SFO - DSM

$169 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 8/6. 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

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
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Flights 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

Mon, Jun 30 - Fri, Jul 4
Frontier Logo
6:37 am - 7:53 pmSFO-DSM
11h 16m1 stop
Frontier Logo
8:38 pm - 12:24 amDSM-SFO
5h 46m1 stop
$200Frontier
Find Deal
Wed, Nov 5 - Wed, Nov 12
American Airlines Logo
6:19 am - 6:02 pmSFO-DSM
9h 43m1 stop
American Airlines Logo
12:46 pm - 11:10 pmDSM-SFO
12h 24m1 stop
$323American Airlines
Find Deal
Tue, Aug 12 - Wed, Aug 20
Delta Logo
12:35 am - 10:16 amSFO-DSM
7h 41m1 stop
Delta Logo
11:23 am - 8:25 pmDSM-SFO
11h 02m1 stop
$337Delta
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Fri, Jul 11 - Mon, Jul 14
Frontier Logo
6:37 am - 6:48 pmSFO-DSM
10h 11m1 stop
Frontier Logo
7:33 pm - 12:19 amDSM-SFO
6h 46m1 stop
$340Frontier
Find Deal
Wed, Aug 13 - Mon, Aug 18
American Airlines Logo
12:15 pm - 11:17 pmSFO-DSM
9h 02m2 stops
American Airlines Logo
5:12 am - 10:11 amDSM-SFO
6h 59m1 stop
$342American Airlines
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Fri, Aug 15 - Mon, Aug 25
Delta Logo
12:40 am - 10:16 amSFO-DSM
7h 36m1 stop
Delta Logo
2:49 pm - 9:29 pmDSM-SFO
8h 40m1 stop
$347Delta
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Thu, Aug 14 - Mon, Aug 18
Southwest Logo
5:15 am - 4:45 pmSFO-DSM
9h 30m2 stops
Southwest Logo
7:00 am - 4:25 pmDSM-SFO
11h 25m1 stop
$348Southwest
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Wed, Aug 13 - Mon, Aug 18
Southwest Logo
5:15 am - 2:40 pmSFO-DSM
7h 25m2 stops
Southwest Logo
1:55 pm - 10:05 pmDSM-SFO
10h 10m2 stops
$358Southwest
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Tue, Aug 5 - Tue, Aug 19
United Airlines Logo
2:30 pm - 11:59 pmSFO-DSM
7h 29m1 stop
United Airlines Logo
8:00 am - 7:05 pmDSM-SFO
13h 05m2 stops
$428United Airlines
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Tue, Aug 5 - Tue, Aug 19
United Airlines Logo
8:45 am - 11:59 pmSFO-DSM
13h 14m2 stops
United Airlines Logo
8:00 am - 7:05 pmDSM-SFO
13h 05m2 stops
$455United Airlines
Find Deal
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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’s the cheapest day of the week to fly from San Francisco to Des Moines?

The average price of all round-trip flights from San Francisco to Des Moines clicked on KAYAK for each day over the last 12 months.

Your flight ticket price will generally be cheaper if you fly to Des Moines on a Wednesday and more expensive on a Sunday. On your return trip to San Francisco, you should consider flying back on a Friday, and avoid Sundays for better deals.

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 $359 (return) on average. On the other hand, the most expensive months are December and November, where the average cost of round-trip tickets is $606 and $542 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 3 weeks before departure. For the absolute cheapest price, our data suggests you should book 12 weeks before departure.

Good to know

Low seasonMarch
High seasonJune
Cheapest flight$169
Best time to beat the crowds with an average 5% drop in price.
Most popular time to fly with an average 3% increase in price.
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 $169 for a one-way ticket and $200 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?

    oneworld, SkyTeam, and Star Alliance are the airline alliances operating flights between San Francisco and Des Moines, with oneworld 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 $432 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 $404 and an overall rating of 8.0.

  • 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.

