Written from the data
Guides
103 pieces on what the DOT's on-time database actually supports: when to fly, which airports, airlines and routes hold their schedules, what causes delays, how much buffer a connection needs, and where the published statistics mislead. Every figure and chart is drawn from the current data period, September 2025 to August 2026, at build time rather than typed in once and left to rot.
Calendar
Months, seasons and holidays
Weekend getaway flights: Friday out, Sunday back, and better options
Sunday departures from Nashville ran 70.0% on time; Saturday ones 77.8%. Getaway airports punish the Sunday return. Which days, airports and routes to pick instead.
5 min read · 1,155 words
Spring break flying: March and April at 15 leisure airports
US flights ran 75.7% on time in March and 79.8% in April. At Fort Lauderdale, March managed just 59.7%. How the spring break airports compare, month by month.
6 min read · 1,368 words
MLK and Presidents Day weekends: winter long weekends, year by year
Most years the two winter long weekends fly within a few points of normal. Then MLK 2024 ran 59.0% on time and Presidents Day 2025 64.1%. What the four years show.
6 min read · 1,214 words
Memorial Day weekend flying: the first summer weekend's record
Memorial Day weekend 2026 ran 74.2% on time, 4.6 points worse than normal. Four years of data show Saturday wins and Dallas-Fort Worth struggles.
5 min read · 1,155 words
Labor Day weekend flying: avoid the Friday, watch American
Labor Day weekend 2025 ran 81.0% on time, 0.5 points worse than normal. In all three years on record, the opening Friday was the weakest day of the long weekend.
6 min read · 1,265 words
Fourth of July flying: better than normal, still not good
Fourth of July week ran 72.8% on time in 2026, 0.9 points better than the weeks around it. Those normal weeks are among the worst of the whole year.
6 min read · 1,286 words
Hurricane season flying: what August to October 2025 showed
Tampa ran 87.1% on time in September 2025, one of its best months. Florida, Gulf and Carolina airports cancelled little that autumn, and a real hurricane looks very different.
6 min read · 1,275 words
Flying in September: why the best month of the year works
September 2025 ran 83.4% on time, the strongest month in the data against 77.3% for the year. 53 of 60 airports cleared 80%. Here is why it works.
6 min read · 1,225 words
Flying in October: calm weather, and the airports that still struggle
October 2025 ran 79.7% on time against 77.3% for the year. Weather almost vanished; Honolulu (HNL) led at 87.4% and New York (LGA) trailed at 66.8%.
5 min read · 1,207 words
Flying in November: a punctual month with a cancellation problem
November 2025 ran 79.4% on time, above the year's 77.3%, yet it cancelled more flights than most months. Veterans Day week shows why, airport by airport.
6 min read · 1,231 words
Flying in May: when Texas starts to break
US flights ran 78.6% on time in May 2026, still above the annual rate. Dallas Love Field fell to 64.3% as the thunderstorm season arrived in Texas.
6 min read · 1,244 words
Flying in March: the month winter and spring overlap
US flights ran 75.7% on time in March 2026, below the 77.3% annual rate. Chicago, LaGuardia and Southwest's Texas airports carried the damage, not only Florida.
6 min read · 1,273 words
Flying in June: storms, full planes and one airline's bad month
US flights ran 74.3% on time in June 2026, among the worst months of the year. Dallas Love Field fell to 56.5%, and the trouble reached California too.
6 min read · 1,248 words
Flying in July: the weakest month of the year, airport by airport
July 2026 ran 71.7% on time against 77.3% for the year. Kahului (OGG) led at 86.4%; Fort Lauderdale (FLL) trailed at 62.8%. Where July holds up.
6 min read · 1,312 words
Flying in January: good punctuality, the year's worst cancellations
US flights ran 79.2% on time in January 2026, above the 77.3% annual rate. The risk was cancellation, and it hit the South harder than the snow belt.
6 min read · 1,346 words
Flying in February: the quiet month with two weak spots
February 2026 ran 80.2% on time, second only to September. The trouble sat in two places: the Northeast's cancellations and Florida's peak season.
6 min read · 1,228 words
Flying in December: the whole month, not just the holidays
December 2025 ran 73.2% on time against 77.3% for the year. Chicago (ORD) fell to 61.0% while Salt Lake City (SLC) held 83.8%. The map explains it.
