Atlanta (ATL) – San Francisco (SFO)
- Distance
- 3,442 km
- 2,139 mi · 1,859 nm
- Flight time
- 5 h 12 min / 4 h 33 min
- Average gate to gate: ATL → SFO / back
- Time difference
- 3 h
- CO2 per passenger
- 432 kg
- One way, economy, incl. RF (255 kg CO2 only)
- Passengers / year
- 1,081,221
- Aug 2025 – Jul 2026 · +1.0%
- Flights / week
- 128
- Both directions, average
- Seats filled
- 86%
- 1,256,806 seats a year
- Airlines nonstop
- 3
- DL, UA, F9
Traffic: U.S. DOT, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Segment (all carriers, scheduled service), Aug 2025 – Jul 2026. Distance: WGS-84 ellipsoid. CO2: UK DESNZ 2026 factors. Sources
The way there
- Heading from ATL
- 288°
- Heading from SFO
- 86°
- Halfway point
- 37.16, -102.91
- Great-circle km
- 3,435 km (sphere, for EU261)
- In the air ATL → SFO
- 4 h 43 min
- In the air SFO → ATL
- 4 h 3 min
- Clocks
- San Francisco is 3 h behind Atlanta
The estimate for a route without real times is 4 h 50 min; how it is worked out is on Sources.
Show as a table
| Month | Passengers |
|---|---|
| Aug 2025 | 100,568 |
| Sep 2025 | 91,605 |
| Oct 2025 | 98,183 |
| Nov 2025 | 85,270 |
| Dec 2025 | 84,096 |
| Jan 2026 | 67,121 |
| Feb 2026 | 69,736 |
| Mar 2026 | 90,932 |
| Apr 2026 | 92,156 |
| May 2026 | 97,457 |
| Jun 2026 | 100,227 |
| Jul 2026 | 103,870 |
Show as a table
| Month | Flights |
|---|---|
| Aug 2025 | 608 |
| Sep 2025 | 555 |
| Oct 2025 | 608 |
| Nov 2025 | 565 |
| Dec 2025 | 528 |
| Jan 2026 | 427 |
| Feb 2026 | 437 |
| Mar 2026 | 546 |
| Apr 2026 | 566 |
| May 2026 | 567 |
| Jun 2026 | 604 |
| Jul 2026 | 630 |
Airlines flying ATL–SFO nonstop
| Airline | Flights / week | Share of passengers |
|---|---|---|
| DLDelta Air Lines | 92 | 72% |
| UAUnited Air Lines | 24 | 17% |
| F9Frontier Airlines | 12 | 12% |
Both directions, Aug 2025 – Jul 2026. Airlines with at least one flight a month. U.S. DOT, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Segment (all carriers, scheduled service). Sources
Aircraft on this route
- Boeing 737-900ER · 1,967 flights
- Boeing 757-200 · 1,400 flights
- Airbus Industrie A321-200n · 1,039 flights
- Boeing B737 Max 800 · 666 flights
- Boeing 767-300/300ER · 636 flights
- Boeing 737-800 · 389 flights
- Boeing 757-300 · 315 flights
- Boeing B737 Max 900 · 96 flights
Also carried: 3,056 tonnes of freight and 190 tonnes of mail a year (passenger and cargo flights).
Punctuality
- On time
- 75.1%
- Arrived within 15 min of schedule
- Average delay
- 16 min
- Late arrivals count, early ones as 0
- Cancelled
- 0.8%
- Flights counted
- 6,701
- Aug 2025 – Jul 2026
| Airline | On time | Average delay |
|---|---|---|
| DLDelta Air Lines | 75.2% | 16 min |
| UAUnited Air Lines | 80.9% | 13 min |
| F9Frontier Airlines | 62.5% | 27 min |
Delay minutes by cause: airline 39% · aircraft arriving late 28% · air traffic system 31% · weather 3% · security 0%.
Both directions, Aug 2025 – Jul 2026. BTS Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance (US domestic flights of the larger US airlines). Sources
What passengers paid
- Average fare, Q1 2026
- $400
- One way, all cabins
- Average over a year
- $362
- Q2 2025 – Q1 2026
- Largest airline
- Delta Air Lines
- 56% of passengers · $503
- Lowest-fare airline
- Frontier Airlines
- 13% of passengers · $158
History, not a price to book: what the average passenger paid per one-way trip in each quarter (Q2 2025 $337 · Q3 2025 $335 · Q4 2025 $384 · Q1 2026 $400).
Fare outlook, Q1 2027: about $408, likely $362–$465
The average fare paid we expect a year after Q1 2026, the newest DOT quarter. On this route, past forecasts made this way fell inside the range 76% of the time over 21 quarters (median error 7.9%). An estimate from US DOT data: not a price you can book, not a guarantee, not advice on when to buy. How the outlook works
Cheapest quarter on this route: Q3, typically 4% below the year's average (9 years of DOT data, without 2020–21).
U.S. DOT Consumer Airfare Report, Table 1a (airline ticket sample, US domestic airport pairs). Sources
Delay compensation (EU261 / UK261)
Measured by great-circle distance: 3,435 km.
Neither EU261 nor UK261 covers this route: it neither starts nor ends in the EU, EEA, Switzerland or the UK. Other countries have their own rules (for example Canada's APPR or Brazil's ANAC rules).
Also owed for a cancellation with less than 14 days' notice or denied boarding. Not owed for extraordinary circumstances. On a connection, the distance to the final destination counts. From 23 October 2027 the EU's Regulation 2026/2202 applies; it keeps these amounts (what changes in 2027). Information, not legal advice.
Every airport pair between Atlanta and San Francisco
Kilometres. Linked numbers have a page of their own. All Atlanta airports