Houston (IAH) – San Francisco (SFO)
- Distance
- 2,632 km
- 1,635 mi · 1,421 nm
- Flight time
- 4 h 8 min / 3 h 50 min
- Average gate to gate: IAH → SFO / back
- Time difference
- 2 h
- CO2 per passenger
- 330 kg
- One way, economy, incl. RF (195 kg CO2 only)
- Passengers / year
- 1,223,236
- Aug 2025 – Jul 2026 · +7.0%
- Flights / week
- 138
- Both directions, average
- Seats filled
- 85%
- 1,444,808 seats a year
- Airlines nonstop
- 1
- UA
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 IAH
- 296°
- Heading from SFO
- 101°
- Halfway point
- 34.55, -108.25
- Great-circle km
- 2,627 km (sphere, for EU261)
- In the air IAH → SFO
- 3 h 37 min
- In the air SFO → IAH
- 3 h 16 min
- Clocks
- San Francisco is 2 h behind Houston
The estimate for a route without real times is 3 h 55 min; how it is worked out is on Sources.
Show as a table
| Month | Passengers |
|---|---|
| Aug 2025 | 97,287 |
| Sep 2025 | 88,554 |
| Oct 2025 | 99,166 |
| Nov 2025 | 102,311 |
| Dec 2025 | 113,942 |
| Jan 2026 | 101,596 |
| Feb 2026 | 91,590 |
| Mar 2026 | 107,104 |
| Apr 2026 | 102,400 |
| May 2026 | 103,877 |
| Jun 2026 | 107,832 |
| Jul 2026 | 107,577 |
Show as a table
| Month | Flights |
|---|---|
| Aug 2025 | 596 |
| Sep 2025 | 580 |
| Oct 2025 | 610 |
| Nov 2025 | 600 |
| Dec 2025 | 622 |
| Jan 2026 | 607 |
| Feb 2026 | 557 |
| Mar 2026 | 615 |
| Apr 2026 | 599 |
| May 2026 | 615 |
| Jun 2026 | 601 |
| Jul 2026 | 595 |
Airlines flying IAH–SFO nonstop
| Airline | Flights / week | Share of passengers |
|---|---|---|
| UAUnited Air Lines | 138 | 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
- Boeing B737 Max 900 · 3,511 flights
- Boeing 737-900ER · 2,358 flights
- Boeing 777-200ER/200LR/233LR · 751 flights
- Boeing 757-300 · 325 flights
- Boeing 757-200 · 82 flights
- B787-900 Dreamliner · 76 flights
- Boeing B737 Max 800 · 24 flights
- Boeing 737-800 · 20 flights
Also carried: 6,066 tonnes of freight and 830 tonnes of mail a year (passenger and cargo flights).
Punctuality
- On time
- 81.2%
- Arrived within 15 min of schedule
- Average delay
- 12 min
- Late arrivals count, early ones as 0
- Cancelled
- 0.4%
- Flights counted
- 7,196
- Aug 2025 – Jul 2026
Delay minutes by cause: airline 31% · aircraft arriving late 28% · air traffic system 39% · 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
- $359
- One way, all cabins
- Average over a year
- $353
- Q2 2025 – Q1 2026
- Largest airline
- United Air Lines
- 95% of passengers · $364
- Lowest-fare airline
- Frontier Airlines
- 1% of passengers · $143
History, not a price to book: what the average passenger paid per one-way trip in each quarter (Q2 2025 $352 · Q3 2025 $356 · Q4 2025 $347 · Q1 2026 $359).
Fare outlook, Q1 2027: about $366, likely $325–$417
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 86% of the time over 21 quarters (median error 6.5%). 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: 2,627 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 Houston and San Francisco
Kilometres. Linked numbers have a page of their own. All Houston airports