6 min read · 1,221 words
Flying in August: an average month hiding two different summers
August 2025 ran 73.1% on time, level with the year's 77.3%. Boston had its best month of the twelve; Dallas-Fort Worth ran 73.5%. Why August splits the map.
5 min read · 1,200 words
Flying in April: the Northeast's window, and San Francisco's turn
April 2026 ran 79.8% on time with almost no cancellations. Washington Dulles had its best month and Newark nearly did; flights into San Francisco fell apart.
6 min read · 1,223 words
The best day of the week to fly, and why it is the second lever
Across 7.05 million US flights, Tuesday departures ran 81.1% on time and Sunday departures 73.0%. A real gap, but the hour you leave matters more.
6 min read · 1,287 words
The holidays that fly better than a normal week
In 18 of 40 US holiday-years since late 2022, flights ran more punctually over the holiday than in the weeks around it. Fourth of July week 2024 beat its normal weeks by 9.4 points.
6 min read · 1,291 words
The busiest US travel days, and what they cost in punctuality
The busiest holiday travel day in the data was Sunday 1 December 2024, with 21,764 flights. The ten busiest days averaged 75.4% on time against 80.8% on the quietest days of the same holidays.
6 min read · 1,356 words
US airports with the biggest gap between their best and worst month
At Dallas (DAL), the on-time rate swung 26.3 points between January (82.8%) and June (56.5%). Here is every major airport's best and worst month.
7 min read · 1,636 words
Thanksgiving flying: what the data says about the busiest week in US aviation
Thanksgiving delays are not unusually bad. What is unusual is the cost of landing in the wrong tail of them, because there is no spare seat anywhere in the system.
5 min read · 1,060 words
Christmas and New Year: the two weeks where a delay costs the most
December is the weakest month in much of the US calendar and the last two weeks are the ones with no room to recover. The risk is not the delay, it is the queue behind it.
5 min read · 1,179 words
Summer thunderstorms: why afternoon flying breaks down from June to August
Convective weather is the one delay cause that runs on a daily clock. It builds through the afternoon, peaks between 3pm and 8pm, and does it again tomorrow.
5 min read · 1,040 words
Winter storms: how US flying actually fails between December and February
Winter delay is not a steady drag. It is a small number of days on which whole regions stop, and an average blends those with three hundred ordinary ones.
5 min read · 1,019 words
Worst months to fly in the US, ranked by the data
July is the weakest month in the current data at 71.7% on time. September is the strongest at 83.4%. The 11.7-point gap is the largest calendar effect in US flying.
5 min read · 1,108 words
Carriers
Airlines
US airline on-time rankings: 14 carriers, four measures
Delta Air Lines led US airlines at 81.1% on time and JetBlue Airways trailed at 71.3%. Rank them on cancellations or long delays and the order changes.
6 min read · 1,281 words
How reliable is United? Its on-time record, hub by hub
United ran 78.8% on time and cancelled just 1.02% of flights from September 2025 to August 2026. Its delays come from the airspace around its hubs more than from its own operation.
6 min read · 1,389 words
How reliable is Southwest? Great at dawn, rarely cancels, slips late
Southwest cancelled only 0.92% of flights from September 2025 to August 2026 but ranked 8 of 14 on time. Its day starts at 93.4% and ends near 62.5%.
6 min read · 1,256 words
How reliable is JetBlue? Where its on-time record breaks down
JetBlue ran 71.3% on time from September 2025 to August 2026, rank 14 of 14 US carriers, and cancelled 3.56%. Its long-haul flights do far better than its Florida shuttles.
6 min read · 1,234 words
How reliable is Frontier? Denver works, Atlanta does not
Frontier ran 72.7% on time from September 2025 to August 2026, rank 12 of 14. It beats the airport average at Denver and falls far behind it at Atlanta and Philadelphia.
6 min read · 1,290 words
Do airlines run better at their own hubs?
Of 37 airports where one airline flies 30%+ of the departures, the airline beats its own network at 20 and trails at 17. American Airlines at Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW): 66.7% on time.
