Routes › Chicago (MDW) › MDW to SFO
Route · 12 months to July 2026
Chicago to San Francisco: on-time record
Chicago Midway International to San Francisco International
BTS: A flight is counted as on time if it arrived less than 15 minutes after its scheduled time. Only carriers with at least 0.5 percent of domestic scheduled passenger revenue report. Data through July 2026; this is a monthly history, not live flight status.
In the 12 months to July 2026, reporting carriers scheduled 485 flights from Chicago (MDW) to San Francisco (SFO), a distance of 1,855 miles. 47.4% of them arrived within 15 minutes of schedule.
That is 28.6 points below the national on-time share of 76.0% for the same period and 26.5 points below the 73.9% recorded for all departures from MDW. Flights that did arrive were 26.8 min late on average, and 1.2% of scheduled flights were cancelled (national: 1.8%).
Southwest Airlines is the only reporting carrier on the route, with 485 flights in the period.
By scheduled departure hour (local time at MDW), flights leaving from 11 am to 12 pm had the highest on-time share, 85.2%; those leaving from 10 am to 11 am had the lowest, 27.1%.
The on-time share is down 19.7 points on the previous 12 months (67.1%); cancellations moved from 0.3% to 1.2%.
Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category on this route, national aviation system 43%, late-arriving aircraft 30% and air carrier 24%.
- On time 47.4%
- Arrived 15+ minutes late 51.1%
- Cancelled 1.2%
- Diverted 0.2%
Airlines on the route compared
| Reporting carrier | Flights | Share | On time | Avg arrival delay | Cancelled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WN Southwest Airlines | 485 | 100% | 47.4% | 26.8 min | 1.2% |
Carriers with at least 24 flights in the 12 months to July 2026. The on-time pill is green when a carrier is at or above the route's overall share. Regional carriers operate flights sold under larger airlines' brands; BTS lists the carrier that operated the flight.
Compared with the airports and the nation
| Measure | MDW to SFO | All departures from MDW | All arrivals at SFO | All reported flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arrived on time | 47.4% | 73.9% | 67.2% | 76.0% |
| Arrived 15+ minutes late | 51.1% | 24.2% | 31.6% | 21.9% |
| Cancelled | 1.2% | 1.5% | 1.1% | 1.8% |
| Diverted | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.3% |
| Average arrival delay | 26.8 min | 8.1 min | 14.0 min | 8.1 min |
| Delay minutes per 100 flights | 2,977 | 1,483 | 2,198 | 1,684 |
| Scheduled flights | 485 | 73,744 | 147,716 | 7,043,858 |
12 months to July 2026. Delay minutes count late arrivals only (an early arrival is zero), so the per-100-flights row is a normalised total rather than an average of early and late.
The return direction, SFO to MDW, recorded 71.3% on time across 485 flights in the same period.
Month by month
Year on year: on time 47.4% against 67.1% (−19.7 pts), cancelled 1.2% against 0.3%, flights 485 against 383.
By scheduled departure hour
Delay causes
Seasonality
| Calendar month | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Avg arrival delay | Years in sample |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 31 | 74.2% | 0.0% | 6.9 min | 3 |
| Feb | 38 | 76.3% | 0.0% | 8.0 min | 2 |
| Mar | 85 | 56.5% | 3.5% | 29.7 min | 2 |
| Apr | 111 | 34.2% | 0.9% | 31.5 min | 3 |
| May | 117 | 39.3% | 0.9% | 32.7 min | 3 |
| Jun | 153 | 39.9% | 0.7% | 36.3 min | 3 |
| Jul | 163 | 55.2% | 1.8% | 20.3 min | 3 |
| Aug | 118 | 59.3% | 1.7% | 20.7 min | 3 |
| Sep | 107 | 74.8% | 0.0% | 9.3 min | 3 |
| Oct | 106 | 69.8% | 0.0% | 8.9 min | 3 |
| Nov | 90 | 67.8% | 1.1% | 16.1 min | 3 |
| Dec | 93 | 60.2% | 1.1% | 13.6 min | 3 |
Each calendar month summed across the 36 months on file, so most rows combine three years. The pill compares the month with the route's own 12-month share.
Other routes from Chicago (MDW)
| Route | Cities | Flights | On time | Avg arrival delay | Cancelled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MDW–ATL | Chicago to Atlanta | 3,527 | 77.5% | 3.4 min | 2.1% |
| MDW–MCO | Chicago to Orlando | 2,756 | 74.3% | 8.3 min | 1.5% |
| MDW–PHX | Chicago to Phoenix | 2,738 | 74.2% | 7.6 min | 1.6% |
| MDW–LGA | Chicago to New York | 2,385 | 65.3% | 14.1 min | 4.2% |
| MDW–MSP | Chicago to Minneapolis | 2,368 | 75.5% | 7.6 min | 1.8% |
| MDW–LAS | Chicago to Las Vegas | 2,273 | 75.8% | 6.2 min | 0.8% |
| MDW–DEN | Chicago to Denver | 2,271 | 73.1% | 9.5 min | 1.3% |
| MDW–DAL | Chicago to Dallas | 2,185 | 75.5% | 5.5 min | 2.0% |
All 87 routes and the airport record for MDW · airport record for SFO
Questions and answers
How often are flights from Chicago to San Francisco on time?
47.4% of the 485 flights scheduled from MDW to SFO in the 12 months to July 2026 arrived less than 15 minutes after their scheduled time. The national share for the same period was 76.0%. Cancelled and diverted flights count as not on time.
Which airline has the highest on-time share from MDW to SFO?
Southwest Airlines is the only reporting carrier with at least 60 flights on the route in the period, so there is no comparison to make.
What causes delays between Chicago and San Francisco?
For flights that arrived 15 or more minutes late, carriers attributed the delay minutes as follows: national aviation system 43%, late-arriving aircraft 30%, air carrier 24%, extreme weather 3%, security 0%. The categories are the carriers' own reports to BTS; weather that slows the wider system is usually recorded under the National Aviation System rather than extreme weather.
What time of day has the highest on-time share from MDW?
Flights scheduled to leave MDW from 11 am to 12 pm arrived on time 85.2% of the time, the highest of any hour with enough flights to compare. The lowest was 10 am to 11 am at 27.1%. Delays tend to build through the day as late aircraft carry over to later flights.
Is it getting better?
The on-time share for the 12 months to July 2026 was 47.4%, down 19.7 points on the previous 12 months (67.1%). The monthly chart on this page shows each of the last 36 months. Across those months, September had the highest on-time share (74.8%) and April the lowest (34.2%).
Where does this data come from?
Every figure is computed from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance files, which list each scheduled domestic flight by the carriers required to report. This page covers August 2023 to July 2026. It shows totals and averages only; it is not a live flight-status service.
Provenance
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance (1987 to present), monthly files August 2023 to July 2026, a US government work in the public domain. Figures are totals and averages over all scheduled flights by reporting carriers on the route; no individual flight or aircraft is identified. Times are local to the departure airport. The load factor and passenger counts from the BTS T-100 series are not included in this edition. See the methodology; report processing errors through corrections.