San Francisco to London (SFO–LHR): distance and flight time

Flight time each way

SFO → LHR

10 h 20 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 33° (NNE).

Leave San Francisco Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive London Sun 8 Nov, 04:20 local +1 day.

LHR → SFO

11 h 20 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 316° (NW).

Leave London Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive San Francisco Sat 7 Nov, 13:20 local.

SFO-bound flights are the slower direction by about 60 minutes in our estimate: the route runs partly east–west through latitudes where the prevailing westerly winds at cruise height are strong, so heading east rides a tailwind and heading west fights a headwind. How we estimate it.

Distance

Great-circle distance	8,616 km · 5,354 mi · 4,652 nmi
Initial heading	33° (NNE) from SFO; 316° (NW) from LHR
Farthest from the equator	64.6°N — the path arcs north of both airports
Crosses	neither the equator nor the 180th meridian
Share of the longest possible trip	43% of the 20,015 km to the far side of the Earth

Time zones and jet lag

SFO	America/Los_Angeles — UTC−7 now; UTC−8 standard time, UTC−7 during daylight saving time
LHR	Europe/London — UTC+0 now; UTC+0 standard time, UTC+1 during daylight saving time
Difference	London is 7 hours ahead of San Francisco today.

Jet lag, flying SFO → LHR. Your body clock has to move 7 hours earlier, like an eastward trip. A common rule of thumb is that the body clock adjusts by roughly one time zone a day, so expect up to about 7 days to fully adjust. Shifting earlier (as here) is usually the harder direction; morning daylight at the destination helps. Flying the other way, the shift is reversed.

General information, not medical advice.

The two airports

SFO San Francisco International AirportSan Francisco, United States · longest runway 11,870 ft3,618 m

LHR London Heathrow AirportLondon, United Kingdom · longest runway 12,799 ft3,901 m

More routes from SFO and LHR

LAXSFO Los Angeles – San Francisco 543 km338 mi · 1 h 45 min SFOORD San Francisco – Chicago 2,964 km1,842 mi · 4 h 05 min JFKSFO New York – San Francisco 4,152 km2,580 mi · 6 h 20 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 LHRMAN London – Manchester 243 km151 mi · 1 h 20 min LHROSL London – Oslo 1,206 km749 mi · 2 h 20 min LHRTLV London – Tel Aviv 3,589 km2,230 mi · 4 h 50 min LHRANU London – St. John's 6,553 km4,072 mi · 9 h 05 min LHRPEK London – Beijing 8,154 km5,067 mi · 9 h 50 min LHRSYD London – Sydney 17,021 km10,576 mi · 19 h 30 min

Routes of a similar length

FRACUN Frankfurt – Cancún 8,605 km5,347 mi · 11 h 40 min ISTSIN Istanbul – Singapore 8,681 km5,394 mi · 10 h 25 min FRAICN Frankfurt – Seoul 8,544 km5,309 mi · 10 h 15 min FRAJNB Frankfurt – Johannesburg 8,690 km5,400 mi · 10 h 50 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).

SFO San Francisco ⇄ LHR London