The flight time from Philadelphia to San Francisco is 6 hours, 2 minutes. See Data as Tables

Average Timeline

Leaves PHL Philadelphia, PA 2 minutes early.
18 minutes taxiing out
5 hours, 32 minutes in the air
8 minutes taxiing in
Arrives SFO San Francisco, CA 8 minutes early.

Flight Reliability By Airline ?

United
89%
American
81%
Cancelled
Delayed*
Normal

Flight Summary

The flight time from Philadelphia to San Francisco is 6 hours, 2 minutes. The time spent in the air is 5 hours, 32 minutes.

The flight distance from Philadelphia to San Francisco is 2521 Miles.

Reverse Journey

San Francisco to Philadelphia
5 hours, 12 minutes

Flight Time By Airline ?

United
6h
American
6h 2m
Taxiing Out
Air Time
Taxiing In

Flight Time by Time of Day ?

12AM06AM12PM06PM1h2h3h4h5h6h
Taxiing Out
Air Time
Taxiing In

Flights By Time of Day ?
(Average)

12AM06AM12PM06PM0.00.51.01.52.0

Flights Per Week

26

Distance

2521 Miles

Flights By Month ?

JFMAMJJASOND050100

Flights By Day of Week ?
(Average)

MonTueWedThuFriSatSun01234

Flights By Airline ?
(Per Week)

American
19
United
7

Frequently Asked Questions

How far is Philadelphia from San Francisco by plane?

The distance from Philadelphia to San Francisco by plane is 2521 Miles. This is the air distance on the most direct route taken by the vast majority of flights.

How long is the flight from Philadelphia to San Francisco?

The flight time from Philadelphia to San Francisco is 6 hours, 2 minutes. The time spent in the air is 5 hours, 32 minutes. These numbers are averages. In reality, it varies by airline with United being the fastest taking 6 hours, and American the slowest taking 6 hours, 2 minutes.

What airlines fly from Philadelphia to San Francisco?

United and American are the airlines with direct flights from Philadelphia to San Francisco.

Does Southwest fly from Philadelphia to San Francisco?

Southwest does not fly from Philadelphia (PHL) 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 Philadelphia 2 minutes early
Taxi Out Time 18 minutes
In the Air 332 minutes
Taxiing In 8 minutes
Arrives San Francisco 8 minutes 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 Philadelphia to San Francisco, American is 81% reliable, which means that American flights are on time 81% of the time, and cancelled or delayed the remaining time.

Airline Normal Flights Arrival Delayed* Flight Cancelled
United 89% 10% 1%
American 81% 18% 1%

Flight Time By Airline Flight Time By Airline Chart

Each airline takes a different amount of time to fly between Philadelphia 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 15 336 6 360
American 19 331 8 362

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
8pm 0.1
3pm 0.47
7am 0
7pm 0.28
5pm 0.12
6am 0.89
6pm 0.74
10am 0.08
8am 1.08

Flights By Month Flights By Month Chart

The quantity of flights from Philadelphia 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 121
February 111
March 90
April 89
May 93
June 119
July 123
August 124
September 145
October 130
November 136
December 101

Flights By Day Of Week Flights By Day of Week Chart

The quantity of flights from Philadelphia 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 3.87
Tuesday 3.75
Wednesday 3.71
Thursday 3.81
Friday 3.77
Saturday 3.75
Sunday 3.92

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
American 0
United 0

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)
8pm 16 338 9 363
3pm 18 328 8 359
7am 13 353 8 374
7pm 24 326 9 361
5pm 17 331 10 360
6am 15 334 6 358
6pm 20 337 8 368
10am 22 320 9 357
8am 18 333 9 362
* Delayed more than 20 minutes.
All data above is a median or mean as appropriate.