SAN - SFO

Find cheap flights from San Diego to San Francisco from $43

This is the cheapest one-way flight price found by a KAYAK user in the last 72 hours by searching for a flight departing on 6/5. Fares are subject to change and may not be available on all flights or dates of travel. Click the price to replicate the search for this deal.
Round-trip
1 adult
Economy
0 bags
Sat 6/24
Sat 7/1

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Good to know

Low season

September

High season

April

Cheapest flight

$43

Average price round-trip

$208

Good deal round-trip

$263

Good deal one-way

$149
Best time to beat the crowds with an average 10% drop in price.
Most popular time to fly with an average 12% increase in price.
Flight from San Diego to San Francisco
(avg. price over the last 2 weeks)
or less
or less

When to book flights from San Diego to San Francisco

Estimated round-trip price
Average price per month
Flight prices as travel date approaches

Top tips for finding a cheap flight from SAN to San Francisco

  • Looking for a cheap flight? 25% of our users found flights on this route for $149 or less one-way and $263 or less round-trip.
  • The cheapest flight from San Diego to San Francisco was found 79 days before departure, on average.
  • Book at least 3 weeks before departure in order to get a below-average price.
  • High season is considered to be March, April and May. The cheapest month to fly is September.
  • Morning departure is around 12% more expensive than an evening flight, on average*.
  • San Diego International Airport (SAN) features two terminals lying side-by-side. There’s ground transportation service from each terminal to take you to your plane. Terminal 1 handles most of the passenger traffic, even though Terminal 2 is larger, and boasts modern infrastructure. Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 are connected by pedestrian walkways.
  • Travelers with scheduled early morning flights from SAN to San Francisco International Airport (SFO) should consider spending a night in one of the hotels adjacent to this facility. Most of such establishments provide courtesy shuttles to and from the airport. Homewood Suites by Hilton San Diego Airport-Liberty Station and SpringHill Suites by Marriott San Diego Downtown/Bayfront are such hotels.
  • Those flying Delta Airlines from SAN to SFO will be glad to know that the carrier allows passengers to bring their pets such as cats, dogs and rabbits in the cabin. Usually, the pets must have the necessary health documentation and valid vaccination certificates. Besides, you must lock them in their cages during the trip. Nevertheless, check with the airline for any updates in their pet policy.
  • San Diego International Airport (SAN) caters to the needs of the smallest of passengers and their moms. The facility features suites dedicated to nursing and lactating mothers where they can pump and breastfeed in privacy. You can locate them post-security – two in Terminal 1, and one in Terminal 2. Other amenities in these rooms include comfortable seating, electrical outlets, and sinks.
  • In case you want to drop off your car at SAN before your trip to SFO, you’ll have various parking options at your disposal. For short-term on-site parking, locate the space in Terminal 1 Parking Lot, Terminal 2 Parking Lot and Terminal 2 Parking Plaza. Long-term parking is located at the Harbor Drive, accessible via a free shuttle.
  • If you’ve booked a flight from San Diego to San Francisco with United Airlines, you can benefit from the airline’s lounge at San Diego Airport (SAN). Located in the mezzanine level of Terminal 2 after the security check, the lounge spoils passengers with beverages, snacks and a calm work environment. Pass holders and Business Class flyers gain access for free, but any other passenger of this airline can also enter by paying around $59 at the door.
  • How about a relaxing massage before boarding your flight from San Diego to San Francisco? The Be Relax Spa is situated in Terminal 2 of the San Diego airport and offers a wide array of massages and beauty treatments for the perfect start of your journey.
  • Who wouldn’t like a dog to see them off at the airport? San Diego airport is especially popular for its Ready Pet Go service. Various canines roam the airport building and welcome or see off passengers with wagging tails and happy demeanors. These specially trained dogs can be petted and are a delight for passengers young and old.
  • Explore San Francisco according to your own terms and rent a car for your time in the city. The San Francisco International Airport (SFO) has its own car rental center that can be conveniently reached with the AirTrain, which connects all terminals and the center. Here you will find various companies like Avis, Hertz, and National.
  • Should your stomach already rumble after your arrival in San Francisco, you can benefit from the selection of restaurants in the airport’s Food Court, situated in the main terminal hall. Here you’ll find American cuisine in eateries like Potrero Grill as well as international dishes in Koi Palace or 24th & Mission Taco House.
*Average of the lowest prices shown in KAYAK’s search results for departures within the next 30 days

