The flight time from Houston to San Francisco is 4 hours, 6 minutes. See Data as Tables

Average Timeline

Leaves IAH Houston, TX 2 minutes late.
20 minutes taxiing out
3 hours, 38 minutes in the air
5 minutes taxiing in
Arrives SFO San Francisco, CA 1 minute early.

Flight Reliability By Airline ?

United
76%
Cancelled
Delayed*
Normal

Flight Summary

The flight time from Houston to San Francisco is 4 hours, 6 minutes. The time spent in the air is 3 hours, 38 minutes.

The flight distance from Houston to San Francisco is 1635 Miles.

Reverse Journey

San Francisco to Houston
3 hours, 43 minutes

Flight Time By Airline ?

United
4h 6m
Taxiing Out
Air Time
Taxiing In

Flight Time by Time of Day ?

12AM06AM12PM06PM1h2h3h4h
Taxiing Out
Air Time
Taxiing In

Flights By Time of Day ?
(Average)

12AM06AM12PM06PM0.00.20.40.60.81.0

Flights Per Week

60

Distance

1635 Miles

Flights By Month ?

JFMAMJJASOND0100200

Flights By Day of Week ?
(Average)

MonTueWedThuFriSatSun02468

Flights By Airline ?
(Per Week)

United
60

Frequently Asked Questions

How far is Houston from San Francisco by plane?

The distance from Houston to San Francisco by plane is 1635 Miles. This is the air distance on the most direct route taken by the vast majority of flights.

How long is the flight from Houston to San Francisco?

The flight time from Houston to San Francisco is 4 hours, 6 minutes. The time spent in the air is 3 hours, 38 minutes. These numbers are averages.

What airlines fly from Houston to San Francisco?

United is the only airline with direct flights from Houston to San Francisco.

Does Southwest fly from Houston to San Francisco?

Southwest does not fly from Houston (IAH) to San Francisco (SFO). Keep in mind that Southwest may fly to other nearby airports, as they will often fly into smaller airpors instead of larger ones. This is because the costs are often lower to fly into smaller airports, and they pass the savings on to you.

Tables and Explanations

Data Source

Our information is computed from the latest available data from the US Department of Transportation.

Average Timeline Timeline Chart

The average timeline contains the median time a flight spends in 3 stages. The first of these three stages is taxiing out which includes the time from the flight leaving the gate to taking off. The second stage is in the air, which includes the time spent from the flight leaving the ground to touching back down at the end of it's journey. The last stage is taxiing in, which is from when the flight touches down to the flight arriving at it's gate.

The average timeline also estimates on average of when the flight will leave and arrive relative to it's stated departure time.

Leaves Houston 2 minutes late
Taxi Out Time 20 minutes
In the Air 218 minutes
Taxiing In 5 minutes
Arrives San Francisco 1 minute early

Flight Reliability Reliability Chart

The reliability of an airline measures how often the airline's flights on this route are cancelled or delayed more than 20 minutes. For example, from Houston to San Francisco, United is 76% reliable, which means that United flights are on time 76% of the time, and cancelled or delayed the remaining time.

Airline Normal Flights Arrival Delayed* Flight Cancelled
United 76% 22% 2%

Flight Time By Airline Flight Time By Airline Chart

Each airline takes a different amount of time to fly between Houston and San Francisco, this is due to different operational factors on the ground, as well as scheduling of planes. Each airline's flight time is split into three stages which are described above in the "Average Timeline" section. There are also miscellaneous operational issues which are included in the below total but are not accounted for in one of the three stages.

Airline Taxiing Out
(minutes)
In the Air
(minutes)
Taxiing In
(minutes)
Total
(minutes)
United 20 218 5 246

Flights By Time of Day Flight Time By Day Chart

This one is pretty self explanatory, it represents the number of flights that leave the gate in a given hour of the day. The tricky thing here is that this is normally not a whole number since it is an average over 52 weeks. Partial numbers may indicate that a flight may be seasonal or may take off at different times due to different operational factors.

Time Count
11pm 0
5am 0.29
8pm 0.25
10am 0.6
11am 0.07
0am 0
6am 0.33
4pm 0.96
9pm 0.76
2pm 0.67
10pm 0.2
6pm 0.96
7am 0.99
5pm 0.01
7pm 0.74
9am 0.39
12pm 0.92
3pm 0.31

Flights By Month Flights By Month Chart

The quantity of flights from Houston to San Francisco that take off in a given month of the year. This number changes because some flights are seasonal, and almost all flights have uneven demand througout the year.

Month Count
January 251
February 230
March 248
April 239
May 258
June 270
July 279
August 280
September 270
October 279
November 268
December 280

Flights By Day Of Week Flights By Day of Week Chart

The quantity of flights from Houston to San Francisco that take off on a given day of the week. Some routes only have enough demand to sustain a few trips a week, while others have many flights a day. This number is also an average across the year, and hence may not be a whole number.

Day Count
Monday 8.83
Tuesday 8.79
Wednesday 8.63
Thursday 8.58
Friday 8.62
Saturday 8.56
Sunday 8.62

Flight per Airline (per Week) Flights By Airline Chart

How many times an airline flies this route in a week. Different factors play into how often a carrier chooses to fly a given route including it's need to connect disparate routes, and demand.

Airline Flights per Week
United 1

Flight Time By Time of Day Flight Time by Time of Day Chart

The total flight time varies by each hour of the day due to factors such as airport traffic. More flights leaving an airport may cause higher taxi in or taxi out times. See the description of the average timeline above for a deeper discussion of each of these times.

Time Taxi Out
(minutes)
In the Air
(minutes)
Taxi In
(minutes)
Total
(minutes)
11pm 17 232 5 254
5am 17 210 4 231
8pm 21 224 7 256
10am 21 202 6 233
11am 20 210 5 240
0am 20 224 4 248
6am 16 218 4 241
4pm 20 218 5 247
9pm 17 218 5 243
2pm 20 219 5 245
10pm 18 220 5 244
6pm 21 218 5 245
7am 20 221 6 250
5pm 17 218 5 241
7pm 21 218 6 248
9am 26 216 6 252
12pm 20 222 5 248
3pm 18 221 5 246
* Delayed more than 20 minutes.
All data above is a median or mean as appropriate.