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 4278 reviews
7.6Entertainment
8.0Comfort
7.1Food
8.2Boarding
8.6Crew
Airline reviews

Southwest is Southwest. No frills. If you're luck enough to get a happy crew (we did), then it makes for a nicer flight.

10.0 ExcellentMichael, Jun 2025SMF - SEA
Read more Southwest reviews

Southwest is Southwest. No frills. If you're luck enough to get a happy crew (we did), then it makes for a nicer flight.

It was a perfect flight in all aspects! Both legs!

Great flight, 47 passengers on a 180 seat plane. Stewardess was pleasant and cheerful.

I liked the crew member who gave flight instructions on "in case of a problem:. The seats are so small that only a young teenager could sit in middle seat.

Great flight staff. Ease of boarding. Overall, very uneventful and easy trip.

Employees were kind and funny, as always! Flight was late but no announcements were made for people with tight connections to help them transition quickly. No service due to turbulence.

I recently flew Southwest from San Jose to Honolulu. I was very impressed with the flight crew, especially the flight attendant in charge of the front of the plane. She came through the aisle at least five times for drinks and water, and two times for snacks. I have not seen such service since I flew first class. Also, for the first time, they gave us the correct baggage claim number, and the luggage came out quickly. I can't wait for Southwest to have assigned seating! I absolutely hate the Cattle Call boarding procedure and the mad dash to get seats and overhead bins. However, the boarding was efficient.

We had a nice flight. Boarding was easy, our seats were comfortable and the on board service was pleasant.

Service was great, boarding and exiting went smoothly, and the flight was very pleasant.

Was as expected. Crowed planes. Too many carryons delaying takeoff. But the ride only took an hour and saved me a lot of time SFO is a not a great airport.

Most aspects were good however if they assign boarding zones they ought to enforce them or why bother? My luggage from SAN-JFK-MAD was lost in NY so I without my main bag for two days upon arrival in Spain. They were helpful in tracking it and eventually delivered it to my hotel. The flub was because of a delay upon arrival in NYC. I had booked 2 1/2 hours between flights but we had to hold on the taxiway for an hour after landing while waiting for a clear gate which likely caused the baggage error.

Excellent flight, the planes were newer, they did a nice job with boarding, great service overall.

It would be nice if was given wires ear buds. Overall was a good experience was able to sleep on the plane

737-800 in first class was pretty dumpy. Seat had an uncomfortable angle, storage under the seat was blocked so even my very modest backpack didn't fit, power outlet was flaky. Weird tiny seat pockets that couldn't hold a gallon ziploc bag, emesis bag missing, etc. etc. No in-flight service due to turbulence. Crew was excellent, boarding was smooth despite a full flight.

Delta flight was on time, seats were comfortable, and crew was nice.

Thank you for not flipping the plane on the run way. You guys get a 5 star rating for the flight!!!

Boarding is, as it always is… horrible. Gate lice. Slow moving zones. Too many people with carry ons

It was terrible, if they ran flights on time it would make a big difference.

Delta seems to be improving in many areas, except they are super bad with the food available. Bring back normal food service on long flights.

I actually received a notification from kayak on email but not one by text from Delta when my departure gait changed and I almost missed my flight

Very comfortable (upgraded to business class). The audio on my screen didn’t work, but I managed to play the audio through my phone while watching the screen.

Flight was late as pilot crew had to land at different airport in their previous flight. Passengers boarded and had to wait for pilots inside plane. Series of incomplete and unnecessary announcements by an annoying voice, rather than complete, informative announcements.

Breakfast was not loaded at SFO due to catering company change. Seems like a major airline at a major hub would have thought of something else or warned passengers to pick up food before boarding a 3 hour flight.

Boarding seemed to be organized bedlam. For what ever reason, preboarding took longer than 20 minutes. Made the plane 20 minutes late taking off. Luckily we arrived on time. Flight crew seemed very friendly. Only slight turbulence.

