Carrier route record
UASFO→MSP
United Airlines · San Francisco to Minneapolis
- Flights
- 355
- Period
- September 2025 to August 2026
- Share of route
- 18%
- Carriers
- 3
Historical statistics for September 2025 to August 2026, not live status. For today’s flights, check with United Airlines.
United on SFO to MSP lands a B+, level with the national rate of 77.3%. Roughly one flight in four arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by about an hour on average. That rests on 355 flights, with a median arrival 6 minutes early.
The US average over the same twelve months is 77.3%, so there is little to separate United on SFO to MSP from the country as a whole. The variation that matters here is internal: which carrier, and what time of day.
Key figures
On time
77.1%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 354 completed flights
Avg delay
63 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
0.00%
National rate is 1.89%
Whole route
78.6%
Every carrier on SFO to MSP, 1,927 flights
These figures cover 355 flights between September 2025 and August 2026. Beyond the headline rate, 8.2% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 8.3% nationally.
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Carrier by carrier
United against every carrier on SFO to MSP
United flew 355 of the 1,927 flights on SFO to MSP, about 18% of it. Its 77.1% on time is 2 points worse than the route as a whole, which runs 78.6%. Ranked by on-time rate it is number two of three carriers on the route, where the range runs from Delta at 79.6% to SkyWest at 71.5%. One of those carriers flew fewer than 365 flights here, so treat their positions as rough.
Only one carrier clears this site's 365-flight floor here, so there is no comparison to draw. The table below is the full picture.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 1,449 | 79.6% | 60 min | 0.83% | B+ |
| United Airlines (this page)thin sample | 355 | 77.1% | 63 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| SkyWest Airlinesthin sample | 123 | 71.5% | 61 min | 0.00% | C+ |
Timetable by Aviasales, a Travelpayouts partner. Booking through it may earn this site a commission at no cost to you; it changes no figure here.
Departure window
When United runs best on this route
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 28 points, against half a point between the best and worst carrier.
- 5am–8am—
- 8am–11am223 flights79.8%
- 11am–2pm63 flights84.1%
- 2pm–5pm50 flights56.0%
- 5pm–8pm19 flights—
- 8pm–5am—
Scale runs 50% to 90%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The best window here is not the first bank but the 11am–2pm slot at 84.1% on time, ahead of 2pm–5pm at 56.0%. Where the curve peaks mid-day rather than at dawn, the constraint is usually congestion at one end rather than the aircraft's own rotation. The 8am–11am window is the busiest, with 223 flights scheduled in it.
Across the year
United on SFO to MSP through the year
- Jul–Sep 202529 flights—
- Oct–Dec 202572 flights88.9%
- Jan–Mar 202685 flights80.0%
- Apr–Jun 2026101 flights76.0%
- Jul–Sep 202668 flights61.8%
Scale runs 55% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Monthly volumes are too low here to break the year into twelve reliable readings. What the twelve-month total says is 77.1% on time across 355 flights.
United on SFO to MSP did not run the same all year. Its best quarter was Oct–Dec 2025 at 88.9% on time and its weakest Jul–Sep 2026 at 61.8%, a swing of 27 points on roughly 89 flights a quarter. The twelve-month rate averages over that, so if you are flying in a weak quarter the quarter's own figure is the better guide.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 88.5% on time and Sunday the weakest at 70.4%, a spread of 18 points.
Arrival by arrival
How late United on SFO to MSP runs when it is late
United on SFO to MSP often beats the schedule: 117 of 354 completed flights, 33%, arrived 15 minutes or more early. The 81 late arrivals split 32 under half an hour, 20 between 30 and 60 minutes, and 29 an hour or more.
- 15+ min early117 flights33.1%
- Within 15 min156 flights44.1%
- 15–29 min late32 flights9.0%
- 30–59 min late20 flights5.6%
- 1–2 hours late20 flights5.6%
- 2+ hours late9 flights2.5%
Scale runs 0% to 100%.
Share of 354 completed flights by arrival against schedule.
15 of 86 late departures made up the time and arrived on time, 17% of them. 10 flights left on time and still arrived late.
The worst days
Worst days for United on SFO to MSP
The latest arrival of the period was on 26 July 2026, 7 hours 36 minutes behind schedule; most of its delay minutes were filed as a late-arriving aircraft. The same cause led on four of the five worst days.
| Date | Arrived late by | Largest filed cause |
|---|---|---|
| 26 July 2026 | 7 hours 36 minutes | Late-arriving aircraft |
| 15 July 2026 | 6 hours 51 minutes | Late-arriving aircraft |
| 20 April 2026 | 3 hours 35 minutes | Late-arriving aircraft |
| 21 February 2026 | 3 hours 29 minutes | Late-arriving aircraft |
| 6 March 2026 | 2 hours 59 minutes | Carrier |
Delay causes
Why United runs late on this route
Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 69% of the 5,066 delay minutes carriers reported here, and the remaining four split what is left.
- 69%Late-arriving aircraft
- 22%Carrier
- 9%National Airspace System
69% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. Across 5,066 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 69 to one. The split is drawn from 5,066 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations are rare at 0.00%, below the national 1.89% and low enough to earn the plus on the grade. Almost no flights are called off; the risk here is arriving late, not not arriving.
Connections and stage length
What a delay here costs
8.2% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 8.3%, so a 60 to 75 minute layover is reasonable here while anything under 45 minutes is a bet. Most delays on this route last about an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.
At 1,589 miles this is transcontinental flying, and long routes get a quiet structural advantage. Scheduled block time on a flight this length carries more padding in absolute minutes, so a twenty-minute late departure often still becomes an on-time arrival. Read the on-time rate here as slightly flattering next to a short-haul route with the same operational quality.
The return leg runs 74.6% on time across 356 flights, within 3 points of this direction. The two legs are scored separately because they usually differ; on this city pair they happen not to.
One caution: this is a thin sample. 355 flights over twelve months is enough to clear this site's floor but not enough to pin the rate down tightly, and a single bad week moves it by more than a point. Treat the grade as a rough reading.
What to do with this
Booking United on SFO to MSP
Put together: treat all of this as provisional. 355 flights over twelve months is enough to clear this site's floor and not enough to be confident to better than a couple of points. The 77.1% headline is the most reliable number on the page; the hour and month splits below it are built on a few dozen flights each. 354 completed flights over 12 months sit behind that.
Related
Where to go next
- SFO to MSP, every carrier
- United on MSP to SFO, the return leg
- Delta Air Lines on SFO to MSP79.6%
- SkyWest Airlines on SFO to MSP71.5%
- United Airlines network-wide record
- San Francisco International (SFO) delay statistics
- Minneapolis-St Paul International (MSP) delay statistics
- Why the first flight of the morning is statistically safest
- The best time of day to fly, according to 7.05 million flight records
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, September 2025 to August 2026. Last updated ; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.