SFO - DSM

$96 Find Cheap Flights from San Francisco to Des Moines

This is the cheapest one-way flight price found by a KAYAK user in the last 72 hours by searching for a flight from San Francisco to Des Moines departing on 4/13. 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.
1 adult
1 adult, Economy, 0 bags

KAYAK searches hundreds of travel sites at once for deals on flights to Des Moines

 
These are the airlines KAYAK users have selected most often from within our search results in flight searches from San Francisco to Des Moines, as well as popular online travel agencies
These are the airlines KAYAK users have selected most often from within our search results in flight searches from San Francisco to Des Moines, as well as popular online travel agencies
Travelers love KAYAK
41,299,237 searches in the past 7 days on KAYAK

Save 23% or moreCompare multiple travel sites with one search.

Track pricesNot ready to book? Create a price alert for when prices drop.

Bundle and saveSave money when you bundle your flight + hotel.

Filter your dealsChoose cabin class, free Wi-Fi and more.

Everything you should know

Cheapest round-trip
$168
Overall average: $513
Frontier
Thu 2/19Mon 2/23
SFO - DSM • 1 stop
Cheapest one-way
$96
Typical prices: $178-$366
Frontier
Mon 4/13
SFO - DSM • 1 stop
Top airlines
Frontier
Cheapest • from $168 (round-trip)
Southwest
Best reviews • 8.0 score
Airline reviews
Airline reviews
+1
+1
Airline reviews
Airline reviews
+1
When to book
4 weeks
in advance
Our data shows that travelers who book at least 4 weeks in advance save around 38% compared to booking last minute.
Insights
Insights
Insights
Insights
When to travel
September
Cheapest • 38% price drop
May
Most popular
Good to know
Good to know
+1
+1
Good to know
Good to know
+1
Start a new search
KAYAK searches 100s of sites at once to find you the best travel deals.
We hope you love your trip to Des Moines!
Flight Deals
Booking Insights
Flight Deals

Cheap Flights from San Francisco to Des Moines (SFO-DSM)

 
Here are some of the best deals found on KAYAK recently from the most popular airlines for round-trip flights from San Francisco to Des Moines that are departing in the next months. While these flights were available on KAYAK in the last 72 hours, prices and availability are subject to change and deals may expire.
Discover the best prices for you by selecting your travel dates on KAYAK.

Recent round-trip flight deals from San Francisco to Des Moines

Thu, Feb 19 - Mon, Feb 23
Frontier Logo
6:15 am - 6:47 pm
SFO
-
DSM
10h 32m
1 stop
Frontier Logo
7:17 pm - 12:28 am
DSM
-
SFO
7h 11m
1 stop
$168Frontier
Thu, Feb 26 - Thu, Mar 5
Frontier Logo
6:15 am - 6:42 pm
SFO
-
DSM
10h 27m
1 stop
Frontier Logo
7:27 pm - 12:28 am
DSM
-
SFO
7h 01m
1 stop
$169Frontier
Thu, Feb 19 - Mon, Feb 23
Frontier Logo
8:48 am - 6:47 pm
SFO
-
DSM
7h 59m
1 stop
Frontier Logo
7:17 pm - 10:01 pm
DSM
-
SFO
28h 44m
1 stop
$179Frontier
Fri, Feb 27 - Sun, Mar 1
Frontier Logo
6:15 am - 7:04 pm
SFO
-
DSM
10h 49m
1 stop
Frontier Logo
7:27 pm - 8:03 am
DSM
-
SFO
14h 36m
1 stop
$195Frontier
Thu, Feb 26 - Thu, Mar 5
Frontier Logo
8:18 pm - 7:04 pm
SFO
-
DSM
20h 46m
2 stops
Frontier Logo
7:27 pm - 12:28 am
DSM
-
SFO
7h 01m
1 stop
$204Frontier
Mon, Apr 13 - Mon, Apr 20
Frontier Logo
6:00 am - 7:14 pm
SFO
-
DSM
11h 14m
1 stop
Frontier Logo
2:20 pm - 12:22 am
DSM
-
SFO
12h 02m
1 stop
$210Frontier
Mon, Feb 23 - Fri, Feb 27
Frontier Logo
6:15 am - 6:32 pm
SFO
-
DSM
10h 17m
1 stop
Frontier Logo
7:59 pm - 8:03 am
DSM
-
SFO
14h 04m
1 stop
$218Frontier
Fri, Feb 27 - Sun, Mar 1
Frontier Logo
8:48 am - 7:04 pm
SFO
-
DSM
8h 16m
1 stop
Frontier Logo
7:27 pm - 7:23 pm
DSM
-
SFO
25h 56m
2 stops
$222Frontier
Wed, Apr 22 - Fri, May 1
Multiple Airlines Logo
3:31 pm - 6:01 pm
SFO
-
DSM
24h 30m
1 stop
Multiple Airlines Logo
10:14 pm - 9:34 pm
DSM
-
SFO
25h 20m
2 stops
$230Multiple Airlines
Wed, Apr 22 - Mon, Apr 27
Multiple Airlines Logo
5:47 pm - 6:01 pm
SFO
-
DSM
22h 14m
1 stop
Multiple Airlines Logo
8:15 pm - 2:26 pm
DSM
-
SFO
20h 11m
1 stop
$232Multiple Airlines
Booking Insights

