Charlotte (CLT) – San Francisco (SFO)
- Distance
- 3,695 km
- 2,296 mi · 1,995 nm
- Flight time
- 5 h 34 min / 4 h 56 min
- Average gate to gate: CLT → SFO / back
- Time difference
- 3 h
- CO2 per passenger
- 464 kg
- One way, economy, incl. RF (274 kg CO2 only)
- Passengers / year
- 483,994
- Aug 2025 – Jul 2026 · −12.5%
- Flights / week
- 57
- Both directions, average
- Seats filled
- 86%
- 564,830 seats a year
- Airlines nonstop
- 1
- AA
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 CLT
- 287°
- Heading from SFO
- 81°
- Halfway point
- 38.27, -101.32
- Great-circle km
- 3,687 km (sphere, for EU261)
- In the air CLT → SFO
- 5 h 3 min
- In the air SFO → CLT
- 4 h 22 min
- Clocks
- San Francisco is 3 h behind Charlotte
The estimate for a route without real times is 5 h 10 min; how it is worked out is on Sources.
Show as a table
| Month | Passengers |
|---|---|
| Aug 2025 | 45,768 |
| Sep 2025 | 43,004 |
| Oct 2025 | 46,987 |
| Nov 2025 | 32,229 |
| Dec 2025 | 35,778 |
| Jan 2026 | 26,659 |
| Feb 2026 | 28,305 |
| Mar 2026 | 38,306 |
| Apr 2026 | 42,586 |
| May 2026 | 46,672 |
| Jun 2026 | 48,374 |
| Jul 2026 | 49,326 |
Show as a table
| Month | Flights |
|---|---|
| Aug 2025 | 260 |
| Sep 2025 | 272 |
| Oct 2025 | 296 |
| Nov 2025 | 206 |
| Dec 2025 | 221 |
| Jan 2026 | 166 |
| Feb 2026 | 192 |
| Mar 2026 | 234 |
| Apr 2026 | 266 |
| May 2026 | 286 |
| Jun 2026 | 276 |
| Jul 2026 | 284 |
Airlines flying CLT–SFO nonstop
| Airline | Flights / week | Share of passengers |
|---|---|---|
| AAAmerican Airlines | 57 | 100% |
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
- Airbus Industrie A321Neoxlr · 2,411 flights
- Airbus Industrie A321-200n · 547 flights
- Boeing B737 Max 800 · 1 flight
Also carried: 172 tonnes of freight and 0 tonnes of mail a year (passenger and cargo flights).
Punctuality
- On time
- 74.7%
- Arrived within 15 min of schedule
- Average delay
- 20 min
- Late arrivals count, early ones as 0
- Cancelled
- 1.2%
- Flights counted
- 2,999
- Aug 2025 – Jul 2026
Delay minutes by cause: airline 38% · aircraft arriving late 43% · air traffic system 16% · 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
- $462
- One way, all cabins
- Average over a year
- $398
- Q2 2025 – Q1 2026
- Largest airline
- American Airlines
- 88% of passengers · $469
- Lowest-fare airline
- Frontier Airlines
- 2% of passengers · $144
History, not a price to book: what the average passenger paid per one-way trip in each quarter (Q2 2025 $350 · Q3 2025 $394 · Q4 2025 $419 · Q1 2026 $462).
Fare outlook, Q1 2027: about $472, likely $408–$538
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 7.4%). 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
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: 3,687 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.