4% on time, compared with 88.3% in February. Across the year that is 20 points between the best and worst months. Moving flexible dates out of that month is one of the few things that reliably helps.

Where to go next

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, July 2025 to June 2026. Updated monthly. How this data is collected.

Key figures