KAYAK's insights & trends for San Francisco to Des Moines flights

Get data-powered insights and trends into flights from San Francisco to Des Moines to help you find the cheapest flights, the best time to fly and much more.

What is the cheapest month to fly from San Francisco to Des Moines?

To calculate monthly average prices, KAYAK takes all prices for each month over the last year for round-trip flights from San Francisco to Des Moines, removes the top 0.1% to account for outliers, and then takes the median of all values for each month.

The cheapest month for flights from San Francisco to Des Moines is September, where tickets cost $302 (return) on average. On the other hand, the most expensive months are January and October, where the average cost of round-trip tickets is $731 and $586 respectively.

How far in advance should I book a flight from San Francisco to Des Moines?

To calculate weekly average prices, KAYAK takes all prices for each week before departure over the last year for round-trip flights from San Francisco to Des Moines, removes the top 0.1% to account for outliers, and then takes the average of all the values for each week.

To get a below average price on the flight from San Francisco to Des Moines, you should book around 4 weeks before departure, which saves you about 38% compared to booking last minute. For the absolute cheapest price, our data suggests you should book 12 weeks before departure.

Good to know

Low seasonJanuary
Cheapest flight$96
Best time to beat the crowds but there is an average 49% increase in price.
Most popular time to fly and prices are also 4% lower on average.
Flight from San Francisco to Des Moines

When to book flights from San Francisco to Des Moines

Are your dates flexible? Find out the best times to travel from San Francisco to Des Moines based on our flight data from the last year. Discover the cheapest month and even day to fly.
Estimated round-trip price
KAYAK looks at all historical flight data for each date to provide a predicted price for one-way trips or round-trips with a duration up to 40 days. While we try to provide actual minimum prices for each date, some prices are predictions and actual prices may differ.

FAQs for booking flights from San Francisco to Des Moines

  • What is the cheapest flight from San Francisco to Des Moines?

    In the last 3 days, the lowest price for a flight from San Francisco to Des Moines was $96 for a one-way ticket and $168 for a round-trip.

  • Do I need a passport to fly between San Francisco and Des Moines?

    Even though you are not required to have a passport, keep in mind that an official ID is needed to board the airplane.

  • Which aircraft models fly most regularly from San Francisco to Des Moines?

    We unfortunately don’t have that data for this specific route.

  • Which airline alliances offer flights from San Francisco to Des Moines?

    SkyTeam, Star Alliance, and oneworld are the airline alliances operating flights between San Francisco and Des Moines, with SkyTeam being the most commonly used for this route.

  • What is the most popular layover when flying to Des Moines from San Francisco?

    Denver is the most popular layover city among KAYAK users traveling from San Francisco to Des Moines.

  • Which is the best airline for flights from San Francisco to Des Moines, Southwest or Delta?

    The two airlines most popular with KAYAK users for flights from San Francisco to Des Moines are Southwest and Delta. With an average price for the route of $426 and an overall rating of 8.0, Southwest is the most popular choice. Delta is also a great choice for the route, with an average price of $452 and an overall rating of 7.9.

  • How does KAYAK find such low prices on flights from San Francisco to Des Moines?

    KAYAK is a travel search engine. That means we look across the web to find the best prices we can find for our users. With over 2 billion flight queries processed yearly, we are able to display a variety of prices and options on flights from San Francisco to Des Moines.

  • How does KAYAK's flight Price Forecast tool help me choose the right time to buy my flight ticket from San Francisco to Des Moines?

    KAYAK’s flight Price Forecast tool uses historical data to determine whether the price for a flight to Des Moines from San Francisco is likely to change within 7 days, so travelers know whether to wait or book now.

  • What is the Hacker Fare option on flights from San Francisco to Des Moines?

    Hacker Fares allow you to combine one-way tickets in order to save you money over a traditional round-trip ticket. You could then fly to Des Moines with an airline and back to San Francisco with another airline. Booking your flights between San Francisco and DSM can sometimes prove cheaper using this method.

  • What is KAYAK's "flexible dates" feature and why should I care when looking for a flight from San Francisco to Des Moines?

    Sometimes travel dates aren't set in stone. If your preferred travel dates have some wiggle room, flexible dates will show you all the options when flying to Des Moines from San Francisco up to 3 days before/after your preferred dates. You can then pick the flights that suit you best.

