San Francisco to Shanghai (SFO–PVG): distance and flight time

Flight time each way

SFO → PVG

13 h 20 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 310° (NW).

Leave San Francisco Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive Shanghai Sun 8 Nov, 15:20 local +1 day.

PVG → SFO

11 h 25 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 45° (NE).

Leave Shanghai Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive San Francisco Sat 7 Nov, 05:25 local.

PVG-bound flights are the slower direction by about 120 minutes in our estimate: the route runs mostly 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	9,877 km · 6,138 mi · 5,333 nmi
Initial heading	310° (NW) from SFO; 45° (NE) from PVG
Farthest from the equator	52.4°N — the path arcs north of both airports
Crosses	the 180th meridian (International Date Line area)
Share of the longest possible trip	49% 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
PVG	Asia/Shanghai — UTC+8 now; UTC+8 all year (no daylight saving time)
Difference	Shanghai is 15 hours ahead of San Francisco today; +16 h in January and +15 h in July because daylight saving time starts and ends on different dates (or not at all).

Jet lag, flying SFO → PVG. The clock change is 15 hours, but to your body that is a shift of 9 hours the other way. Your body clock has to move 9 hours later, like a westward trip. A common rule of thumb is that the body clock adjusts by roughly one time zone a day, so expect up to about 9 days to fully adjust. Shifting later (as here) is usually the easier direction; evening 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

PVG Shanghai Pudong International AirportShanghai, China · longest runway 13,123 ft4,000 m

More routes from SFO and PVG

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 SFOLHR San Francisco – London 8,616 km5,354 mi · 10 h 20 min SFOPEK San Francisco – Beijing 9,494 km5,899 mi · 12 h 40 min SFOSIN San Francisco – Singapore 13,582 km8,439 mi · 17 h 45 min PEKPVG Beijing – Shanghai 1,099 km683 mi · 2 h 15 min PVGHKG Shanghai – Hong Kong 1,255 km780 mi · 2 h 35 min PVGNRT Shanghai – Tokyo 1,796 km1,116 mi · 2 h 55 min FRAPVG Frankfurt – Shanghai 8,859 km5,505 mi · 10 h 30 min YVRPVG Vancouver – Shanghai 9,016 km5,602 mi · 12 h LAXPVG Los Angeles – Shanghai 10,415 km6,472 mi · 14 h

Routes of a similar length

GRUFRA São Paulo – Frankfurt 9,796 km6,087 mi · 11 h 50 min LHRMRU London – Mauritius 9,784 km6,080 mi · 11 h 50 min LAXPEK Los Angeles – Beijing 10,037 km6,237 mi · 13 h 20 min CDGHND Paris – Tokyo 9,708 km6,032 mi · 11 h 40 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 ⇄ PVG Shanghai