6 min read · 1,380 words
How reliable is Delta? The on-time record, hub by hub
Delta arrived on time 81.1% of the time from September 2025 to August 2026, rank 1 of 14 US carriers. Where it runs best, where it slips, and which Delta flights to book.
6 min read · 1,394 words
How reliable is American Airlines? The DFW problem and the rest
American ran 74.7% on time from September 2025 to August 2026, rank 9 of 14. Most of the shortfall comes from one airport, one direction and one season.
6 min read · 1,277 words
How reliable is Alaska Airlines? The record, with Hawaiian inside it
Alaska ran 79.7% on time from September 2025 to August 2026, and only 4.9% of its flights arrived an hour or more late. From January 2026 its figures include Hawaiian's flying.
6 min read · 1,346 words
The airlines that fade in the evening, and the ones that hold
Southwest's dawn flights ran 93.4% on time and its 5pm to 8pm flights 62.7%. Delta fell from 90.0% to 74.0%. Which airlines lose the most by evening, and why.
6 min read · 1,310 words
Same route, different airline: where the carrier you pick matters most
On 1,216 US routes flown by more than one airline, the median gap between the most and least punctual carrier is 7.8 points. On San Francisco (SFO) to Austin (AUS) it is 39.5.
7 min read · 1,445 words
The airlines you fly without knowing it
A flight sold as American, Delta or United is often operated by a company whose name you have never seen. The DOT reports it under the operator, and their records differ.
5 min read · 1,172 words
Delta, United, American: the three big networks compared
Delta Air Lines runs 81.1% on time, United Airlines 78.8%, American Airlines 74.7%. The gap is real and smaller than it looks.
5 min read · 1,176 words
Spirit, Frontier and Allegiant: what the ultra-low-cost record actually shows
Spirit Airlines runs 72.0% on time, Frontier Airlines 72.7%, Allegiant Air 73.9%. The interesting number is not the average. It is the variance.
5 min read · 1,079 words
Alaska, JetBlue and Southwest: the carriers between the extremes
Alaska Airlines runs 79.7% on time, Southwest Airlines 75.7%, JetBlue Airways 71.3%. Three very different operations that get grouped together for no good reason.
5 min read · 1,119 words
Do budget airlines really get delayed more? The numbers
The gap between the best and worst major US carrier in the current data is real, but it is smaller than the reputation gap, and most of it comes from one structural choice rather than from carelessness.
5 min read · 1,061 words
Routes and destinations
Routes and destinations
Same route, opposite direction: why the return leg runs differently
SEA to CLT arrived on time 87.3% of the time; CLT to SEA managed 67.5%. Same two airports, a very different record each way, and a round-trip average hides it.
6 min read · 1,245 words
New York to Florida flights: the most and least reliable routes
Newark to Tampa ran 80.9% on time from September 2025 to August 2026; Fort Lauderdale to LaGuardia 64.8%. Every route between the three New York airports and Florida, both ways.
5 min read · 1,195 words
The most punctual routes in the US, and the least
Of 1,071 US routes with 2,000+ flights a year, Greer (GSP) to Atlanta (ATL) ran best at 90.1% on time and Las Vegas (LAS) to San Francisco (SFO) worst at 58.0%.
6 min read · 1,404 words
Flying to ski country: which routes into the mountains run on time
Salt Lake City to Sun Valley ran 93.5% on time; Chicago to Aspen 59.4%. How routes into nine mountain resort airports compare, and where Aspen's cancellations come from.
6 min read · 1,333 words
Flying to Orlando: which routes run on time, and the flight home
Flights from Atlanta to Orlando ran 70.3% on time from September 2025 to August 2026; from Houston, 83.2%. How to pick the route, the hour and the airport for a theme park trip.
6 min read · 1,226 words
Flying to Las Vegas: the routes, the days and the flight home
Flights out of Las Vegas ran 82.4% on time on Saturdays and 71.8% on Fridays. Which routes into Harry Reid run best, and how to time the trip home.
6 min read · 1,313 words
Flying to Hawaii from the mainland: which routes run on time
San Francisco to Lihue ran 88.3% on time over September 2025 to August 2026; Portland to Honolulu 60.7%. The gateway and the airline matter more than the island.