Reviews of the top 5 airlines serving from San Francisco to Des Moines

 
See real verified KAYAK customer reviews for airlines flying from San Francisco to Des Moines. Airline scores are aggregated from all reviews left by passengers on KAYAK after flying with an airline. KAYAK doesn’t show reviews that are older than 5 years. Learn how KAYAK collects reviews.
Need help choosing which airline to fly with from San Francisco to Des Moines? KAYAK airline reviews give an overall score for each airline based on loads of factors, including comfort, boarding, in-flight entertainment and more, to make your decision easier. See airline scores according to verified KAYAK customer reviews.
8.0
SouthwestOverall score based on 4267 reviews
8.1Boarding
8.0Comfort
7.5Entertainment
8.6Crew
7.0Food
Airline reviews

Great flight but super high price. Glad it was a business trip and not personal

10.0 ExcellentPieter, Jan 2026
LGB - DAL
Read more Southwest reviews

Great flight but super high price. Glad it was a business trip and not personal

3 hour delay. Had to change plans and was still delayed.

We got exit row seats both flights. Everything was running on time

The boarding and seat assignment system no longer works for me, but I know it is being replaced. Otherwise, I am good with the overall experience.

The lead steward kept singing about "San Francisco" and hotel California---more annoying than humorous....needs work. Flight was smooth and on time.

San Diego airport is brand new, spacious, airy and very smooth checkin at SW baggage drop.

Crew could have been friendlier, maybe I'm spoiled by SW crews. In flight wifi was good. Would be nice to have more food offerings on a 4 plus hour flight

Ever since Southwest starting charging for bags, passengers don't want to pay to check their bags, so the gate agents have to beg people to check their roller bags now because there's "not enough space". This was a terrible business move by Southwest.

Sacrament staff are always polite and helpful. Airport is easy to maneuver and boarding is straightforward.

As always, the entire Southwest experience was wonderful, from online booking to flight to baggage retrieval. Very grateful.

Delta’s staff is unmatched. From the gate agents, to the pilots, to the flight attendants… all top of the industry.

The flight was delayed for about 2 hrs. Other than it, it was good.

I am extremely disappointed that delta internal pilot manuals now refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the “gulf of America”. You can bow down to the Orange turd on your own. I will never fly delta again

No lunch on a x-country flight scheduled for 10:50 am departure, arrived 5+ hrs later. That requires a black box label before you pay for the tickets. Worst, when I checked in online, it's specifically said that lunch was served on his flight for economy Plus passengers.

Our flight from SFO to MSP was right on time on 11/15/2025. No delays. As we approached MSP at about 8 pm, we circled in the air until 8:40 pm so I don't call that efficient for MSP. I think the captain should announce the delay and why. (as if we all don't know that we are just circling around the area, slowing down, speeding up, slowing down.) Thank you. Marilyn Fischer

Staff were friendly and happy. Delta could make sure passengers that don't have the app know of changes. Without Kayak I would not have known about the change of gate or the delay. Kayak was faster to notify me.

The flight used a B767 with a very old interior from before 2014. The entertainment system did not work at all during the flight despite attempts to reset the system. It was like they flew this route just to be competitive.

Delayed flight (1hour) plus a long layover after an overnight flight with no backup plane available.

Flight delayed for two and half hours and then canceled altogether due to mechanical issues. No mechanic onsite to fix so had to send one from LAX.

My husband upgraded our seats and I don't know if it was due to the type of planet was or if they didn't upgrade our seats. We were supposed to be in I believe comfort seats and they were just as tight as any other seat- no leg room and we are very tall people but at least it wasn't extremely cold. My husband did put in a complaint about our seating because he paid extra and if we would have known that the space and the tightness would have been the same, we just would have gotten the emergency row emergency row seats that we normally get. We love Delta but both our flights coming home we're not good. Oh I forgot to mention that on our flight to Hawaii our luggage wheels got broke and we had to purse new luggage on vacation then we never had this problem so we didn't know protocol and reported it after we got home only for them to tell is we only had 24hrs to report the damage. Not sure what was going on with Delta this vacation trip.

The flight crew where really good. Better then the crew from BNE to SFO

Food should be changed in menu Many muslims travels in this airlime they need to add one Halal meal

left on time, reasonable boarding process arrived early luggage came out quickly

Some flight attendants were great others were cranky. Seats were very tight and sitting on an aisle was very hard as the carts and people walking constantly bumped shoulder and arm.

Pushed back only to get deplaned due to a tire damaged by ground crew. They did at least go pretty fast. The bathrooms should be banned under the Geneva convention. No room to even sit straight on the toilet. The under-seat entertainment units block what little leg room there is.