FAQs for booking flights from San Diego to San Francisco

Top 4 airlines serving from San Diego to San Francisco

Scores according to KAYAK customer reviews
8.3
Alaska AirlinesOverall score based on 29426 reviews
83comfort
79entertainment
79food
85boarding
85overall
88crew
Airline reviews
Cons: "Less people on the plane, the social distance is NOT followed inside the plane."
Read more about Alaska Airlines
Cons: "Less people on the plane, the social distance is NOT followed inside the plane."
Pros: "crew was great and the landing was like a paper airplane!!!"
Cons: "nothing"
Pros: "The check-in kiosk was easy to use."
Cons: "Better bag drop process, smoother boarding process, and friendlier staff."
Cons: "Flight was 2 hours delayed when other airlines were not experiencing delays"
Cons: "Flight on time and not wait 30 min on the runway to get to a gate once landed"
Pros: "Amazing crew. Everyone from Bag check in thru baggage claim were courteous and attentive."
Pros: "Crew were very attentive and hospitable to the crew. I have been flying ASIANA many times and enjoy the flight as well."
Pros: "At 7 PM July 21 we booked flight through KAYAK linked to Alaska airlines. That part worked and picked seats. We were unable to check in online (try again message. At kiosk 525 am San Diego airport it would not allow us either. By the time we made it to the desk it was 537 am. They would not issue."
Cons: "Ironically we had no issues checking in for the return flight through Delta Sunday 7 pm when we booked the flights. Therefore we could not leave San Diego and Alaskan Airlines front desk said we were three minutes late in person and would not issue boarding passes. We missed our soccer playoffs."
Pros: "NOTHING ㅗ"
Cons: "GROUND SERVICE. The flight was delayed causing me to miss my connecting flight. The ground staff at BWI said they could do nothing about it. I spent an extra $1000."
Cons: "Seats and the seating arrangements were poor. Seats were assigned at different places even if you are part of the same family/ticket. The aircraft do not have 3-4-3 seat arrangements. So it would be difficult for families with 2 kids."
Pros: "Crew was very friendly and took good care of the passengers"
Cons: "The flight was more than 4 hours late making us miss our connections"
Cons: "We weren't alerted there was a chance of delays. Over two hours late."
Pros: "Amazing crew very good service ."
Cons: "Chose my seat, instead of leaving it to the airline ."
Pros: "The crew was communicative and courteous."
Cons: "There was a flight delay in LAX due to a maintenance issue. The captain and crew informed us before we boarded the plane which was excellent. However, they could not figure out what was wrong with the planed and delayed the boarding for another 3 hours, putting our 1900 departure time to 2100."
Cons: "Bring ear buds if you want to watch/listen to a movie. Delta changes for ear buds Everything else was fine"
Pros: "Crew was great"
Cons: "flight was diverted an hour away for refueling because of weather over SLC. But SLC opened before we even landed at Grand Junction, CO. I had 8 mins to run between concourses to catch the next flight. My bags didn’t make the flight and have perishable food items. But it is what it is."
Pros: "Nothing"
Cons: "I came from a long trip from France, the seat I was assigned was not reclinable, close to the restroom. I was totally exhausted from the previous flight, not able to sleep at all and when I tried to stretch my legs by sitting sidewards on the aisle a crew member keep bothering me to keep my legs out"
Pros: "The crew was wonderful, the food was great, the ride was wonderful."
Pros: "Yes"
Cons: "Took off late. Other than that very comfortable and great experience"
Pros: "Crew was ok"
Cons: "UA won’t let you print your boarding pass if you don’t have carry on bags, even though they ask you this because they don’t believe you!!! They make a ground staff check then they issue you boarding pass!"
