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DelayAtlas

Transatlantic route · frequency, carriers and airport records

BCN→SFO

Barcelona to San Francisco

Flights
510 both ways
Carriers
3
Distance
5,956 mi
Period
July 2025 to June 2026
—GRADE

No public record scores Barcelona El Prat to San Francisco International flight by flight. The US Department of Transportation's on-time database covers domestic flights only, and in Europe only the United Kingdom publishes punctuality by route, so what follows is built from the three measurements that do exist. The DOT's international report counts 510 flights between the two airports in the twelve months to June 2026, about five departures a week in each direction, flown by United, Iberia and LEVEL. EUROCONTROL's year-to-date figure has 66.0% of all departures from Barcelona El Prat leaving within 15 minutes of schedule and 76.6% of arrivals landing within 15 minutes. At the other end, 75.3% of SFO's domestic departures arrived on time in the DOT data, which says something about how the airport itself runs, not about this route.

On EUROCONTROL's year-to-date arrival punctuality, Barcelona El Prat ranks 24th of the 41 European airports on this site with service to the United States. Bilbao leads that table at 84.3% and Manchester closes it at 65.7%. A long-haul departure inherits the airport's morning: an aircraft that arrived late from its previous sector, or a departure queue built up by weather, delays the transatlantic wave with everything else.

Key figures

Flights

510

Both directions, July 2025 to June 2026 (DOT)

Carriers

3

United Airlines, Iberia, LEVEL

BCN departures on time

66.0%

All destinations, year to date (EUROCONTROL)

SFO domestic on time

75.3%

US DOT, last twelve months of domestic departures

Without a route-level record, the useful question is what the two airports do to a schedule. EUROCONTROL attributes 1.9 minutes of air traffic flow management delay per arriving flight to Barcelona El Prat so far this year; that is delay imposed by the network to hold traffic on the ground elsewhere, not the airline's own. In the DOT data, a delayed domestic departure from SFO ran about an hour late on average over the last twelve months, and 1.00% of its scheduled flights were cancelled.

Carrier by carrier

Who flies BCN to SFO

United Airlines flew 70% of the 510 flights between BCN and SFO in the DOT's count, with Iberia on 115 and LEVEL on 40. Loads averaged 241 passengers a flight, which on this route means wide-body aircraft nearly full.

Carriers on BCN to SFO by flights operated
AirlineFlightsSharePer monthPassengers / flight
United Airlines35570%30237
Iberia11523%10252
LEVEL408%3254

DOT international report, July 2025 to June 2026; flights in both directions together. No delay figures exist for this pair in any public source.

Across the year

How often BCN to SFO flies through the year

The DOT's international report puts 98 flights on the pair in July 2025, the busiest month of the window, and 0 in January 2026, the thinnest. A summer-to-winter swing of that size means the winter schedule is a different operation: fewer frequencies, so a cancellation leaves a longer wait for the next seat.

Flights per month, both directions

  • July 202598
  • August 202596
  • September 202584
  • October 202585
  • November 20250
  • December 20250
  • January 20260
  • February 20261
  • March 20265
  • April 202621
  • May 202661
  • June 202659
Flights in both directions together, as the DOT international report counts them; flights per calendar month.

The DOT's international report counts flights in both directions together: 510 between BCN and SFO from July 2025 to June 2026, about five departures a week in each direction, carrying 123,140 passengers. That makes it the 11th busiest of 11 US routes from Barcelona El Prat and the 10th busiest of 13 European routes into SFO.

The departure airport

How Barcelona El Prat is running

EUROCONTROL's figures for Barcelona El Prat as a whole, every airline and every destination: 66.0% of departures and 76.6% of arrivals within 15 minutes of schedule from 1 January to 21 October 2026, with 95.6% of scheduled flights operated. The last seven days ran at 54.7% for departures, 11 points worse than the year so far. Air traffic flow management delay attributed to the airport averaged 1.9 minutes per arriving flight this year, 5.4 over the last week.