6 min read · 1,302 words
Does flight distance affect delays? Less than it affects cancellations
Across 2,978 US routes, on-time rates vary by just 2.3 points between distance bands, while cancellations fall from 2.38% on the shortest to 1.45% on the longest.
6 min read · 1,262 words
California intrastate flights: which routes run on time
Long Beach to Oakland ran 88.5% on time over September 2025 to August 2026; Los Angeles to San Francisco 60.1%. Inside California, the arrival airport decides almost everything.
6 min read · 1,285 words
The US routes with the most cancellations
Norfolk (ORF) to New York (JFK) cancelled 8.62% of its scheduled flights from September 2025 to August 2026, the highest of 2,978 US routes. 552 routes cancelled 3% or more.
6 min read · 1,268 words
Hawaii inter-island flights: how reliable is island hopping?
68,240 flights on 12 inter-island routes ran 83.7% on time from September 2025 to August 2026, against 77.3% nationally. The best route ranks 187 of 2,978 US routes.
6 min read · 1,286 words
Coast to coast: how the transcontinental routes actually perform
Long flights carry more scheduled padding, which quietly flatters their on-time figures. Here is what the transcontinental routes really deliver, and what the number hides.
5 min read · 1,071 words
Red-eye flights: the overnight numbers nobody looks at
The overnight departure window performs far better than its reputation. It flies into empty airspace on an aircraft that has nothing to inherit.
5 min read · 1,163 words
Short-haul shuttles: why the busiest routes in America are the hardest to keep on time
A 55-minute flight has no cruise in which to recover a late pushback. The shortest routes carry the least margin and the tightest turns in US aviation.
5 min read · 1,157 words
Airports and cities
Airports and cities
St. Louis and Kansas City airports: Southwest country compared
Kansas City ran 80.0% on time over September 2025 to August 2026 and St. Louis 77.4%. Southwest flies most of both, and its evening is where the two airports lose their time.
5 min read · 1,195 words
Seattle and Portland airports: why the evening flight holds up
Flights leaving Portland ran 82.5% on time and Seattle-Tacoma 79.5%, with some of the flattest morning-to-evening curves in the US. Rain is not the problem; summer is.
6 min read · 1,333 words
San Juan airport delays: how reliable is flying out of SJU?
Flights from San Juan to the mainland ran 77.7% on time over September 2025 to August 2026. The cancellations came in the mainland winter, not in hurricane season.
6 min read · 1,227 words
San Diego airport delays: how reliable is flying out of SAN?
San Diego ran 76.3% on time over September 2025 to August 2026, rank 44 of 60, off one runway. Its worst route is the one to San Francisco, and the fog causing it is not San Diego's.
6 min read · 1,286 words
Raleigh-Durham airport delays: how reliable is flying out of RDU?
RDU ran 78.9% on time over September 2025 to August 2026 but cancelled 2.41% of flights. Its routes to Dulles and to Reagan National show why the destination matters most.
6 min read · 1,270 words
Philadelphia airport delays: how reliable is flying out of PHL?
PHL departures ran 75.2% on time, and when they were late they averaged 82 minutes behind. American's hub is late in long stretches, not short ones.
6 min read · 1,231 words
Cleveland, Columbus or Cincinnati: Ohio's airports compared
Columbus ran 80.4% on time over September 2025 to August 2026, Cleveland 79.4% and Cincinnati 79.2%. All three lose the most time on the same two routes.
5 min read · 1,193 words
New Orleans airport delays: how reliable is flying out of MSY?
Flights out of New Orleans ran 78.0% on time over September 2025 to August 2026, rank 31 of 60. Summer evenings and Sundays are where MSY comes apart.
6 min read · 1,326 words
Nashville airport delays: how reliable is flying out of BNA?
Nashville departures ran 88.7% on time before 8am and 62.3% between 5pm and 8pm. At Southwest's Nashville base, the early flight is worth more than at most airports.
6 min read · 1,224 words
Denver, Salt Lake City, Phoenix and Las Vegas: the Mountain West hubs
Salt Lake City (SLC) leads the 60 busiest US airports at 84.2% on time, while Denver manages 76.6%. How the West's big hubs differ by month, hour and airline.
