JetSetAuthority

Route · United States and Canada

LAX Los Angeles ⇄ SFO San Francisco

Los Angeles International Airport (United States) and San Francisco International Airport (United States): great-circle distance, estimated scheduled flight time each way, time difference and jet lag.

Distance543 km338 mi293 nautical miles
LAX → SFO1 h 45 minestimated block time
SFO → LAX1 h 40 minestimated block time
Clock change±0 hSan Francisco vs Los Angeles, today
Great-circle route from Los Angeles (LAX) to San Francisco (SFO)LAXLos AngelesSFOSan Francisco
The shortest path over the Earth’s surface (great circle), drawn on a Natural Earth projection. Real flight paths bend around weather, winds and closed airspace.

Flight time each way

LAX → SFO

1 h 45 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 320° (NW).

Leave Los Angeles Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive San Francisco Sat 7 Nov, 11:45 local.

SFO → LAX

1 h 40 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 138° (SE).

Leave San Francisco Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive Los Angeles Sat 7 Nov, 11:40 local.

The two directions differ by 5 minutes in our estimate: this route is short, so the wind has little effect on the total. How we estimate it.

Distance

Great-circle distance543 km · 338 mi · 293 nmi
Initial heading320° (NW) from LAX; 138° (SE) from SFO
Farthest from the equator37.6°N
Crossesneither the equator nor the 180th meridian
Share of the longest possible trip3% of the 20,015 km to the far side of the Earth

Time zones and jet lag

LAXAmerica/Los_Angeles — UTC−7 now; UTC−8 standard time, UTC−7 during daylight saving time
SFOAmerica/Los_Angeles — UTC−7 now; UTC−8 standard time, UTC−7 during daylight saving time
DifferenceSan Francisco is on the same clock as Los Angeles today.

Jet lag, flying LAX → SFO. No time-zone change, so no jet lag from the clock — only the usual tiredness of travel.

General information, not medical advice.

The two airports

LAX Los Angeles International AirportLos Angeles, United States · longest runway 12,894 ft3,930 m SFO San Francisco International AirportSan Francisco, United States · longest runway 11,870 ft3,618 m

Same cities, other airports

LAXOAK Los Angeles – Oakland 543 km337 mi · 1 h 45 min

More routes from LAX and SFO

LAXLAS Los Angeles – Las Vegas 380 km236 mi · 1 h 25 min LAXDFW Los Angeles – Dallas–Fort Worth 1,983 km1,232 mi · 3 h 05 min JFKLAX New York – Los Angeles 3,974 km2,469 mi · 6 h 05 min LAXAMS Los Angeles – Amsterdam 8,956 km5,565 mi · 10 h 45 min LAXTPE Los Angeles – Taipei 10,922 km6,787 mi · 14 h 40 min LAXSIN Los Angeles – Singapore 14,102 km8,762 mi · 18 h 25 min SFOLAS San Francisco – Las Vegas 665 km413 mi · 1 h 45 min SFOOGG San Francisco – Maui (Kahului) 3,761 km2,337 mi · 5 h 40 min SFOBOS San Francisco – Boston 4,341 km2,697 mi · 5 h 30 min SFOAMS San Francisco – Amsterdam 8,785 km5,459 mi · 10 h 35 min SFOPVG San Francisco – Shanghai 9,877 km6,138 mi · 13 h 20 min SFOSIN San Francisco – Singapore 13,582 km8,439 mi · 17 h 45 min

Routes of a similar length

CPHARN Copenhagen – Stockholm 547 km340 mi · 1 h 40 min MADPMI Madrid – Palma de Mallorca 547 km340 mi · 1 h 35 min FCOCTA Rome – Catania 539 km335 mi · 1 h 40 min ORDMSP Chicago – Minneapolis 537 km334 mi · 1 h 45 min

Need a different pair? The flight-time calculator works for any two of 3,245 airports. Not covered: which airlines fly this route, schedules, fares and live status — that data is proprietary and we don’t guess it.

Photos on airport pages are credited there. Estimates are rounded to 5 minutes; typical error about 13 minutes (validation).