EUROCONTROL punctuality at Barcelona El Prat
WindowDepartures on timeArrivals on timeSchedules operatedATFM delay / arrival
Yesterday (21 October 2026)68.0%80.2%95.6%0.0 min
Last 7 days54.7%64.0%93.4%5.4 min
Year to date66.0%76.6%95.6%1.9 min

Every US route from Barcelona El Prat, and its full punctuality record

The arrival airport

Landing at San Francisco International

San Francisco International is scored on this site from the DOT's domestic data: 75.3% of its 148,532 domestic departures arrived on time over the last twelve months, with delayed flights running about an hour late, and 1.00% were cancelled. Those are domestic flights, not this route, but an arriving transatlantic flight shares the same runways, the same weather and the same ground delay programmes, so a bad day at SFO reaches a flight from BCN just as surely. The airport's own page has the hour-by-hour and month-by-month detail, and its live FAA status appears above when the FAA has something to say.

Domestic on time

75.3%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late (DOT)

Avg delay

68 min

Delayed domestic flights only

Cancelled

1.00%

Domestic departures

148,532

Last twelve months

San Francisco International (SFO) delay statistics, hour by hour and month by month

Your rights

EC 261/2004 on BCN to SFO

Every flight that departs Barcelona El Prat falls under Regulation (EC) 261/2004, whichever airline flies it and wherever it lands. If it arrives at San Francisco International three hours or more late, or is cancelled with under 14 days' notice, and the cause was within the airline's control, each passenger is owed €600 (€300 if the airline got you there under four hours late), on top of rebooking and care. Weather, air traffic control restrictions and strikes outside the airline are the usual exemptions. The return flight from SFO is covered only when the carrier is EU based. The sector is about 5,956 miles, 9,583 km, which puts it in the top distance band.

Delayed three hours or more? Check a claim with Compensair →

What to do with this

Booking BCN to SFO

There is no grade to give BCN to SFO without a route record, and this site does not invent one. What the three sources support: about five departures a week in each direction, a choice of three carriers, a departure airport that gets 66% of its departures away on time and an arrival airport that runs 75% on time domestically. Leave two hours for any onward connection at SFO; immigration comes before the connecting flight.

Common questions

BCN to SFO questions

How often are BCN to SFO flights delayed?

No public dataset records delays for this route flight by flight: the US on-time database is domestic only and only the UK publishes route-level punctuality in Europe. The nearest measurements are the departure airport's EUROCONTROL punctuality (66.0% of departures within 15 minutes this year) and SFO's domestic record in the DOT data (75.3% on time).

Which airlines fly BCN to SFO?

United Airlines, Iberia and LEVEL, in order of flights operated between July 2025 and June 2026. United Airlines accounted for 70% of the 510 flights the DOT counted on the pair.

Can I claim compensation for a delayed BCN to SFO flight?

Yes, if the flight arrived three hours or more late or was cancelled at short notice for a reason within the airline's control: departures from Barcelona El Prat are covered by EC 261/2004 whichever airline operates them. The fixed amount for a sector of this length is €600 a passenger, €300 if the airline got you there under four hours late. The return from SFO is covered only on an EU carrier.

How many flights a day are there from BCN to SFO?

About five departures a week in each direction: the DOT counted 510 flights in both directions over twelve months, peaking at 98 in July 2025 and falling to 0 in January 2026.

Related

Where to go next

Spain publishes no route-level punctuality, so this page cannot grade the route. The UK pages in this section can, because the CAA does.

Sources: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, International Report (flights and passengers by carrier and airport pair), July 2025 to June 2026; EUROCONTROL Aviation Intelligence Portal, airport punctuality and ATFM delay to 21 October 2026. Rebuilt 22 October 2026; the EUROCONTROL figures refresh with each weekly build, the others when their publisher releases a month. How these sources differ.