Flight number record
DL 791
Delta Air Lines · New York to Phoenix
- Route
- JFK → PHX
- Departs
- 08:05
- Flights
- 365
- Period
- July 2025 to June 2026
Historical statistics for July 2025 to June 2026, not live status. For today’s DL 791, check with Delta Air Lines.
DL 791 lands a B−, 5 points better than the national rate of 77.6%. About one flight in six arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by about 45 minutes on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 365 flights, with a median arrival 10 minutes early.
Set against the rest of the country, DL 791's record is 5 points better than the US average of 77.6%. That gap is worth roughly 51 fewer late arrivals for every thousand flights.
Key figures
On time
82.7%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 352 completed flights
Avg delay
45 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
3.29%
National rate is 1.81%
1 hour+ late
3.4%
National rate is 8.1%
These figures cover 365 flights between July 2025 and June 2026. The median arrival is 10 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.
Schedule
When DL 791 flies
DL 791 flies JFK to PHX without a single fixed slot. Its most common scheduled departure was 08:05, used on 181 of 365 flights, with 08:00 (140 flights) next. Carriers retime flights through the season, so the rates here blend slightly different positions in the aircraft's day.
- Departs 08:05181 flights49.6%
- Departs 08:00140 flights38.4%
Scale runs 0% to 100%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Share of scheduled departures at each local time. Times used on fewer than one flight in ten are not listed.
A 08:05 departure sits in the 8am–11am window. Across every US flight scheduled in that window the on-time rate is 84.1%, and DL 791 runs level with that at 82.7%. Early departures usually start with an aircraft that has not flown yet that day, which is most of why the window does well.
Against the route
DL 791 next to JFK to PHX
Every carrier on JFK to PHX combined arrived on time 77.9% of the time across 2,972 flights, so DL 791 is 5 points ahead of it. Delta flew 917 flights on the same city pair under all its flight numbers, including this one, and those ran 73.9% on time. Across its whole network Delta Air Lines managed 81.6%, close to this flight's figure.
| Compared with | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DL 791 | 365 | 82.7% | 45 min | 3.29% | B− |
| All Delta Air Lines on JFK–PHX | 917 | 73.9% | 61 min | 3.27% | C− |
| All carriers on JFK–PHX | 2,972 | 77.9% | 75 min | 2.66% | B |
| Delta Air Lines, whole network | 1,038,570 | 81.6% | 71 min | 1.62% | B |
Across the year
DL 791 quarter by quarter
DL 791 did not run the same all year. Its best quarter was Jul–Sep 2025 at 89.1% on time and its weakest Oct–Dec 2025 at 74.1%, a swing of 15 points on roughly 91 flights a quarter. The twelve-month rate averages over that, so if you are flying in a weak quarter the quarter's own figure is the better guide.
- Jul–Sep 202592 flights89.1%
- Oct–Dec 202592 flights74.1%
- Jan–Mar 202690 flights82.1%
- Apr–Jun 202691 flights84.6%
Scale runs 65% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
By weekday, DL 791 ranged from 78.4% on Tuesday to 84.6% on Thursday. With about 52 flights behind each day, a spread of 6 points is inside normal variation, so the day you fly is not worth changing for this flight.
Delay causes
Why DL 791 runs late
One category carries most of the weight here. National Airspace System accounts for 47% of the 2,749 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.
- 47%National Airspace System
- 46%Carrier
- 6%Late-arriving aircraft
- 1%Extreme weather
The largest share of delay minutes, 46%, falls under carrier control: crew scheduling, maintenance, fuelling, baggage. Unlike weather, that is a management outcome, and it is the category where the gap between two carriers on the same schedule is genuinely earned. It accounts for 1,253 of the 2,749 delay minutes reported here. The split is drawn from 2,749 delay minutes reported on DL 791.
Cancellations run at 3.29%, against 1.81% nationally. That is about one flight in 30 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.
Connections and routes
What a delay on this flight costs
Badly late arrivals are rare here: only 3.4% land an hour or more behind schedule, against 8.1% 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.
At 2,153 miles this is transcontinental flying, and long routes get a quiet structural advantage. Scheduled block time on a flight this length carries more padding in absolute minutes, so a twenty-minute late departure often still becomes an on-time arrival. Read the on-time rate here as slightly flattering next to a short-haul route with the same operational quality.
DL 791 is not only a JFK to PHX flight. It also flew PHX to JFK (268 flights, 79.3% on time) often enough to be scored on its own. Airlines attach one number to several legs of an aircraft's day, and each leg keeps its own record here, so check which city pair is on your booking before reading a rate.
One caution: this is a thin sample. 365 flights over twelve months is enough to clear this site's floor but not enough to pin the rate down tightly, and a single bad week moves it by more than a point. Treat the grade as a rough reading.
| Also flown as | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PHX to JFKthin sample | 268 | 79.3% | 67 min | 3.73% | B− |
What to do with this
Booking DL 791
For a booking, the cancellation rate is the figure to plan around on DL 791: 3.29% of its 365 scheduled flights did not operate. A late arrival costs about 45 minutes, but a cancellation costs the day, so leave a later option open.
Related
Where to go next
- JFK to PHX, every carrier and departure
- PHX to JFK, the return direction
- Delta Air Lines 798 on the same route70.6%
- American Airlines 2829 on the same route83.4%
- John F. Kennedy International (JFK) delay statistics
- Phoenix Sky Harbor International (PHX) delay statistics
- Delta Air Lines on-time record
- Every Delta Air Lines flight number with a record
- The most and least reliable flight numbers in the US
- What a cancellation rate actually tells you (and what it hides)
A flight number here means Delta Air Lines’s own number as it reports to the DOT. How the figures are computed is on the methodology page.
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.