Airline on-time record
AA
American Airlines
- Flights
- 988,892
- Period
- September 2025 to August 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 77.3%. The late ones land an hour and a half behind schedule. That rests on 988,892 flights, of which San Antonio (SAT) flew 7,405 at 81.9% on time.
San Antonio (SAT) is the most reliable of the 25 airports covered here at 81.9% on time across 7,405 flights.
Key figures
On time
74.7%
National average is 77.3%
Avg delay
85 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
2.14%
National rate is 1.89%
Largest base
DFW
164,984 departures, 66.7% on time
These figures cover 989,000 flights between September 2025 and August 2026. Beyond the headline rate, 10.2% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 8.3% nationally.
Airport by airport
Where American Airlines runs well, and where it does not
The choice of airport is not cosmetic here. San Antonio (SAT) arrives on time 81.9% of the time; Chicago (ORD) manages 66.4%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 61,506 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airport | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 164,984 | 66.7% | 73 min | 2.68% | C |
| CLT · Charlotte | 113,776 | 75.5% | 70 min | 1.70% | B |
| MIA · Miami | 64,336 | 72.5% | 73 min | 1.61% | C |
| ORD · Chicago | 61,506 | 66.4% | 82 min | 2.56% | C |
| PHX · Phoenix | 56,697 | 78.5% | 71 min | 1.13% | B |
| PHL · Philadelphia | 46,621 | 76.1% | 79 min | 2.47% | B |
| LAX · Los Angeles | 29,810 | 76.0% | 85 min | 1.32% | B |
| DCA · Washington | 27,638 | 74.7% | 84 min | 2.57% | C |
| MCO · Orlando | 19,654 | 74.4% | 90 min | 1.97% | C |
| LGA · New York | 17,147 | 71.1% | 92 min | 4.16% | C− |
| BOS · Boston | 17,138 | 78.2% | 93 min | 2.54% | B |
| JFK · New York | 15,348 | 77.8% | 97 min | 2.93% | B |
| LAS · Las Vegas | 14,079 | 80.5% | 98 min | 1.68% | B |
| TPA · Tampa | 13,821 | 78.1% | 94 min | 1.96% | B |
| SFO · San Francisco | 11,939 | 76.4% | 102 min | 1.84% | B |
| AUS · Austin | 11,662 | 76.7% | 118 min | 2.28% | B |
| RDU · Raleigh | 9,463 | 80.6% | 97 min | 1.89% | B |
| BNA · Nashville | 9,410 | 77.7% | 101 min | 2.08% | B |
| SAN · San Diego | 9,387 | 80.6% | 103 min | 1.64% | B |
| DEN · Denver | 8,936 | 77.1% | 105 min | 1.97% | B |
| FLL · Fort Lauderdale | 7,998 | 74.3% | 99 min | 2.38% | C |
| IAH · Houston | 7,927 | 77.5% | 122 min | 2.35% | B |
| MSY · New Orleans | 7,594 | 76.5% | 105 min | 2.11% | B |
| SAT · San Antonio | 7,405 | 81.9% | 111 min | 2.17% | B |
| JAX · Jacksonville | 6,909 | 80.2% | 90 min | 1.78% | B |
New York (LGA) cancels 4.2% 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 74.7%. 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 | 4,612 | 72.5% | 67 min | 2.41% | C |
| PHX to DFW | 4,607 | 80.9% | 75 min | 2.45% | B |
| DFW to LAX | 4,536 | 70.2% | 64 min | 2.25% | C |
| LAX to DFW | 4,528 | 73.7% | 80 min | 2.23% | C |
| DFW to LGA | 4,311 | 64.0% | 70 min | 4.80% | D− |
| LGA to DFW | 4,309 | 71.2% | 93 min | 4.92% | C− |
| MIA to DFW | 4,305 | 75.5% | 79 min | 2.35% | B |
| DFW to MIA | 4,302 | 68.7% | 72 min | 2.37% | C |
| DFW to ORD | 4,301 | 67.5% | 74 min | 3.14% | C− |
| ORD to DFW | 4,297 | 68.9% | 89 min | 3.16% | C− |
| LAS to DFW | 4,005 | 80.2% | 103 min | 2.67% | B |
| DFW to LAS | 4,003 | 67.1% | 69 min | 2.55% | C |
| CLT to MCO | 3,686 | 71.6% | 74 min | 1.71% | C |
| MCO to CLT | 3,686 | 79.3% | 89 min | 1.68% | B |
| DFW to MCO | 3,674 | 61.8% | 68 min | 2.56% | D |
| MCO to DFW | 3,673 | 74.2% | 88 min | 2.61% | C |
| CLT to DFW | 3,621 | 78.3% | 69 min | 2.13% | B |
| DFW to CLT | 3,620 | 74.1% | 65 min | 2.21% | C |
| DFW to AUS | 3,614 | 64.7% | 74 min | 3.04% | D− |
| AUS to DFW | 3,611 | 75.1% | 108 min | 3.27% | B− |
| LGA to MIA | 3,570 | 70.5% | 95 min | 3.92% | C− |
| MIA to LGA | 3,570 | 65.3% | 83 min | 3.70% | C− |
