LAX-SFO - Why is it always delayed?
 

DL SC says it is always delayed, esp as day goes on. Typical blame is on SF weather, but while SF is often delayed, I have many many times seen it where DL flights are delayed when no one else is.

Today once again my LAX-SFO flights are delayed in the 1-2 hour range. Only LAX-SFO flights on time are when the inbounds run from LAS and are in time.

Most recent blame I heard was that "all small planes into SF are always delayed."

Anyone know what's up?

Its been this way for as long as I can remember. Its a myriad of different reasons. High traffic combined with low priority, fog in SFO, overpadding of the scheduled flight time, and also very tight schedules for the aircraft's that serve these rotations. Often a delay sustained in the morning will stick with the aircraft's rotation all day and will slowly grow.

aircraft are often scheduled to fly between LAX and SFO all or most of the day which makes it difficult to get an aircraft back on schedule by running it on a flight that is very overpadded to/from another destination to make up time

If it's any consolation, UA is just as ridiculous on this route, especially SFO-LAX or SFO-BUR. It's tempting to book the earlier flight than the one scheduled to depart at your desired time and simply arrive at the airport an hour late and you'd still make your ticketed flight.

Yet, *knock on wood*, I've done this route ~ 20 times over the past 2 years or so with minimal delays (only 1x was it more than 40 minutes).

If there is fog or any weather in SFO, there are delays. Once visibility becomes poor enough, they can't perform simultaneous landings at SFO and there is flow control.

That's why I hate flying to SFO in rainy season, or in the spring and early summer when fog can gum up the works. SJC and OAK make for great alternates because they hardly ever get the delays that SFO gets.

I seriously doubt the latter. SFO to/from most any airport in SoCal is subject to frequent delays, due to fog, traffic management, and various other issues. UA is certainly no better. My recommendation is to avoid this route if possible, or build in a pad---especially if connecting to an international flight. I know many folks who have learned the hard way when booking short connections to UA's midday Asia departures out of SFO.

I get delayed consistently both inbound and outbound.. Typically my travels are to GEG>SLC>SFO, however if its last minute its SFO>LAX>SLC>GEG. Been doing this the last 8 weeks every week and have one flight into SFO on time, and two outbounds on time. Seems the weather creates a horrible cascade effect.

UA is terrible on this route. SFO delays are the primary reason, and they tend to flow control short routes before long hauls.

Right, it isn't DL's fault that flow control is initiated, it's SFO's. This delay issue will never go away unless the runways are built such that the spacing is large enough to allow for simultaneous operations in low visibility conditions. However, that would require filling the bay and that has about a snowball's chance in hell of happening due to the number of "save the bay" folks who live here. You're better off flying into OAK or SJC depending on where you need to go in the Bay Area. DL has LAX - OAK on OO, and AS has LAX - SJC, but it's on a prop plane.

Well, I'm glad to hear that it isn't just DL. But still curious to if it's a small airplane thing. The day of my OP it appeared it was everyone delayed, but I've certainly seen days when the RJ's are hours delayed and most other flights are on time...

Could be due to the RJs primarily doing the short hops. UA will sometimes fly a plane ORD-LAX-SFO-ORD or similar, which would help prevent 'stackup' delays.

Delays on this route are very common on all carriers I've tried. I used to commute weekly between them and of the carriers on the route found Southwest has the best general schedule reliability, but even their flights were delayed frequently. UA is especially bad on the route; I had so many cancellations (when other carriers *were* operating) and "consolidated" flights that I gave up trying with them and stuck with WN. I got the feeling with UA that if a particular flight wasn't booked more than a certain % full they'd just cancel it and move everyone onto the next available one.

You could try flying to SJC or OAK and taxi to SFO if you HAD to.. I've had DL rebook me to SJC before and then just change my rental agreements when I work with a client there. If its an IRROPS Delta will commonly shuttle bus folks from one to the other.

I fly the route all the time and am quite used to delays. Today, I got an 8a cancellation notice for my 7p SFO-LAX flight. They placed me on DL 9858 SFO-LAX at 6p (currently delayed to 7:50p).

Anyone know what's up with "9858?" Doesn't come up on flightaware. Appears to be a 738.