Transatlantic route · frequency, carriers and airport records
MUC→SFO
Munich to San Francisco
- Flights
- 1,415 both ways
- Carriers
- 2
- Distance
- 5,864 mi
- Period
- July 2025 to June 2026
No public record scores Munich 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 1,415 flights between the two airports in the twelve months to June 2026, about two departures a day in each direction, flown by Lufthansa and United. EUROCONTROL's year-to-date figure has 71.0% of all departures from Munich leaving within 15 minutes of schedule and 80.0% 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, Munich ranks 5th 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
1,415
Both directions, July 2025 to June 2026 (DOT)
Carriers
2
Lufthansa, United Airlines
MUC departures on time
71.0%
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 0.4 minutes of air traffic flow management delay per arriving flight to Munich 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 MUC to SFO
Lufthansa flew 50% of the 1,415 flights between MUC and SFO in the DOT's count, with United Airlines on 707. Loads averaged 252 passengers a flight, which on this route means wide-body aircraft nearly full.
| Airline | Flights | Share | Per month | Passengers / flight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lufthansa | 708 | 50% | 59 | 270 |
| United Airlines | 707 | 50% | 59 | 233 |
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 MUC to SFO flies through the year
The DOT's international report puts 123 flights on the pair in July 2025, the busiest month of the window, and 102 in February 2026, the thinnest. The schedule is close to flat through the year, which usually means business traffic rather than holiday demand underwrites it.
Flights per month, both directions
- July 2025123
- August 2025122
- September 2025119
- October 2025121
- November 2025120
- December 2025123
- January 2026115
- February 2026102
- March 2026116
- April 2026112
- May 2026123
- June 2026119
The DOT's international report counts flights in both directions together: 1,415 between MUC and SFO from July 2025 to June 2026, about two departures a day in each direction, carrying 356,087 passengers. That makes it the 3rd busiest of 16 US routes from Munich and the 4th busiest of 13 European routes into SFO.
The departure airport
How Munich is running
EUROCONTROL's figures for Munich as a whole, every airline and every destination: 71.0% of departures and 80.0% of arrivals within 15 minutes of schedule from 1 January to 21 October 2026, with 95.7% of scheduled flights operated. The last seven days ran at 70.4% for departures, in line with the year. Air traffic flow management delay attributed to the airport averaged 0.4 minutes per arriving flight this year, 0.6 over the last week.
| Window | Departures on time | Arrivals on time | Schedules operated | ATFM delay / arrival |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yesterday (21 October 2026) | 80.8% | 86.4% | 95.8% | 0.0 min |
| Last 7 days | 70.4% | 78.1% | 97.6% | 0.6 min |
| Year to date | 71.0% | 80.0% | 95.7% | 0.4 min |
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 MUC 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 MUC to SFO
Every flight that departs Munich 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 5,864 miles, 9,435 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 MUC to SFO
There is no grade to give MUC to SFO without a route record, and this site does not invent one. What the three sources support: about two departures a day in each direction, a choice of two carriers, a departure airport that gets 71% 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
MUC to SFO questions
How often are MUC 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 (71.0% of departures within 15 minutes this year) and SFO's domestic record in the DOT data (75.3% on time).
Which airlines fly MUC to SFO?
Lufthansa and United Airlines, in order of flights operated between July 2025 and June 2026. Lufthansa accounted for 50% of the 1,415 flights the DOT counted on the pair.
Can I claim compensation for a delayed MUC 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 Munich 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 MUC to SFO?
About two departures a day in each direction: the DOT counted 1,415 flights in both directions over twelve months, peaking at 123 in July 2025 and falling to 102 in February 2026.
Related
Where to go next
- Munich (MUC): every US route
- San Francisco International (SFO) delay statistics
- MUC to ORD, Chicago (ORD)1,689 flights
- MUC to EWR, Newark (EWR)1,417 flights
- MUC to CLT, Charlotte (CLT)1,321 flights
- MUC to IAD, Washington (IAD)1,276 flights
- LHR to SFO, from London4,340 flights
- FRA to SFO, from Frankfurt2,330 flights
- CDG to SFO, from Paris1,679 flights
- AMS to SFO, from Amsterdam1,107 flights
- Every Europe-to-US route and airport
Germany 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.