Pros: "Boarding was smooth and took an average amount of time. We arrived exactly on time. Staff were all friendly and helpful. Plane was clean.. overall very pleasant !"
Pros: "On time, flight attends are superb"
Cons: "Cramped seats due to greedy corporation trying to appease the share holders"
Pros: "Rapid boarding and comfortable seat. The flight attendant was great!"
Cons: "Snack selection wasn't impressive, as was the onboard entertainment unit - small screen and no flight info/map. Also no lounge access in San Diego since our ticket was through Air Canada."
Pros: "The flight attendants were professional and courteous"
Cons: "The carry on policy, the seats, the completelack of information on how to connect with wifi. The "sorry you might miss your connecting flight because we're running behind, but once you get off this plane nothing that happens to you is our problem even if we caused it to happen" attitude."
Pros: "The crew was very nice"
Cons: "It was a short flight. Didn’t dislike anything other than paying for TV/movies."
Cons: "Not only was boarding delayed almost 2 hours. Once we were on the plane, we sat on the tarmac for over an hour. We landed in SFO at 12:45 and missed my connector to Bend. United was not willing to do anything for me for the inconvenience (except hand out blankets)...so I slept in the airport until the next available flight at 8 a.m. the next more...I hope."
Pros: "We were moved to a different flight because this flight was delayed"
Pros: "Fast and effective. On time and crew was nice and helpful."
Cons: "They passed out drinks late !! Too close to landing time ."
Cons: "Economy seats are suitable for children but not a grown adult"
Pros: "The crew was very attentive to each guest."
Cons: "Well I paid more for a lesser quality plane ride... didn’t like that very much."
Pros: "The Crew"
Cons: "It was a passenger on the plane acting real suspicious. I didn’t like that. Also the seats was uncomfortable."
Cons: "The crew was rude to the passengers. They charge form 9$ to 40$ for seat selection. Charge for a Carry on bag (anything that doesn't fit under your seat). The flights had maintenance issue, hence delayed. I will absolutely avoid traveling with frontier in the future."
Cons: "The delayed flight and the smell of puke for the entire duration of the flight after an indicidual puked before leaving the gate."
Pros: "All in all the flight was typical for a low fare flight, comfortable for an unreclining chair, and as clean as would be expected."
Cons: "The only problem was that it was an overnight flight and about two in the morning members of the flight crew gathered at the back galley and began to talk and laugh rather loudly. Not only did they wake me up but they woke a little girl who began to cry loudly for some time. Perhaps they did not realize their loudness because they were friendly on and off the plane, but it was rather frustrating."
Cons: "The flight coming in before we left got there luggage lost and caused us to miss our flight because there was only one person dealing with all check ins and lost luggage"
Pros: "The cheap price"
Cons: "No complementary drinks such as soda or snacks such as peanuts or pretzels"
Cons: "if flight was delayed should at least provide complementary soft drinks..."
Cons: "There was a malfunction online and I was overcharged for my flight. There were also delays going to and from my destination."
Pros: "The flight was on time, pleasant boarding, clean aircraft."
Cons: "I am a frequent flyer -not without frontier but with other airlines-and this aircraft has by far the worst seat. It does not recline At all and its hard. My whole body was aching after the 4.5 hour flight. The flight attendants had no proper attire I could not even recognize who was a crew member and who wasn't unless I looked really hard at their badge hanging around their neck. They did not treat us professionally as well, complete lack of respect . This does not cost money to the company to improve."