United airlines has the best customer experience from booking to arrival. I always fly United airlines. The mileage program is excellent

Older aircraft, no meal, only food was for purchase. Not impressed United.

Not pleasant trip cross country when the entertainment and WiFi system not working. No entertainment for entirety of route. Staff was rather nonchalant in that they dismissed the problem due to age of plane. It would have been nice to know this up front so I could have come prepared to read or download movies before boarding Coincidentally or not, there was a similar issue with the entertainment system on my previous flight I took on my fist leg of the trip. There are no seat TVs, so you must rely on the app when it works. United can do better. Also, what use it it to pay for boarding group 2 when half of the passengers are in the same line as you?

Premium Plus is a really good idea for longer flights

Stuck on tarmac for two hours plus a 5.5 hour flight. Rude flight attendant. And no meals, not even for purchase!

The entertainment options were at best, fair. It was exactly the same as my outbound flight. It would have been more entertaining if there were some series from Apple TV, HBO, Showtime or other carriers for me to catch up with.

The flight was on time and arrived early. The crew were friendly and helpful.

Overall experience was great. Flights were almost on time in departing and we arrived at our destination as scheduled. No issues with amenities or flight crew. Everything went well as as expected. Will fly again with American Airlines in the future!

The boarding by groups is pointless. The first two groups worked fine, but almost Noone boarded in goups three thru five leaving the vast majority boarding when group six was called. It defeated the purpose of spreading out the crowd.

Horrible. Both legs of my flight were delayed more than 6 hours. No compensation, no screens on the plane, and the plane was not clean.

The flight was smooth, the pilot kept us informed about delays and we arrived more of less on time

The flight was flawless and we even arrived between 20 and 25 minutes early!

Always seated jammed in rear of aircraft Admirals Club food at DFW terminal D was absolute worst food experience and I pay $600/year to eat this dried out junk

Mostly good. Flight was crowded but Airline personnel were very friendly & accommodating. It would be good to have savory snacks rather than just sweet Biscoff cookies.

It was a red eye flight, so no meals were provided, but it was fine with snacks. The seats felt cramped and almost too narrow.

Very well recently! Frontier is improving and less harrassing customer on luggages! Positive!

Good for a budget airline! It was easy to get on, staff was really nice. Can’t say anything about the food or entertainment because it wasn’t available, which is fine.

I am writing to express my disappointment with my recent Frontier Airlines flight. I was charged $99 at the gate because my bag was said to be too large, yet once onboard there was no available overhead bin space, and I was required to place the bag under the seat in front of me anyway. This made the charge feel unnecessary and unfair. Additionally, before the flight even took off, I was asked to move from the seat I paid for into a middle seat so another passenger and her cat could have my seat to themselves. I was not offered compensation or an explanation for being moved from a paid seat. Between the unexpected bag fee and being forced to give up my seat, this experience fell well below acceptable customer service standards. I would appreciate a review of this situation and appropriate compensation.

It was costly and difficult to check in. $85 to take a small suitcase with me, carry on or checked and $75 on the return trip, Plus $25 if I didn't check my self in check in $25, because I couldn't do it on the kiosk. Small very uncomfortable seats, waited on the runway for near an hour each way. It was my worst flight to date.

It was ok. It was expensive to check 2 bags ($75.00 per bag), and then it took a long time to wait for shuttle to take us from one terminal to the terminal where the plane was taking off at LAX. And all of this for a flight where we had to pay for any food or drink that was not water.

It didn’t happen. I booked it and then was told it wasn’t available and then forced to pay far higher prices for a worse option

When I wanted to check in 3 hours prior to boarding time, the employees mentioned “a little over an hour delay” so I waited for an hour then I went to go look for food in the terminal and most people from that flight were in the same area looking for food. Finally I decided after food to check to see if it’s anytime closer and now it’s 2 mins until boarding closes?! What are you kidding me? I didn’t receive anything via sms about boarding now nor via email or on the intercom. I luckily made it through, barely, and then there’s no room for my carry on mind you I’m in the very first row so I had to place my purse in one further row back and my carry on sections down. Not sure who pays for better seats to get your stuff placed all over the plane but that was the worst experience I’ve ever had flying with anyone.

This airline sucks. They offer low rates then charge you for everything, the app does not work well, the seats are the most uncomfortable. Maintenance issues on the flight, and you still have to sit through their credit card commercials. People are nice enough but does not make up for overall poor experience.

Cancelled flight after I arrived at airport after 75 min drive and parking. Next flight was 4 days in the future. Had to scramble and buy a much more expensive flight on another carrier.

I liked the turn-style feature at gate 209B at LAX. Very efficient process. The gate staff also made several, clearly directed announcements so I felt very informed.

Everything you need to know for your flight from San Francisco to Des Moines

Information on your arrival and departure airports