The flight time from St. Louis to San Francisco is 4 hours, 13 minutes. See Data as Tables

Average Timeline

Leaves STL St. Louis, MO 5 minutes late.
12 minutes taxiing out
3 hours, 53 minutes in the air
5 minutes taxiing in
Arrives SFO San Francisco, CA 1 minute late.

Flight Reliability By Airline ?

United
88%
Southwest
68%
Cancelled
Delayed*
Normal

Flight Summary

The flight time from St. Louis to San Francisco is 4 hours, 13 minutes. The time spent in the air is 3 hours, 53 minutes.

The flight distance from St. Louis to San Francisco is 1735 Miles.

Reverse Journey

San Francisco to St. Louis
3 hours, 43 minutes

Flight Time By Airline ?

Southwest
4h 9m
United
4h 18m
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

9

Distance

1735 Miles

Flights By Month ?

JFMAMJJASOND020406080

Flights By Day of Week ?
(Average)

MonTueWedThuFriSatSun0.00.51.01.52.0

Flights By Airline ?
(Per Week)

Southwest
5
United
3

Frequently Asked Questions

How far is St. Louis from San Francisco by plane?

The distance from St. Louis to San Francisco by plane is 1735 Miles. This is the air distance on the most direct route taken by the vast majority of flights.

How long is the flight from St. Louis to San Francisco?

The flight time from St. Louis to San Francisco is 4 hours, 13 minutes. The time spent in the air is 3 hours, 53 minutes. These numbers are averages. In reality, it varies by airline with Southwest being the fastest taking 4 hours, 9 minutes, and United the slowest taking 4 hours, 18 minutes.

What airlines fly from St. Louis to San Francisco?

Southwest and United are the airlines with direct flights from St. Louis to San Francisco.

Does Southwest fly from St. Louis to San Francisco?

Yes! Southwest does fly from St. Louis (STL) to San Francisco (SFO). On average, they have 5 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 St. Louis 5 minutes late
Taxi Out Time 12 minutes
In the Air 233 minutes
Taxiing In 5 minutes
Arrives San Francisco 1 minute late

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 St. Louis to San Francisco, Southwest is 68% reliable, which means that Southwest flights are on time 68% of the time, and cancelled or delayed the remaining time.

Airline Normal Flights Arrival Delayed* Flight Cancelled
United 88% 12% 0%
Southwest 68% 32% 0%

Flight Time By Airline Flight Time By Airline Chart

Each airline takes a different amount of time to fly between St. Louis 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)
Southwest 11 232 5 249
United 14 235 6 258

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
7am 0.33
3pm 0.09
6pm 0.16
1pm 0.17
12pm 0.14
5pm 0.01
8am 0.04
2pm 0.14
11am 0.1
4pm 0.07
7pm 0.12

Flights By Month Flights By Month Chart

The quantity of flights from St. Louis 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 0
February 0
March 25
April 30
May 31
June 30
July 31
August 53
September 80
October 79
November 77
December 64

Flights By Day Of Week Flights By Day of Week Chart

The quantity of flights from St. Louis 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 1.48
Tuesday 1.23
Wednesday 1.31
Thursday 1.46
Friday 1.44
Saturday 1.23
Sunday 1.46

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
Southwest 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)
7am 13 235 6 257
3pm 11 233 5 249
6pm 13 232 5 251
1pm 10 232 5 250
12pm 12 236 5 254
5pm 11 240 6 256
8am 20 240 5 272
2pm 10 232 5 249
11am 13 224 5 242
4pm 10 239 5 256
7pm 13 235 5 258
* Delayed more than 20 minutes.
All data above is a median or mean as appropriate.