Airline on-time record
AA
American Airlines
- Flights
- 985,252
- Period
- June 2025 to May 2026
- Airports
- 25
- US rank
- #3 by volume
American Airlines sits in the middle of the pack with a C. Close to three flights in four arrive on time by the DOT's definition, 3 points worse than the national rate of 77.4%. The late ones land an hour and a half behind schedule. That rests on 985,252 flights, of which Las Vegas (LAS) flew 14,112 at 81.2% on time.
Las Vegas (LAS) is the most reliable of the 25 airports covered here at 81.2% on time across 14,112 flights.
Key figures
On time
74.2%
National average is 77.4%
Avg delay
85 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
2.28%
National rate is 1.80%
Largest base
DFW
164,554 departures, 66.0% on time
These figures cover 985,000 flights between June 2025 and May 2026. Beyond the headline rate, 10.3% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule. That is the number that wrecks a connection, and it is not visible in an on-time percentage alone.
Airport by airport
Where American Airlines runs well, and where it does not
The choice of airport is not cosmetic here. Las Vegas (LAS) arrives on time 81.2% of the time; Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) manages 66.0%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 164,554 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airport | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 164,554 | 66.0% | 73 min | 2.99% | C |
| CLT · Charlotte | 114,948 | 74.9% | 70 min | 1.89% | C |
| MIA · Miami | 63,838 | 71.6% | 73 min | 1.69% | C |
| ORD · Chicago | 60,477 | 67.1% | 82 min | 2.56% | C |
| PHX · Phoenix | 56,179 | 79.4% | 70 min | 1.13% | B |
| PHL · Philadelphia | 45,933 | 74.9% | 80 min | 2.36% | C |
| LAX · Los Angeles | 29,641 | 76.3% | 87 min | 1.31% | B |
| DCA · Washington | 27,956 | 74.4% | 85 min | 2.78% | C |
| MCO · Orlando | 19,415 | 73.1% | 89 min | 2.10% | C |
| BOS · Boston | 16,729 | 77.7% | 92 min | 2.58% | B |
| LGA · New York | 16,663 | 70.7% | 93 min | 4.07% | C− |
| JFK · New York | 14,636 | 79.0% | 95 min | 2.63% | B |
| LAS · Las Vegas | 14,112 | 81.2% | 98 min | 1.82% | B |
| TPA · Tampa | 13,930 | 76.9% | 93 min | 2.08% | B |
| AUS · Austin | 11,744 | 76.2% | 115 min | 2.53% | B |
| SFO · San Francisco | 11,739 | 78.5% | 101 min | 1.88% | B |
| RDU · Raleigh | 9,635 | 79.2% | 96 min | 1.99% | B |
| BNA · Nashville | 9,458 | 75.6% | 97 min | 2.34% | B |
| SAN · San Diego | 9,361 | 80.5% | 103 min | 1.83% | B |
| DEN · Denver | 8,855 | 76.6% | 104 min | 2.03% | B |
| IAH · Houston | 7,653 | 76.8% | 132 min | 2.61% | B |
| SAT · San Antonio | 7,508 | 80.8% | 107 min | 2.45% | B |
| FLL · Fort Lauderdale | 7,467 | 74.5% | 99 min | 2.56% | C |
| MSY · New Orleans | 7,465 | 76.7% | 101 min | 2.33% | B |
| JAX · Jacksonville | 7,178 | 78.3% | 92 min | 2.12% | B |
New York (LGA) cancels 4.1% of what it schedules here, the highest in the table. A cancelled flight never appears in an on-time rate, so read that column alongside the punctuality one rather than after it.
Route by route
Busiest American Airlines routes
These are the 25 routes American Airlines flies most often, each against its network-wide 74.2%. Route-level variation inside a single airline is routinely wider than the gap between two airlines nationally.
