OnTimeStats

Historical on-time performance

New York to San Francisco

2,586 miData through May 2026Source: US DOT · BTS

Flights on JFK–SFO arrive on time 73% of the time over the last 12 months.

On-time rate73%arrived within 15 min
p90 delay55 min1 in 10 flights is worse (tail risk)
Cancelled2.0%of scheduled flights

based on 6,707 flights over the last 12 months. On-time means arriving within 15 minutes (BTS standard).

By airline

How each carrier compares

Too close to call — no single carrier is clearly more on-time here.

  • JetBlue Airways
    On-time76%
    Medianon time
    p9055 min
    Cancel2.0%
    Flights1,946
  • American Airlines
    On-time75%
    Medianon time
    p9050 min
    Cancel2.7%
    Flights1,421
  • Delta Air Lines
    On-time72%
    Medianon time
    p9060 min
    Cancel1.3%
    Flights2,230
  • Alaska Airlines
    On-time69%
    Medianon time
    p9060 min
    Cancel2.2%
    Flights1,110

Why flights run late

Delay causes

  • Airline28%
  • Weather3%
  • Air traffic (NAS)40%
  • Late aircraft29%
  • Security0%

Most delay minutes here are attributed to Air traffic (NAS).

When flights don't go

Why flights were cancelled

  • Airline15%
  • Weather74%
  • Air traffic (NAS)11%
  • Security0%

Most cancellations here are attributed to Weather. Shares are among 131 cancellations with a reported cause (BTS reports causes from June 2003).

Over time

On-time trend

By season

On-time rate by month

When to fly

Best time to fly JFK → SFO

All airlines · rolling 36 months (2023-06 .. 2026-05).

Best time of day

Mornings are the most reliable time of day to fly this route — 85% on time.

  • Mornings85% on time · p90 20 min · 6,688 flights
  • Middays78% on time · p90 40 min · 3,368 flights
  • Afternoons76% on time · p90 55 min · 3,030 flights
  • Evenings70% on time · p90 65 min · 3,713 flights
  • Overnights67% on time · p90 80 min · 3,431 flights

Best day of week

Tuesdays are the most reliable day to fly this route — 82% on time.

  • Tuesdays82% on time · p90 30 min · 2,900 flights
  • Wednesdays80% on time · p90 35 min · 2,910 flights
  • Thursdays78% on time · p90 50 min · 3,013 flights
  • Fridays76% on time · p90 50 min · 3,015 flights
  • Saturdays75% on time · p90 45 min · 2,356 flights
  • Mondays75% on time · p90 50 min · 3,018 flights
  • Sundays73% on time · p90 60 min · 3,018 flights

Keep exploring

Related pages

Methodology

A flight is on time when it arrives within 15 minutes of schedule — the US DOT / BTS standard. Median and p90(the “1-in-10 bad day”) are read from the full arrival-delay distribution, never averaged across periods.

Figures cover a carrier’s own BTS-coded flights. Cells below ~200 flights are flagged as limited data. All numbers are pre-computed from public BTS On-Time Performance data.