LHR→SFO

United Airlines is the most punctual carrier on the departing leg at 80.8% across 929 flights, and British Airways the least at 68.9% across 708. 12 points between them is a large gap for one city pair, large enough to prefer the better carrier at a modest fare difference. No carrier here cancels unusually often; the highest cancellation rate on the route is United Airlines's 1.6%.

Flights are scheduled departures in the CAA file, operated plus cancelled; on time is within 15 minutes of the planned off-block time. The DOT count below includes the return direction and may differ.

June was the weakest month for departures at 67.6% on time and April the strongest at 85.7%, a swing of 18 points across the year. That is a wide seasonal range, wider than the gap between the best and worst carriers, so the month you fly matters more than the airline you pick. The DOT's count puts the busiest month at 434 flights in May 2026 and the thinnest at 270 in February 2026, so capacity follows the summer peak.

Coming the other way, 79.4% of arrivals from San Francisco International into London Heathrow reached the gate within 15 minutes of schedule, across 2,152 flights. 24% arrived more than 15 minutes early, which is normal for an eastbound crossing with the jet stream behind it and a schedule padded for the days it is not. 0.70% of those arrivals were three hours or more late, the figure that decides a compensation claim on the return trip, and 0.6% were cancelled.

EUROCONTROL's figures for London Heathrow as a whole, every airline and every destination: 80.3% of departures and 80.5% of arrivals within 15 minutes of schedule from 1 January to 21 October 2026, with 96.7% of scheduled flights operated. The last seven days ran at 80.8% for departures, in line with the year. Air traffic flow management delay attributed to the airport averaged 1.2 minutes per arriving flight this year, 1.0 over the last week.

Every US route from London Heathrow, and its full punctuality record

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 LHR 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.

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

Every flight that departs London Heathrow falls under UK261, the retained version of the EU regulation, 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 £520 (£260 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 UK or EU based. The sector is about 5,354 miles, 8,615 km, which puts it in the top distance band.

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

Booked blind, LHR to SFO is a B route by the departure record. Booked with the numbers, it is United Airlines at 80.8%, outside June if the dates are flexible, and a connection at SFO with at least two hours in hand, because 5% of departures were an hour or more late and immigration comes before any onward flight.

• London Heathrow (LHR): every US route
• San Francisco International (SFO) delay statistics
• LHR to JFK, New York (JFK)14,572 flights
• LHR to EWR, Newark (EWR)6,322 flights
• LHR to LAX, Los Angeles (LAX)5,981 flights
• LHR to ORD, Chicago (ORD)5,762 flights
• FRA to SFO, from Frankfurt2,330 flights
• CDG to SFO, from Paris1,679 flights
• MUC to SFO, from Munich1,415 flights
• AMS to SFO, from Amsterdam1,107 flights
• Every Europe-to-US route and airport

The departure record is the CAA's, measured at London Heathrow; the arrival record for the return leg is also measured at London Heathrow. Nothing here is measured at SFO, where the DOT keeps no record of international flights.