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DFW to PHX | 4,580 | 70.7% | 69 min | 2.49% | C |
| PHX to DFW | 4,576 | 80.1% | 77 min | 2.53% | B |
| DFW to LAX | 4,570 | 67.9% | 66 min | 2.28% | C |
| LAX to DFW | 4,564 | 73.1% | 94 min | 2.30% | C |
| DFW to MIA | 4,300 | 68.7% | 71 min | 2.67% | C |
| MIA to DFW | 4,296 | 73.2% | 81 min | 2.70% | C |
| DFW to LGA | 4,289 | 64.1% | 69 min | 4.50% | D− |
| LGA to DFW | 4,286 | 70.3% | 90 min | 4.62% | C− |
| DFW to ORD | 4,231 | 66.4% | 80 min | 3.71% | C− |
| ORD to DFW | 4,225 | 68.4% | 95 min | 3.69% | C− |
| LAS to DFW | 4,013 | 80.6% | 102 min | 3.04% | B− |
| DFW to LAS | 4,007 | 66.5% | 69 min | 2.92% | C |
| MCO to CLT | 3,686 | 78.5% | 89 min | 1.79% | B |
| CLT to MCO | 3,685 | 69.4% | 72 min | 1.82% | C |
| DFW to MCO | 3,610 | 60.9% | 68 min | 3.05% | D− |
| MCO to DFW | 3,608 | 73.4% | 88 min | 3.08% | C− |
| DFW to AUS | 3,605 | 65.2% | 72 min | 3.19% | C− |
| AUS to DFW | 3,605 | 74.1% | 109 min | 3.44% | C− |
| DFW to CLT | 3,601 | 73.5% | 69 min | 2.47% | C |
| CLT to DFW | 3,601 | 78.0% | 70 min | 2.44% | B |
| DFW to SAT | 3,551 | 64.7% | 80 min | 3.44% | D− |
| SAT to DFW | 3,549 | 77.7% | 105 min | 3.35% | B− |
| MIA to LGA | 3,546 | 66.9% | 80 min | 3.67% | C− |
| LGA to MIA | 3,545 | 70.7% | 94 min | 3.86% | C− |
| MIA to DCA | 3,545 | 74.6% | 70 min | 2.45% | C |
Departure window
The best time of day to fly American Airlines
Departure time matters more here than the choice of airport. The gap between the best and worst window is 25 points, against 15 points between the best and worst airport. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am175,576 flights87.8%
- 8am–11am182,110 flights81.5%
- 11am–2pm168,237 flights74.7%
- 2pm–5pm158,877 flights67.6%
- 5pm–8pm172,903 flights63.1%
- 8pm–5am127,549 flights67.1%
Scale runs 55% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The 5pm–8pm window is where this operation falls apart: 63.1% on time, against 87.8% for the 5am–8am slot. By evening the aircraft flying these rotations have absorbed a full day of small delays and there is no slack left to recover in.
Across the year
American Airlines through the calendar
American's year swings by 14 points from best month to worst, which is wide. An annual average tells you very little about the week you are actually flying, so read the strip rather than the headline if your dates are fixed.
July is the worst month at 65.0% on time, 14 points below September, the best at 79.1%. Summer afternoon convection and peak-season schedules land on the same weeks every year, so this is a pattern you can book around rather than a run of bad luck.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 78.6% on time and Sunday the weakest at 68.7%. 10 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Delay causes
What holds American Airlines up
One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 46% of the 21.0 million delay minutes carriers reported, and the remaining four split what is left. The split is by minutes rather than by flights, so a few very long delays count for as much as many short ones.
- 46%Late-arriving aircraft
- 34%Carrier
- 14%National Airspace System
- 6%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
46% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. That is a cascade, and cascades start small and grow through the day. Across 21.0 million reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 8 to one. It is the strongest argument for booking the first departure of the morning, when the aircraft has been sitting at the gate overnight with nothing to inherit.
The practical consequence: the 5am–8am departure is the one that starts clean. Its aircraft has no earlier leg to be late from, which is exactly why that window shows 87.8% on time here.
Cancellations sit at 2.28% against a national 1.80%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.34%.
For anyone connecting, the number to weigh is not the on-time rate but the tail behind it. 10.3% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 8.2% nationally. A 45-minute layover does not survive that, and no amount of walking quickly changes it. Ninety minutes is the honest minimum here, and two hours if the onward flight is on a separate ticket.
985,252 flights sit behind these numbers, which is a large enough sample that the headline rate is not moving on noise. Where a sub-group falls below 30 flights the site shows a dash instead of a percentage.
What to do with this
Booking American Airlines
Put together: the calendar is the biggest lever here, not the carrier or the hour. September runs 79.1% on time and July 65.0%, a swing of 14 points. If the dates move at all, move them out of July before you think about anything else.
Common questions
American Airlines reliability questions
How often is American Airlines delayed?
About one flight in four arrive at least 15 minutes late, which is the Department of Transportation's definition of a delayed arrival. That works out to 25.8% of the 985,252 flights in this analysis, against 22.6% nationally. Delayed flights are late by an hour and a half on average.
Which airport does American Airlines run best from?
Las Vegas (LAS) leads at 81.2% on time across 14,112 flights. Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) is at the other end on 66.0%, a gap of 15 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 American Airlines?
The 5am–8am departure window is the strongest at 87.8% on time. The 5pm–8pm window is the weakest at 63.1%, 25 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 July delays on American Airlines?
July is the weakest month at 65.0% on time, compared with 79.1% in September. Across the year that is 14 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
- American Airlines at DFW — Dallas-Fort Worth66.0%
- American Airlines at CLT — Charlotte74.9%
- American Airlines at MIA — Miami71.6%
- American Airlines at ORD — Chicago67.1%
- American Airlines at PHX — Phoenix79.4%
- DFW to PHX route record70.7%
- PHX to DFW route record80.1%
- DFW to LAX route record67.9%
- LAX to DFW route record73.1%
- Why the first flight of the morning is statistically safest
- The best time of day to fly, according to 7.05 million flight records
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, June 2025 to May 2026. Updated monthly. How this data is collected.