✈ SFO → PEK
12H 3M FLIGHT. YOU WILL CRY DURING A ROMCOM. IT'S FINE.
Flight from San Francisco to Beijing
From SFO (SFO), USA North America → Beijing Capital (PEK), China Asia
How long is the flight from San Francisco to Beijing?
A nonstop flight from San Francisco (SFO) to Beijing (PEK) takes about 12 hours 3 minutes, covering a great-circle distance of 5,899 miles (9,494 km). Actual scheduled time varies by airline, routing, and wind — expect ±15 to 30 minutes from this estimate.
Avg flight time
12h 3m
Nonstop, scheduled
Distance
5,899 mi
9,494 km · great-circle
Avg speed
788 km/h
Door-to-door including taxi
Time zones & jet lag
San Francisco timezone
UTC-7
America/Los_Angeles
Beijing timezone
UTC+8
Asia/Shanghai
Time difference
+15h
15 hours ahead
Jet lag (rough)
~15d
Eastward — worse
CO₂ footprint per passenger
Economy class, single passenger. Source: DEFRA 2024 averages.
This flight emits roughly 3.6× the CO₂ of an equivalent train trip and 0.9× a car driven alone over the same distance.