Airport month record
LGAOCT
LaGuardia in October 2025
- Departures
- 12,002
- Month
- October 2025
- National, same month
- 79.7%
- Carriers
- 9
Historical statistics for October 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s October. For today’s conditions at LGA, see live FAA status.
LGA in October draws a C. About one flight in three arrives at least 15 minutes late, and the typical late arrival is a little over an hour behind schedule. Build slack into anything you connect to. That rests on 12,002 flights, of which Spirit Airlines flew 447 at 74.7% on time.
Spirit Airlines is the most reliable of the six carriers covered here at 74.7% on time across 447 flights.
Key figures
On time
66.8%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 11,671 completed departures
Avg delay
68 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
2.58%
Nationally in October: 0.53%
Whole year
73.4%
LGA across all twelve months
These figures cover 12,002 departures from LaGuardia in October 2025. On time means an arrival less than 15 minutes after the scheduled gate time, the DOT's threshold, and the national comparison uses every US departure in the same month rather than the whole year.
Against the year
October next to LGA's other months
Against LGA's own year, October ran 7 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 73.4%, which makes it number eleven of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for LGA in October, at 2.58% against 4.56% across the year. Either side of it, September ran 82.4% on time and November 67.9%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a better stretch.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | 11,696 | 68.0% | 106 min | 8.76% | C− |
| August 2025 | 11,582 | 81.0% | 81 min | 1.79% | B |
| September 2025 | 11,388 | 82.4% | 77 min | 0.89% | B+ |
| October 2025 (this page) | 12,002 | 66.8% | 68 min | 2.58% | C |
| November 2025 | 11,577 | 67.9% | 78 min | 3.63% | C− |
| December 2025 | 11,361 | 62.2% | 74 min | 4.81% | D− |
| January 2026 | 11,099 | 78.9% | 66 min | 7.77% | B− |
| February 2026 | 10,307 | 78.5% | 66 min | 8.22% | B− |
| March 2026 | 11,660 | 67.9% | 77 min | 9.73% | C− |
| April 2026 | 11,443 | 76.5% | 69 min | 0.95% | B+ |
| May 2026 | 11,375 | 75.4% | 68 min | 1.83% | B |
| June 2026 | 10,877 | 75.3% | 81 min | 4.16% | B− |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave LGA in October
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 33 points, against 13 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,691 flights89.8%
- 8am–11am2,200 flights77.2%
- 11am–2pm2,167 flights63.8%
- 2pm–5pm2,448 flights57.7%
- 5pm–8pm2,164 flights56.8%
- 8pm–5am1,332 flights56.9%
Scale runs 50% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The 5pm–8pm window is where this operation falls apart: 56.8% on time, against 89.8% 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. The 2pm–5pm window is the busiest, with 2,448 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Saturday is the strongest day at 81.5% on time and Wednesday the weakest at 61.4%. 20 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at LGA in October
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Spirit Airlines arrives on time 74.7% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 61.3%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 992 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republic Airways | 4,892 | 68.3% | 62 min | 3.29% | C− |
| Delta Air Lines | 2,747 | 68.0% | 70 min | 2.04% | C |
| American Airlines | 1,372 | 65.5% | 79 min | 1.75% | C |
| Southwest Airlines | 992 | 61.3% | 62 min | 2.82% | D |
| United Airlines | 850 | 62.8% | 63 min | 1.53% | D |
| Spirit Airlines | 447 | 74.7% | 62 min | 2.91% | C |
| JetBlue Airwaysthin sample | 338 | 64.6% | 65 min | 0.89% | D+ |
| Frontier Airlinesthin sample | 220 | 60.4% | 145 min | 3.18% | D− |
| SkyWest Airlinesthin sample | 144 | 61.9% | 81 min | 3.47% | D− |
Republic Airways cancels 3.3% 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 routes out of LGA in October
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LGA to ORD · Chicago | 1,025 | 55.8% | 70 min | 1.95% | D |
| LGA to ATL · Atlanta | 798 | 69.8% | 70 min | 1.88% | C |
| LGA to BOS · Boston | 674 | 62.2% | 64 min | 4.15% | D− |
| LGA to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 614 | 63.6% | 83 min | 2.12% | D |
| LGA to MIA · Miami | 483 | 67.3% | 75 min | 1.86% | C |
| LGA to CLT · Charlotte | 436 | 73.3% | 65 min | 2.75% | C |
| LGA to MCO · Orlando | 422 | 66.6% | 75 min | 1.42% | C |
| LGA to DEN · Denver | 401 | 68.8% | 63 min | 2.00% | C |
| LGA to DCA · Washington | 398 | 67.9% | 62 min | 3.02% | C− |
| LGA to DTW · Detroit | 386 | 74.1% | 72 min | 1.81% | C |
| LGA to IAH · Houston | 376 | 70.2% | 66 min | 2.39% | C |
| LGA to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 349 | 58.5% | 65 min | 3.44% | D− |
| LGA to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample | 325 | 67.7% | 64 min | 0.62% | C+ |
| LGA to CMH · Columbusthin sample | 305 | 73.1% | 65 min | 2.95% | C |
| LGA to RDU · Raleighthin sample | 270 | 65.4% | 68 min | 2.59% | C |
| LGA to PIT · Pittsburghthin sample | 258 | 73.6% | 62 min | 3.10% | C− |
| LGA to TPA · Tampathin sample | 248 | 62.0% | 77 min | 2.02% | D |
| LGA to IND · Indianapolisthin sample | 225 | 67.3% | 80 min | 3.56% | C− |
| LGA to CLE · Clevelandthin sample | 212 | 72.1% | 72 min | 3.77% | C− |
| LGA to PBI · West Palm Beachthin sample | 209 | 64.4% | 56 min | 2.87% | D |
| LGA to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 204 | 60.8% | 57 min | 2.45% | D |
| LGA to RIC · Richmondthin sample | 203 | 66.5% | 60 min | 2.96% | C |
| LGA to STL · St. Louisthin sample | 199 | 68.0% | 62 min | 2.51% | C |
| LGA to GSO · Greensborothin sample | 198 | 65.1% | 60 min | 3.03% | C− |
| LGA to BUF · Buffalothin sample | 180 | 66.7% | 50 min | 3.33% | C− |
Delay causes
What held LGA up in October
One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 42% of the 263,000 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.
- 42%Late-arriving aircraft
- 34%National Airspace System
- 21%Carrier
- 3%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
42% 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 263,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 12 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 split is drawn from 263,464 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 2.58%, against 0.53% nationally. That is about one flight in 40 cancelled outright. A cancelled flight is invisible in every on-time figure on this page, so the punctuality numbers above describe only the flights that actually operated.
For anyone connecting, the number to weigh is not the on-time rate but the tail behind it. 11.8% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 6.3% 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.
What to do with this
Flying from LGA in October
For a October trip through LGA: plan on this being one of the airport's harder months. The 5am–8am departures held up best at 89.8% on time, and with 11.8% of arrivals an hour or more late, a connection here deserves more slack than the same trip in September would.
Related
Where to go next
- LaGuardia (LGA), the whole year
- LGA in July68.0%
- LGA in August81.0%
- LGA in September82.4%
- LGA in November67.9%
- LGA in December62.2%
- LGA in January78.9%
- LGA in February78.5%
- LGA in March67.9%
- LGA in April76.5%
- LGA in May75.4%
- LGA in June75.3%
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, July 2025 to June 2026. Last updated 15 September 2026; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.