6 min read · 1,392 words
The most and least punctual US airports, ranked
Flights leaving Salt Lake City (SLC) arrived on time 84.2% of the time, the best of the 60 busiest US airports. Fort Lauderdale (FLL) managed 70.4%. What separates the two ends.
6 min read · 1,399 words
Minneapolis-St Paul airport delays: how reliable is MSP?
Minneapolis-St Paul departures ran 79.2% on time and cancelled only 1.44%. Delta's northern hub holds up in summer storms and routine snow; December fell to 63.1%.
6 min read · 1,302 words
Milwaukee as a Chicago alternative: MKE against O'Hare and Midway
Milwaukee ran 78.1% on time over September 2025 to August 2026, against 70.8% at O'Hare and 74.2% at Midway. It wins on punctuality, not on cancellations or choice.
5 min read · 1,127 words
Detroit airport delays: how reliable is flying out of DTW?
Detroit departures ran 76.7% on time, but the months swing hard: 87.1% in September, 62.0% in December. For a trip through Delta's Detroit hub, the season matters more than the hour.
6 min read · 1,258 words
Dallas and Houston airports, plus Austin and San Antonio
DFW ran 72.8% on time, Love Field 72.6%, Houston Intercontinental 79.1% and Hobby 76.5%. Two Texas cities, two airports each, and a choice that depends on the hour.
6 min read · 1,348 words
Choosing a connecting hub: which airport to route through
12.1% of O'Hare departures landed an hour or more late, against 4.9% at Salt Lake City. Which hub to connect through depends on where you start and when.
6 min read · 1,325 words
Charlotte airport delays: how reliable is flying out of CLT?
Charlotte Douglas departures ran 76.1% on time over the year. American's connecting hub is excellent at dawn, fragile after 2pm, and at its worst in July.
6 min read · 1,244 words
Charleston and Jacksonville airports: rarely late, but late for long
Charleston ran 78.9% on time over September 2025 to August 2026 and Jacksonville 79.6%. When their flights were late, they averaged 86 and 85 minutes behind.
6 min read · 1,260 words
Boston Logan delays: how reliable is flying out of BOS?
Boston Logan departures ran 74.6% on time and 3.05% were cancelled. No airline dominates, the evening falls hard, and the worst month was December.
6 min read · 1,317 words
Baltimore BWI delays: how reliable is flying out of BWI?
BWI departures ran 77.1% on time, and only 6.9% arrived an hour or more late. Southwest's East Coast base is punctual until mid-afternoon, then fades fast.
6 min read · 1,284 words
Atlanta airport delays: how reliable is flying out of ATL?
Hartsfield-Jackson departures ran 77.9% on time, rank 32 of 60. Delta's hub is strong at dawn and on Wednesdays, and weak in July and on Sundays.
6 min read · 1,324 words
The airports where departure time matters most
Nationally, 5am–8am departures beat 5pm–8pm by 21.3 points. At Dallas (DAL) the gap is 31.6 points; at Honolulu (HNL), 9.9. Here is where the first flight is worth paying for.
6 min read · 1,406 words
Air traffic control delays, airport by airport
The air traffic system causes 21% of US delay minutes. At Columbus (CMH) it is 29.6%, at Kahului (OGG) 10.4%. Why a high share can still mean a punctual airport.
6 min read · 1,415 words
Newark, LaGuardia or JFK: which New York airport actually works
The three New York airports are not interchangeable. Newark Liberty International runs 77.4% on time, LaGuardia 72.4%, John F. Kennedy International 74.3%. Here is what the gap costs.
5 min read · 1,169 words
Chicago: O'Hare against Midway, by the numbers
Chicago O'Hare International runs 70.8% on time and Chicago Midway International 74.2%. The smaller airport wins on paper. Whether it wins for your trip is a different question.
5 min read · 1,039 words
Washington DC has three airports. The data says they are not equivalent.
Ronald Reagan Washington National runs 72.2% on time, Washington Dulles International 81.0%, Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall 77.1%. The one closest to the city is not automatically the right answer.
5 min read · 1,046 words
San Francisco, Oakland or San Jose: the Bay Area airport question
San Francisco International runs 75.3% on time. Oakland International manages 78.3% and Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International 81.9%. The reason is a specific and unusual piece of geography.