They hired a new catering company the same day of my flight. They botched the job by not delivering the right carts and after THREE HOURS waiting, the flight crew timed out (flight was 19 hours long and FAA rules state crew can’t work more than 14 hours long). So they CANCELED OUR FLIGHT!! Worst experience ever. Avoid UAL at all costs.

The personnel were professional and friendly. The Boeing 737 Max 9 is too claustrophobic and was very warm at both airport gates, and still warm in the air.

While the staff was pleasant and helpful, the following observations are for your awareness. There was some delay on the tarmac on take off and landing. The paid lunch/food offerings were limited. Entertainment was only available on WiFi at a cost.

Flight was great. Efficient boarding. Short flight. Early arrival. Friendly flight crew. The entertainment system did not work well. Could not access it until the aircraft reached 10K feet or more. Lots of glitches.

get E+, a must for 5 hours flight if you are tall

Liked fold flat bed. Didn’t like having no window. Didn’t like poor choice of food and being served dinner very late, hours after take off of a 7:40pm flight. Servers not friendly. Food horrible in business class.

The chair cushions may need an upgrade. I have been noticing they are so worn out, thin so you’d sit in a dip 😄. Other than that, all was an enjoyable trip. Thanks AA!

Cramped seats. FAA should make airlines have more legroom, for even short people complain

Eventless. It was a good flight and good crew. Can’t complaint.

Very helpful ground crew after an earlier flight delay and being rebooked on a different flight.

British Airways staff are very polite and willing to help.

The plane was late and then sat on the runway for almost 45 minutes before taking off.

We kept being told that the flight was full and that all overhead compartments were full and therefore had to check in our hand luggage. We were some of the last people to board and noticed that there was still sufficient space in the overhead compartments. We were obliged to check in hand luggage when there was space and so had to wait at luggage retrieval which took a while to then noticed damage to our luggage - not a great experience!

This was an overnight flight. There was no meal service in first class, just a simple snack basket was offered along with beverages. There should have been some type of continental breakfast prior to arrival in PHL. As an Executive Platinum American Airlines Advantage member, I received no name recognition from the first class flight attendant. When disembarking at PHL, the flight attendants were more interested in their cell phones than saying "thank you" to the passengers as they disembarked.

The flight was quick and to the point. The crew just did their job w/o excessive talking and everything was just perfect.

Awkward carry on process. Forced to check all carry on. No overhead space of worthiness. Left delayed, but made up the time. Crew was amicable.

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.

The seats were awful, hard plastic covered in sheet vinyl. The airline tries to scam you into paying extra to get seat together when the flight wasn’t full. They were going to separate a family with young children but my wife who had a row to herself gave up her seat so the young mom could be with her young boys. I’m never giving this airline my money again.

It was a short flight so no food or entertainment….

Frontier had yet another flight cancellation. Have never made a complete round trip with this airline without at least one leg getting cancelled. Miserable flights - dirty, uncomfortable planes that apparently always have issues since I've had multiple delays and cancellations with them.

Flight was delayed 3 times, would have been nice to have received text message instead of email notifications. Frontier app wasn’t even updated accordingly, no gate number disclosed. No agent at front desk of gate to inform of delay. Very confused and left if the dark

They changed the timing , first delayed by 4 hours then went back to 40 mins late, we had to run back to airport to not miss our flight. This is ridiculous

No frills for sure. No gate announcements about flight delay, not even water to drink on the flight.

I loked walking out on the tarmac to board and no first class. I didn't like that they have no snacks or onboard wifi to bide your time.

It was a redeye flight, so every passenger just wanted to sleep, but through the entire flight, the flight crew made announcements over the loudspeaker at maximum volume every few minutes making sleep impossible. For example: it’s 2am, and the crew decides to give an extremely detailed announcement about snacks and beverages for sale. And 3am is the perfect time to wake up everyone with a lengthy announcement about how to get a coffee refill and how to take advantage of new offer from frontier for a credit card.

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

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