Carrier performance at one airport
AS→LAX
Alaska Airlines at Los Angeles International
- Departures
- 8,948
- Period
- June 2025 to May 2026
- Routes
- 14
- Rank here
- #3 of 11
Alaska Airlines at Los Angeles lands a B, 5 points better than the national rate of 77.4%. About one flight in six arrive 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by about 55 minutes on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 8,948 flights, of which SkyWest Airlines flew 40,411 at 85.5% on time.
Measured against the airport rather than the country, Alaska Airlines runs 2 points ahead of the 80.5% weighted average across all carriers at LAX. That is the comparison worth making: every operator here works the same runways, the same airspace and the same weather.
Key figures
On time
82.4%
8,841 completed departures
Avg delay
55 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
1.03%
At LAX, this carrier only
Rank here
#3
Of 11 carriers clearing the floor at LAX
These figures cover 8,948 flights between June 2025 and May 2026. The median arrival is 8 minutes early, which is the part an average hides: most flights here are fine, and the on-time rate is decided by a tail of badly late ones. On-time means under 15 minutes late, the DOT's own threshold.
Against the competition
Every carrier at LAX, ranked
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. SkyWest Airlines arrives on time 85.5% of the time; Hawaiian Airlines manages 70.0%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 1,175 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SkyWest Airlines | 40,411 | 85.5% | 73 min | 0.64% | A+ |
| United Airlines | 28,958 | 83.2% | 64 min | 0.59% | B+ |
| Alaska Airlines (this page) | 8,948 | 82.4% | 55 min | 1.03% | B |
| Delta Air Lines | 37,232 | 81.3% | 68 min | 1.08% | B |
| Spirit Airlines | 4,592 | 79.4% | 75 min | 2.09% | B |
| Allegiant Air | 372 | 77.1% | 105 min | 0.27% | B+ |
| Southwest Airlines | 25,180 | 76.8% | 49 min | 0.52% | B+ |
| JetBlue Airways | 7,717 | 76.4% | 73 min | 1.72% | B |
| American Airlines | 29,641 | 76.3% | 87 min | 1.31% | B |
| Frontier Airlines | 5,434 | 70.3% | 83 min | 1.77% | C |
| Hawaiian Airlines | 1,175 | 70.0% | 71 min | 0.77% | C+ |
The spread between SkyWest and Hawaiian is 16 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 16 more arrivals inside the on-time window.
Route by route
Where Alaska Airlines flies from LAX
Alaska Airlines operates 14 routes out of LAX with enough volume to report. Route records inside one carrier at one airport still spread widely, because a short shuttle and a transcontinental have very different exposure to a late inbound.
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LAX to SEA · Seattle | 3,280 | 84.8% | 50 min | 1.22% | B |
| LAX to PDX · Portland | 1,942 | 89.6% | 52 min | 1.08% | A |
| LAX to HNL · Honolulu | 645 | 66.0% | 73 min | 1.09% | C |
| LAX to EWR · Newark | 582 | 90.4% | 61 min | 1.03% | A |
| LAX to SFO · San Francisco | 507 | 53.2% | 52 min | 0.59% | F+ |
| LAX to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 364 | 73.6% | 76 min | 0.82% | C+ |
| LAX to KOA · Kailua-Konathin sample | 363 | 74.6% | 42 min | 0.83% | C+ |
| LAX to ANC · Anchoragethin sample | 334 | 86.8% | 44 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| LAX to GEG · Spokanethin sample | 215 | 93.8% | 84 min | 1.86% | A |
| LAX to OGG · Kahuluithin sample | 205 | 78.7% | 45 min | 0.98% | B+ |
| LAX to LIH · Lihuethin sample | 161 | 75.9% | 37 min | 1.24% | B |
| LAX to EUG · Eugenethin sample | 113 | 92.9% | 63 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| LAX to IAD · Washingtonthin sample | 80 | 83.3% | 40 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| LAX to BOI · Boisethin sample | 31 | 93.5% | 109 min | 0.00% | A+ |
Departure window
Best time of day for this operation
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 16 points, against 16 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,322 flights90.8%
- 8am–11am2,022 flights75.0%
- 11am–2pm1,109 flights78.9%
- 2pm–5pm1,325 flights85.5%
- 5pm–8pm1,752 flights83.8%
- 8pm–5am1,418 flights83.0%
Scale runs 65% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 90.8% of the time, against 75.0% for the morning window. That is 16 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on.
Across the year
Seasonal pattern
September is the best month on the calendar at 93.1% on time. Shoulder season thins the schedule and takes the summer weather with it, and the operation gets its margin back.
Delay causes
What holds this operation up
- 40%Carrier
- 33%National Airspace System
- 26%Late-arriving aircraft
- 1%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
33% of delay minutes are charged to the National Airspace System: air traffic volume, runway configuration, ground stops. No carrier can price its way out of that, which is why airport choice moves the number here more than carrier choice does. That is 28,000 minutes out of 86,000, against a national NAS share of 21%.
Cancellations sit at 1.03% against a national 1.80%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.17%.
Badly late arrivals are rare here: only 4.7% land an hour or more behind schedule, against 8.2% nationally. Connections built on this flight are about as safe as US domestic connections get, though a cancelled flight still ignores every layover you give it.
The sample behind these figures is 8,948 flights, enough that the headline rate is stable to within roughly a point. The hour-block and month splits divide that further, so read the thinner bars with more caution than the headline.
Put together: the calendar is the biggest lever here, not the carrier or the hour. September runs 93.1% on time and April 76.0%, a swing of 17 points. If the dates move at all, move them out of April before you think about anything else.
Common questions
Alaska Airlines at LAX
How often is Alaska Airlines at LAX delayed?
About one flight in six arrive at least 15 minutes late, which is the Department of Transportation's definition of a delayed arrival. That works out to 17.6% of the 8,948 flights in this analysis, against 22.6% nationally. Delayed flights are late by about 55 minutes on average.
Which airline is most reliable on Alaska Airlines at LAX?
SkyWest Airlines leads at 85.5% on time across 40,411 flights. Hawaiian Airlines is at the other end on 70.0%, a gap of 16 points. Sample size matters as much as the percentage: a rate built from a few hundred flights moves around far more than one built from ten thousand.
What time of day has the fewest delays on Alaska Airlines at LAX?
The 5am–8am departure window is the strongest at 90.8% on time. The 8am–11am window is the weakest at 75.0%, 16 points behind. Later departures inherit delays from earlier flights the same aircraft has already flown, which is why the curve slopes the way it does.
How bad are April delays on Alaska Airlines at LAX?
April is the weakest month at 76.0% on time, compared with 93.1% in September. Across the year that is 17 points between the best and worst months. Moving flexible dates out of that month is one of the few things that reliably helps.
Related
Where to go next
- Alaska Airlines network-wide record
- Los Angeles International (LAX) all carriers
- LAX to SEA route record84.8%
- LAX to PDX route record89.6%
- LAX to HNL route record66.0%
- LAX to EWR route record90.4%
- The best time of day to fly, according to 7.05 million flight records
- Do budget airlines really get delayed more? The numbers
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, June 2025 to May 2026. Updated monthly. How this data is collected.