Washington (IAD) – San Francisco (SFO)
- Distance
- 3,893 km
- 2,419 mi · 2,102 nm
- Flight time
- 5 h 51 min / 5 h 3 min
- Average gate to gate: IAD → SFO / back
- Time difference
- 3 h
- CO2 per passenger
- 455 kg
- One way, economy, incl. RF (269 kg CO2 only)
- Passengers / year
- 960,713
- Aug 2025 – Jul 2026 · −7.0%
- Flights / week
- 105
- Both directions, average
- Seats filled
- 86%
- 1,119,048 seats a year
- Airlines nonstop
- 2
- UA, AS
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 IAD
- 282°
- Heading from SFO
- 74°
- Halfway point
- 40.51, -100.13
- Great-circle km
- 3,883 km (sphere, for EU261)
- In the air IAD → SFO
- 5 h 19 min
- In the air SFO → IAD
- 4 h 30 min
- Clocks
- San Francisco is 3 h behind Washington
The estimate for a route without real times is 5 h 25 min; how it is worked out is on Sources.
Show as a table
| Month | Passengers |
|---|---|
| Aug 2025 | 90,520 |
| Sep 2025 | 74,895 |
| Oct 2025 | 89,499 |
| Nov 2025 | 82,949 |
| Dec 2025 | 82,744 |
| Jan 2026 | 60,870 |
| Feb 2026 | 57,752 |
| Mar 2026 | 74,281 |
| Apr 2026 | 79,364 |
| May 2026 | 92,606 |
| Jun 2026 | 88,706 |
| Jul 2026 | 86,527 |
Show as a table
| Month | Flights |
|---|---|
| Aug 2025 | 507 |
| Sep 2025 | 413 |
| Oct 2025 | 494 |
| Nov 2025 | 460 |
| Dec 2025 | 490 |
| Jan 2026 | 400 |
| Feb 2026 | 379 |
| Mar 2026 | 418 |
| Apr 2026 | 461 |
| May 2026 | 535 |
| Jun 2026 | 470 |
| Jul 2026 | 425 |
Airlines flying IAD–SFO nonstop
| Airline | Flights / week | Share of passengers |
|---|---|---|
| UAUnited Air Lines | 103 | 99% |
| ASAlaska Airlines | 1.5 | 1% |
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 B737 Max 900 · 2,582 flights
- Boeing 737-900ER · 720 flights
- B787-900 Dreamliner · 514 flights
- Boeing 757-200 · 487 flights
- Boeing 757-300 · 436 flights
- Boeing 777-200ER/200LR/233LR · 340 flights
- B787-800 Dreamliner · 288 flights
- Boeing 767-300/300ER · 25 flights
Also carried: 7,806 tonnes of freight and 29 tonnes of mail a year (passenger and cargo flights).
Punctuality
- On time
- 81.2%
- Arrived within 15 min of schedule
- Average delay
- 14 min
- Late arrivals count, early ones as 0
- Cancelled
- 0.8%
- Flights counted
- 5,459
- Aug 2025 – Jul 2026
| Airline | On time | Average delay |
|---|---|---|
| UAUnited Air Lines | 81.5% | 14 min |
| ASAlaska Airlines | 62.7% | 18 min |
Delay minutes by cause: airline 34% · aircraft arriving late 32% · air traffic system 31% · weather 2% · 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
- $467
- One way, all cabins
- Average over a year
- $421
- Q2 2025 – Q1 2026
- Largest airline
- United Air Lines
- 97% of passengers · $471
- Lowest-fare airline
- United Air Lines
- 97% of passengers · $471
History, not a price to book: what the average passenger paid per one-way trip in each quarter (Q2 2025 $398 · Q3 2025 $393 · Q4 2025 $441 · Q1 2026 $467).
Fare outlook, Q1 2027: about $476, likely $422–$543
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 81% of the time over 21 quarters (median error 5.3%). 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 3% 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: 3,883 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 Washington and San Francisco
Kilometres. Linked numbers have a page of their own. All Washington airports