Book cheap flights from San Diego to San Francisco

Recent round-trip flight deals

6/13Tue
nonstopUndisclosed Carrier
0h 53mSAN-SFO
6/20Tue
nonstopUndisclosed Carrier
0h 53mSFO-SAN
$114
10/3Tue
nonstopUnited Airlines
1h 35mSAN-SFO
10/10Tue
nonstopUnited Airlines
1h 37mSFO-SAN
$120
7/13Thu
nonstopUndisclosed Carrier
0h 53mSAN-SFO
7/15Sat
nonstopUndisclosed Carrier
0h 53mSFO-SAN
$129
7/17Mon
1 stopMultiple Airlines
14h 15mSAN-SFO
7/19Wed
1 stopMultiple Airlines
11h 15mSFO-SAN
$147
10/31Tue
nonstopAlaska Airlines
1h 40mSAN-SFO
11/8Wed
nonstopAlaska Airlines
1h 38mSFO-SAN
$149
6/6Tue
1 stopMultiple Airlines
8h 18mSAN-SFO
6/10Sat
1 stopMultiple Airlines
7h 03mSFO-SAN
$152
10/10Tue
1 stopUnited Airlines
3h 08mSAN-SFO
10/18Wed
nonstopUnited Airlines
1h 37mSFO-SAN
$154
7/4Tue
1 stopFrontier
17h 12mSAN-SFO
7/7Fri
1 stopFrontier
24h 32mSFO-SAN
$158
10/3Tue
1 stopDelta
5h 05mSAN-SFO
10/11Wed
1 stopDelta
5h 00mSFO-SAN
$159
6/6Tue
1 stopMultiple Airlines
8h 18mSAN-SFO
6/13Tue
1 stopMultiple Airlines
6h 24mSFO-SAN
$164
6/8Thu
1 stopMultiple Airlines
6h 55mSAN-SFO
6/9Fri
1 stopMultiple Airlines
4h 44mSFO-SAN
$167
6/28Wed
nonstopAlaska Airlines
1h 41mSAN-SFO
7/4Tue
nonstopAlaska Airlines
1h 36mSFO-SAN
$168
10/2Mon
nonstopAlaska Airlines
1h 40mSAN-SFO
10/10Tue
nonstopAlaska Airlines
1h 36mSFO-SAN
$169
7/26Wed
nonstopUnited Airlines
1h 38mSAN-SFO
8/5Sat
nonstopUnited Airlines
1h 38mSFO-SAN
$173
6/23Fri
nonstopUnited Airlines
1h 40mSAN-SFO
6/26Mon
nonstopUnited Airlines
1h 38mSFO-SAN
$178
6/24Sat
1 stopFrontier
11h 16mSAN-SFO
6/27Tue
1 stopFrontier
6h 02mSFO-SAN
$185
6/28Wed
1 stopDelta
3h 40mSAN-SFO
7/4Tue
1 stopDelta
4h 05mSFO-SAN
$187
7/17Mon
1 stopDelta
4h 24mSAN-SFO
7/18Tue
1 stopDelta
4h 37mSFO-SAN
$192
7/1Sat
nonstopUndisclosed Carrier
0h 53mSAN-SFO
7/2Sun
nonstopUndisclosed Carrier
0h 53mSFO-SAN
$193
6/10Sat
1 stopFrontier
11h 06mSAN-SFO
6/12Mon
1 stopFrontier
10h 22mSFO-SAN
$215

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Recent one-way flight & bus deals

6/5Mon
1 stopMultiple Airlines
24h 21mSAN-SFO
$43
6/5Mon
1 stopFrontier
23h 07mSAN-SFO
$44
6/7Wed
1 stopMultiple Airlines
21h 14mSAN-SFO
$48
6/8Thu
1 stopMultiple Airlines
14h 39mSAN-SFO
$52
6/5Mon
1 stopFrontier
20h 59mSAN-SFO
$53
6/6Tue
1 stopMultiple Airlines
22h 17mSAN-SFO
$55
8/22Tue
1 stopFrontier
16h 47mSAN-SFO
$56
6/7Wed
1 stopMultiple Airlines
21h 14mSAN-SFO
$57
8/22Tue
nonstopAlaska Airlines
1h 30mSAN-SFO
$60
5/31Wed
1 stopMultiple Airlines
6h 01mSAN-SFO
$62
6/24Sat
nonstopFlixBus
13h 30mOL7-9FP
$71
6/24Sat
nonstopFlixBus
13h 10m566-9FP
$71
6/24Sat
nonstopFlixBus
15h 35m563-9FP
$72
6/26Mon
nonstopGreyhound
14h 05mOL7-C6O
$72
6/26Mon
nonstopGreyhound
14h 35mOL7-9FP
$72
6/26Mon
nonstopFlixBus
12h 10m566-9FP
$72
6/24Sat
nonstopGreyhound
13h 35mD80-9FP
$73
6/24Sat
nonstopFlixBus
10h 45m4S3-9FP
$73
6/26Mon
nonstopFlixBus
15h 35m563-9FP
$73
6/26Mon
nonstopGreyhound
14h 30mD80-C6O
$73

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San Diego - San Francisco Flights

Departure:

San Diego (SAN)United States

Destination:

San Francisco (SFO)United States

Return flight deals:

San Francisco - San Diego

Cabin classes:

$908
$1,083
$1,452
$128

Browse origins: