The flight time from San Francisco to Denver is 2 hours, 28 minutes. See Data as Tables

Average Timeline

Leaves SFO San Francisco, CA on time.
17 minutes taxiing out
2 hours, 1 minute in the air
7 minutes taxiing in
Arrives DEN Denver, CO 3 minutes early.

Flight Reliability By Airline ?

United
81%
Frontier
79%
Southwest
76%
Cancelled
Delayed*
Normal

Flight Summary

The flight time from San Francisco to Denver is 2 hours, 28 minutes. The time spent in the air is 2 hours, 1 minute.

The flight distance from San Francisco to Denver is 967 Miles.

Reverse Journey

Denver to San Francisco
2 hours, 34 minutes

Flight Time By Airline ?

Southwest
2h 21m
United
2h 30m
Frontier
2h 33m
Taxiing Out
Air Time
Taxiing In

Flight Time by Time of Day ?

12AM06AM12PM06PM 30m1h1h 30m2h2h 30m
Taxiing Out
Air Time
Taxiing In

Flights By Time of Day ?
(Average)

12AM06AM12PM06PM0123

Flights Per Week

103

Distance

967 Miles

Flights By Month ?

JFMAMJJASOND0100200300400

Flights By Day of Week ?
(Average)

MonTueWedThuFriSatSun051015

Flights By Airline ?
(Per Week)

United
60
Southwest
28
Frontier
14

Frequently Asked Questions

How far is San Francisco from Denver by plane?

The distance from San Francisco to Denver by plane is 967 Miles. This is the air distance on the most direct route taken by the vast majority of flights.

How long is the flight from San Francisco to Denver?

The flight time from San Francisco to Denver is 2 hours, 28 minutes. The time spent in the air is 2 hours, 1 minute. These numbers are averages. In reality, it varies by airline with Southwest being the fastest taking 2 hours, 21 minutes, and Frontier the slowest taking 2 hours, 33 minutes.

What airlines fly from San Francisco to Denver?

United, Frontier, and Southwest are the airlines with direct flights from San Francisco to Denver.

Does Southwest fly from San Francisco to Denver?

Yes! Southwest does fly from San Francisco (SFO) to Denver (DEN). On average, they have 28 flights per week on this route. This may vary seasonally, please check the chart above for more details.

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 San Francisco on time
Taxi Out Time 17 minutes
In the Air 121 minutes
Taxiing In 7 minutes
Arrives Denver 3 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 San Francisco to Denver, Southwest is 76% reliable, which means that Southwest flights are on time 76% of the time, and cancelled or delayed the remaining time.

Airline Normal Flights Arrival Delayed* Flight Cancelled
United 81% 18% 1%
Frontier 79% 19% 2%
Southwest 76% 23% 1%

Flight Time By Airline Flight Time By Airline Chart

Each airline takes a different amount of time to fly between San Francisco and Denver, 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)
Southwest 13 121 6 141
United 19 120 8 150
Frontier 16 121 13 153

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
11am 1.18
0am 0.08
2pm 1.32
10am 0.43
9pm 0.33
7pm 0.69
1pm 0.74
6pm 0.83
12pm 0.54
9am 0.23
6am 1.52
8pm 1.18
10pm 0.18
5am 2.35
5pm 0.1
8am 1.45
3pm 0.45
4pm 0.94
7am 0.02

Flights By Month Flights By Month Chart

The quantity of flights from San Francisco to Denver 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 402
February 360
March 412
April 414
May 471
June 462
July 475
August 484
September 468
October 476
November 464
December 472

Flights By Day Of Week Flights By Day of Week Chart

The quantity of flights from San Francisco to Denver 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 15.19
Tuesday 15.21
Wednesday 15.06
Thursday 15.02
Friday 15.23
Saturday 13.02
Sunday 14.35

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
Southwest 1
Frontier 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)
11am 23 120 7 151
0am 13 122 13 149
2pm 17 120 9 149
10am 21 119 7 147
9pm 17 118 11 149
7pm 17 119 7 144
1pm 20 121 7 150
6pm 17 121 7 145
12pm 19 121 7 147
9am 14 121 6 141
6am 18 122 10 153
8pm 16 119 8 146
10pm 16 122 5 143
5am 15 122 8 147
5pm 11 119 6 138
8am 20 120 7 149
3pm 15 122 7 145
4pm 16 121 8 148
7am 11 125 6 141
* Delayed more than 20 minutes.
All data above is a median or mean as appropriate.