Saint Paul (MSP) – San Francisco (SFO)
- Distance
- 2,557 km
- 1,589 mi · 1,381 nm
- Flight time
- 4 h 10 min / 3 h 34 min
- Average gate to gate: MSP → SFO / back
- Time difference
- 2 h
- CO2 per passenger
- 321 kg
- One way, economy, incl. RF (190 kg CO2 only)
- Passengers / year
- 645,981
- Aug 2025 – Jul 2026 · −5.0%
- Flights / week
- 88
- Both directions, average
- Seats filled
- 82%
- 790,195 seats a year
- Airlines nonstop
- 4
- DL, SY, 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 MSP
- 262°
- Heading from SFO
- 62°
- Halfway point
- 42.18, -108.62
- Great-circle km
- 2,551 km (sphere, for EU261)
- In the air MSP → SFO
- 3 h 40 min
- In the air SFO → MSP
- 3 h 7 min
- Clocks
- San Francisco is 2 h behind Saint Paul
The estimate for a route without real times is 3 h 50 min; how it is worked out is on Sources.
Show as a table
| Month | Passengers |
|---|---|
| Aug 2025 | 72,648 |
| Sep 2025 | 55,386 |
| Oct 2025 | 59,006 |
| Nov 2025 | 46,608 |
| Dec 2025 | 48,829 |
| Jan 2026 | 37,810 |
| Feb 2026 | 34,504 |
| Mar 2026 | 40,930 |
| Apr 2026 | 49,008 |
| May 2026 | 54,387 |
| Jun 2026 | 71,066 |
| Jul 2026 | 75,799 |
Show as a table
| Month | Flights |
|---|---|
| Aug 2025 | 479 |
| Sep 2025 | 390 |
| Oct 2025 | 403 |
| Nov 2025 | 348 |
| Dec 2025 | 359 |
| Jan 2026 | 307 |
| Feb 2026 | 260 |
| Mar 2026 | 278 |
| Apr 2026 | 375 |
| May 2026 | 394 |
| Jun 2026 | 498 |
| Jul 2026 | 499 |
Airlines flying MSP–SFO nonstop
| Airline | Flights / week | Share of passengers |
|---|---|---|
| DLDelta Air Lines | 55 | 67% |
| SYSun Country Airlines | 15 | 19% |
| UAUnited Air Lines | 13 | 12% |
| OOSkyWest Airlines | 4.6 | 2% |
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 · 2,064 flights
- Boeing 737-800 · 927 flights
- Airbus Industrie A321Neoxlr · 509 flights
- Airbus Industrie A319 · 401 flights
- Embraer ERJ-175 · 237 flights
- Airbus Industrie A320-100/200 · 143 flights
- Boeing 757-300 · 117 flights
- Airbus Industrie A321-200n · 110 flights
Also carried: 174 tonnes of freight and 133 tonnes of mail a year (passenger and cargo flights).
Punctuality
- On time
- 74.4%
- Arrived within 15 min of schedule
- Average delay
- 16 min
- Late arrivals count, early ones as 0
- Cancelled
- 0.7%
- Flights counted
- 3,827
- Aug 2025 – Jul 2026
| Airline | On time | Average delay |
|---|---|---|
| DLDelta Air Lines | 74.5% | 15 min |
| UAUnited Air Lines | 76.4% | 17 min |
| OOSkyWest Airlines | 67.7% | 23 min |
Delay minutes by cause: airline 27% · aircraft arriving late 31% · air traffic system 41% · weather 0% · 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
- $334
- One way, all cabins
- Average over a year
- $273
- Q2 2025 – Q1 2026
- Largest airline
- Delta Air Lines
- 75% of passengers · $352
- Lowest-fare airline
- United Air Lines
- 14% of passengers · $336
History, not a price to book: what the average passenger paid per one-way trip in each quarter (Q2 2025 $252 · Q3 2025 $242 · Q4 2025 $293 · Q1 2026 $334).
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: 2,551 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.