5 min read · 1,091 words
Los Angeles has more than one airport, and LAX is rarely the best of them
Los Angeles International runs 79.5% on time. John Wayne Airport manages 81.2%. In a region defined by driving, the second airport is often the better trade.
5 min read · 1,046 words
Miami or Fort Lauderdale: the South Florida airport trade
Miami International runs 74.2% on time and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International 70.4%. Twenty-five miles apart, one weather system, two different operations.
5 min read · 1,072 words
Hub airports vs. secondary airports: delay trade-offs
Salt Lake City (SLC) runs 84.2% on time. Fort Lauderdale (FLL) runs 70.4%. Choosing the second airport in a city is often the largest single reliability decision available.
5 min read · 1,058 words
Timing, causes and statistics
Planning and understanding delays
The last flight of the day: why the final departure is the riskiest
Departures after 8pm ran 70.1% on time, ahead of the 68.0% evening window. At Dallas Love Field they fell to 53.5%. Where the late flight recovers, and where it keeps falling.
5 min read · 1,190 words
How late do late flights run? The long tail of US delays
77.3% of US flights arrive on time, yet 36.6% of late ones run an hour or more behind and the average late flight lands 73 minutes late. By airline and airport.
6 min read · 1,383 words
Diverted flights: which airports, airlines and routes divert most
0.29% of US flights landed somewhere other than planned from September 2025 to August 2026. On Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) to Aspen (ASE) it was 4.63%. Where diversions happen, and what one costs you.
6 min read · 1,383 words
The most and least reliable flight numbers in the US
Of 3,252 US flight numbers with a full record, the best arrived on time 98.4% of the time and the worst 36.9%. Here is the full ranking, and why a flight number can beat its own route.
8 min read · 1,769 words
How often a connection fails at the major US hubs
Across the 20 busiest US hubs, the median chance of missing a 60-minute connection is 15.5%. At New York (LGA) it is 24.4%. Here is the hub-by-hub table for 45, 60 and 90 minutes.
6 min read · 1,230 words
How to book a trip that survives one bad flight
Every piece of advice on this site moves the odds a few points. This is how to arrange a trip so that the flight which goes wrong anyway does not cost you the trip.
5 min read · 1,142 words
The best time of day to fly, according to 7.05 million flight records
Departures between 5am–8am arrive on time 89.3% of the time. The 5pm–8pm window manages 68.0%. Here is why the gap exists and how to use it.
5 min read · 1,017 words
Late aircraft, weather, or the airline: what actually causes US flight delays
Carriers charge 40% of delay minutes to a late-arriving aircraft and only 6% to extreme weather. The categories are not what most travellers assume.
5 min read · 1,121 words
The 15-minute rule: what "on time" officially means
A flight that arrives 14 minutes late is on time. One that arrives 16 minutes late is not. The threshold shapes every on-time statistic published in the US, including the ones on this site.
5 min read · 1,039 words
How airline on-time statistics work (and how airlines game them)
Every US carrier above a revenue threshold files flight-level data with the DOT each month. The filing is honest. The incentives around it are not always.
5 min read · 1,188 words
Connecting flights: how much buffer the data says you need
Nationally, 8.3% of arrivals land an hour or more late. That single figure, not the airline's minimum connection time, is what should set your layover.
5 min read · 1,023 words
Why the first flight of the morning is statistically safest
40% of US delay minutes are charged to an aircraft that was already late when it arrived. The first departure of the day is the only one with no inbound flight to inherit from.
5 min read · 1,000 words
What a cancellation rate actually tells you (and what it hides)
A cancelled flight appears in no on-time statistic anywhere. Nationally 1.89% of scheduled US flights never operate, and reading that number alongside punctuality changes several conclusions.
5 min read · 1,129 words
How to read this site: grades, sample sizes, and honest caveats
Every page carries a letter grade, a flight count and a data period. Here is what each one means, where the numbers stop being trustworthy, and what this site deliberately does not do.
6 min read · 1,243 words
Your rights on a delayed US flight, and what DOT rules do not require
The United States has no equivalent of the EU's cash compensation scheme for delays. Knowing precisely what airlines must do, and what they merely may do, is worth more than any claim service.
5 min read · 1,105 words