United Polaris offers lie-flat seats with Saks Fifth Avenue bedding for enhanced comfort.
United Polaris Lounges provide luxurious amenities and a restaurant for a seated meal.
Planning a trip from San Francisco to Sydney? KAYAK’s data-powered insights will help you find cheap flights. Learn the best time to fly, how early to book your ticket, and other tips to secure great prices.
When planning a flight from San Francisco to Sydney, there are several strategies that can help you save money. Generally, Tuesday is the cheapest day of the week to fly, and April is the cheapest month.
Day Selection: Choose to fly on a Tuesday for the best rates.
Month Selection: Book your flight in April for the most affordable prices.
Booking Advance: Book your flight at least 13 days in advance to secure the best prices.
Airline Choice: Consider flying with Air New Zealand, as it generally offers the cheapest fares for this route.
Flight Type: Opt for a flight with a layover, as it's typically cheaper than a direct flight.
This feature is powered by ChatGPT: an OpenAI-developed artificial intelligence model trained with KAYAK proprietary data and third-party data not verified by KAYAK.
Low season | April |
---|---|
High season | December |
Cheapest flight | $296 |
Direct departures
San Francisco to Sydney Kingsford Smith
Monday
Air New Zealand, Lufthansa, SWISS, +2 more
Air New Zealand, Lufthansa, +3 more
1
2
Tuesday
Air New Zealand, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, +5 more
Air New Zealand, Alaska Airlines, +6 more
4
5
Wednesday
Air New Zealand, Lufthansa, SWISS, +2 more
Air New Zealand, Lufthansa, +3 more
1
2
Thursday
Air New Zealand, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, +5 more
Air New Zealand, Alaska Airlines, +6 more
4
5
Friday
Air New Zealand, Lufthansa, SWISS, +2 more
Air New Zealand, Lufthansa, +3 more
1
2
Saturday
Air New Zealand, Lufthansa, SWISS, +2 more
Air New Zealand, Lufthansa, +3 more
1
2
Sunday
Air New Zealand, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, +5 more
Air New Zealand, Alaska Airlines, +6 more
4
5
Direct returns
Sydney Kingsford Smith to San Francisco
Monday
Air New Zealand, Avianca, Lufthansa, +3 more
Air New Zealand, Avianca, +4 more
2
3
Tuesday
Air New Zealand, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, +6 more
Air New Zealand, Alaska Airlines, +7 more
5
6
Wednesday
Air New Zealand, Avianca, Lufthansa, +3 more
Air New Zealand, Avianca, +4 more
2
3
Thursday
Air New Zealand, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, +6 more
Air New Zealand, Alaska Airlines, +7 more
5
6
Friday
Air New Zealand, Avianca, Lufthansa, +3 more
Air New Zealand, Avianca, +4 more
2
3
Saturday
Air New Zealand, Avianca, Lufthansa, +3 more
Air New Zealand, Avianca, +4 more
2
3
Sunday
Air New Zealand, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, +6 more
Air New Zealand, Alaska Airlines, +7 more
5
6
They will look to squeeze every penny they can out of you!! Pick your seat$$...bring luggage$$$$... if they could charge you for the air on the plane they would!!
They will look to squeeze every penny they can out of you!! Pick your seat$$...bring luggage$$$$... if they could charge you for the air on the plane they would!!
.very good and as I needed wheelchair assistance all staff excellent.. only suggestion is get rid of those plastic chairs hard to ride in and staff have trouble compared to others. Everything else very good experience. Will use Fiji Air again.
In-flight entertainment options could use a refresh, Consider a tie-up with Spotify for more current music and with IMDB or other service for newer selections/movie ratings.
See previous comments. Didn’t take this flight because my other flight was so delayed. Ending up on two other flights as a result and was more than a day late.
6 hour delay and they didnt try to make up any time during an over 10 hour flight
Very good; seat made ready for bed after meal, a plus since one airline covered the seat at the start.
Entertainment was not good. Seems like liquor should’ve been advertised only beer and wine was even though I saw others getting liquor didn’t realize I could. And the food to me could’ve been a little bit.
Food choices perhaps not the best. Only offered beer and wine, when it appeared other liquor was available. Entertainment wasn’t so good.
They charged me over a $1000 dollars to bring two surfboard bags as check baggage. Inappropriate and I would avoid flying sgain
The experience on Fiji Airways was absolutely amazing. Streamlined. All staff was amazing. Pleasant. Friendly. Extremely helpful.
We were delayed at the SD gate for close to an hour before we were allowed to depart for SJ. Reason given was inadequate ground crew to move the plane from the gate.
Thanks to the supervisor Jose my pregnant wife and our family will not miss a very important ultrasound tomorrow. What he did was simply heroic. He needs to be promoted and praised. Please tell him our family appreciates him so so much!
Your crew shortage delayed departure by an hour resulting in us missing an event we had scheduled for that afternoon outside of Fresno.
Check in process was a mess. Long lines, equipment malfuctioning. One line for baggage tags then a second line for bag checkin.
