The flight time from San Francisco to Houston is 3 hours, 41 minutes. See Data as Tables

Average Timeline

Leaves SFO San Francisco, CA on time.
19 minutes taxiing out
3 hours, 13 minutes in the air
8 minutes taxiing in
Arrives IAH Houston, TX 6 minutes early.

Flight Reliability By Airline ?

United
82%
Cancelled
Delayed*
Normal

Flight Summary

The flight time from San Francisco to Houston is 3 hours, 41 minutes. The time spent in the air is 3 hours, 13 minutes.

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

Reverse Journey

Houston to San Francisco
4 hours, 3 minutes

Flight Time By Airline ?

United
3h 41m
Taxiing Out
Air Time
Taxiing In

Flight Time by Time of Day ?

12AM06AM12PM06PM1h2h3h
Taxiing Out
Air Time
Taxiing In

Flights By Time of Day ?
(Average)

12AM06AM12PM06PM0.00.20.40.60.81.0

Flights Per Week

59

Distance

1635 Miles

Flights By Month ?

JFMAMJJASOND0100200

Flights By Day of Week ?
(Average)

MonTueWedThuFriSatSun02468

Flights By Airline ?
(Per Week)

United
59

Frequently Asked Questions

How far is San Francisco from Houston by plane?

The distance from San Francisco to Houston 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 San Francisco to Houston?

The flight time from San Francisco to Houston is 3 hours, 41 minutes. The time spent in the air is 3 hours, 13 minutes. These numbers are averages.

What airlines fly from San Francisco to Houston?

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

Does Southwest fly from San Francisco to Houston?

Southwest does not fly from San Francisco (SFO) to Houston (IAH). 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 San Francisco on time
Taxi Out Time 19 minutes
In the Air 193 minutes
Taxiing In 8 minutes
Arrives Houston 6 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 Houston, United is 82% reliable, which means that United flights are on time 82% of the time, and cancelled or delayed the remaining time.

Airline Normal Flights Arrival Delayed* Flight Cancelled
United 82% 17% 1%

Flight Time By Airline Flight Time By Airline Chart

Each airline takes a different amount of time to fly between San Francisco and Houston, 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 19 193 8 221

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
10pm 0
11pm 0.99
6am 0.01
3pm 0.14
7pm 0
2pm 0.85
12pm 0.36
11am 0.93
9am 0.99
10am 0.1
0am 0.55
6pm 0.97
1pm 0.63
4pm 0
5am 0.94
7am 0.98

Flights By Month Flights By Month Chart

The quantity of flights from San Francisco to Houston 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 239
February 219
March 247
April 237
May 246
June 282
July 280
August 279
September 264
October 277
November 259
December 279

Flights By Day Of Week Flights By Day of Week Chart

The quantity of flights from San Francisco to Houston 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 8.62
Tuesday 8.52
Wednesday 8.44
Thursday 8.44
Friday 8.6
Saturday 8.58
Sunday 8.58

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)
10pm 23 197 9 229
11pm 21 185 6 213
6am 16 186 6 209
3pm 16 192 7 216
7pm 18 196 8 222
2pm 17 194 9 224
12pm 20 195 11 225
11am 26 191 8 227
9am 21 195 7 225
10am 20 191 8 222
0am 17 193 6 216
6pm 18 192 7 218
1pm 20 194 11 228
4pm 16 191 4 211
5am 16 196 8 220
7am 17 196 7 221
* Delayed more than 20 minutes.
All data above is a median or mean as appropriate.