| DCA to MIA | 3,555 | 77.7% | 76 min | 2.28% | B |
| MIA to DCA | 3,555 | 75.7% | 69 min | 2.22% | B |
| DFW to SAT | 3,531 | 64.5% | 81 min | 2.95% | D |
Flight by flight
Busiest American Airlines flight numbers
American Airlines has 277 flight numbers that flew one route often enough to report a rate. These are the busiest; the full list is one click away.
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 24 points, against 16 points between the best and worst airport.
- 5am–8am177,473 flights88.3%
- 8am–11am182,525 flights81.7%
- 11am–2pm169,628 flights74.9%
- 2pm–5pm159,838 flights68.2%
- 5pm–8pm170,739 flights64.5%
- 8pm–5am128,689 flights67.4%
Scale runs 55% to 95%.
The 5pm–8pm window is where this operation falls apart: 64.5% on time, against 88.3% 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. The 8am–11am window is the busiest, with 182,525 flights scheduled in it.
Across the year
American Airlines through the calendar
American's year swings by 12 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 66.9% on time, 12 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. July was the busiest month here, with 89,200 flights.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 79.7% on time and Sunday the weakest at 69.1%, a spread of 11 points.
Delay causes
What holds American Airlines up
Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 47% of the 20.8 million delay minutes carriers reported here, and the remaining four split what is left.
- 47%Late-arriving aircraft
- 34%Carrier
- 14%National Airspace System
- 5%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
47% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. Across 20.8 million reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 9 to one. The split is drawn from 20,796,659 reported delay minutes.
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 88.3% on time here.
Cancellations sit at 2.14% against a national 1.89%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.36%.
10.2% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 8.3% nationally. Ninety minutes is the honest minimum for a connection here, and two hours if the onward flight is on a separate ticket.
988,892 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 66.9%, a swing of 12 points. If the dates move at all, move them out of July before you think about anything else. 964,225 completed flights over 12 months sit behind that.
Common questions
American Airlines reliability questions
How often is American Airlines delayed?
About one flight in four arrives at least 15 minutes late, which is the Department of Transportation's definition of a delayed arrival. That works out to 25.3% of the 988,892 flights in this analysis, against 22.7% nationally. Delayed flights are late by an hour and a half on average.
Which airport does American Airlines run best from?
San Antonio (SAT) leads at 81.9% on time across 7,405 flights. Chicago (ORD) is at the other end on 66.4%, 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 American Airlines?
The 5am–8am departure window is the strongest at 88.3% on time. The 5pm–8pm window is the weakest at 64.5%, 24 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 66.9% on time, compared with 79.1% in September. Across the year that is 12 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 Worth66.7%
- American Airlines at CLT — Charlotte75.5%
- American Airlines at MIA — Miami72.5%
- American Airlines at ORD — Chicago66.4%
- American Airlines at PHX — Phoenix78.5%
- DFW to PHX route record72.5%
- PHX to DFW route record80.9%
- DFW to LAX route record70.2%
- LAX to DFW route record73.7%
- Why the first flight of the morning is statistically safest
- US airline on-time rankings: 14 carriers, four measures
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, September 2025 to August 2026. Last updated ; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.