Both flights were late 2+ hours with ZERO communication from the airlines or their staff. No offers for compensation. WiFi didn’t work for streaming and they said to only use browsing but that didn’t work either. Waste of $$. No drinks only boxed water or apple juice. No snack. One of the worst flight experiences I’ve ever had.
Flight was canceled with no voucher of any kind and next available flight was two days later.
It was very pleasant. The staff and crew are very polite.
On time. Alaska upgraded seat comfort with memory foam seat covers with head rests
There were several delays and we were stressed about making our connection. The announcements for boarding were hard to hear or understand. The seating was uncomfortable for a 6 hour flight.
I feel that their union dispute when merging with Hawaiian Airlines is effecting their customer service. The LA to Zihua flight was more tolerable than my PDX to LA but I was treated poorly by the Alaskan staff at PDX which left a bad taste in my mouth and ruined my day.
The wifi was out. Otherwise it was great flight. Richard, as CSM, was excellent.
Was bumped to a later flight because of inefficiency on part of the airline.
The Emerits/Qantas flight was cancelled to Wellington. We need a refund. Had to buy another airline ticket. How do we get the refund. Still not in Wellington.
Delayed QF59 flight once again, Qantas doesn't fail in maintaining there delayed departures and arrivals. USB points do not work nor do the power point sockets on the plane, Qantas staff admitted that on the flight. Don't expect to your charge devices. Saving grace, was the ice cream. Bottom line, if you expect to fly to HND and make it on time avoid Qantas and if you're interested in ice cream - visit 7/11.
Pretty excellent. I don’t know what the pilot could have done better with the bumping ( there was a storm) nor what happened to my ears coming down into bendigo. It doesn’t happen coming down into Sydney just the return flight. I wonder why?
Loved the staff. The economy seats could have been bigger.
Airport and crew experience was excellent. We had to queue for the runway - no one’s fault, but it did mean we were 30 minutes late leaving
Overall good experience with flight and airport wheelchair staff. Also got Indian food in the flights
I liked the service, the menu, and the comfort of the seats! Even tho we were seated by the bathrooms, the reclining seats and movie selection was very good, my husband and I didn’t mind at all
Very good as always, stand out airline. The passengers whom choose to stuff baggage that otherwise should be checked-in is a real bother but that's not the airlines doing. A real frustration that passengers just don't want to check-in luggage. This is a pet hate unfortunately.
Horrific. They missed my connecting flight to San Diego. I didn’t get there until Monday at 9am when I had a mandatory court settlement conference scheduled at 6am since we had parties on the east coast. This caused many issues. All because United apparently forgot to hold the doors open until my flight landed that only had a 10 minute delay. This was the last flight to Southern California. So I couldn’t even rent a car to finish the trip. United cannot be trusted when traveling on specific days and times since weather didn’t have anything to do with the delays.
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.
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.
Bad experience boarding and flight got delayed didn’t make it to my next flight
The food on the trip Toronto to Athens could be better: the chicken didn’t taste good.
Before final boarding, my husband and I — both seniors — were told that we could not bring our carry-on bags with us due to being in Zone 6. The staff took our bags with little explanation, stating it was policy. While we understand boarding procedures may vary by zone, the way we were spoken to was unnecessarily rude and dismissive. We felt disrespected and singled out, and the interaction left us deeply uncomfortable. As seniors, we expect to be treated with courtesy and dignity, especially during travel when accommodations and communication matter most. We hope you will look into this matter and ensure better training for staff in handling such situations with more empathy and professionalism.
Easy boarding and comfortable seating were plusses. Enjoyed the experience and good service from the captain and crew. Many thanks...!
Not enough electronic outlets for charging in the Air Canada waiting to board area but the Most important thing….the plane was booked to only 40% capacity and my row of 2 other seats were empty. My row happened to be one of the few rows that did NOT have raising arm rests. The flight attendant made effort to seat me in a different row. I needed wheelchair assistance due to a cyst on my knee and struggled to move from seat to seat to get to the row. Those 2 empty seats tormented me the entire 15+ hour flight as I had to be upright the entire flight and was not able to elevate my knee. Lots of other passengers were laying down due to the arm rest being able to retract. It is a shame that he couldn’t be gracious and find a row that I could move to.
Poor air traffic controller staffing led to a 50%reduction on flights so we got to wait 4 hrs for our flight! Very disorganized at the gate Poor communication with customers
They are a great airline, and i enjoying flying with them. However my experience with booking through Kayak was a horrible experience. With all the restrictions and glitches of website. My entire bookings by kayak was wrong. And there was no possible way of fixing anything with them, because they hand over responsibility to the airline after purchase is made. Will not be booking through Kayak again and will inform my family and friends not to as well.
Terrible. My brother broke his leg and couldn’t board the flight and air Canada couldn’t do anything about rescheduling his flight. Poor customer service and help all around
Excellent crew, great food despite catering issues. We need more people like this.
1. The PA system was painfully loud. 2. Overhead bin #33 was missing—I find this troubling.
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