How reliable is Alaska Airlines? The record, with Hawaiian inside it

Alaska Airlines' late flights were among the shortest of any US carrier from September 2025 to August 2026. When an Alaska flight missed the 15-minute mark, it arrived an average of 52 minutes behind schedule, against 73 minutes nationally, and the lowest figure in the table belonged to Alaska Airlines at 51.9 minutes. Only 4.9% of Alaska's flights ran an hour or more late, against 8.3% nationally.

On the headline measure Alaska is good rather than dominant: 79.7% on time, rank 4 of 14, with 1.20% of flights cancelled. Its strength is the shape of its delays, not their frequency. The middle-tier carriers guide compares it with Southwest and JetBlue; this one stays with Alaska, and with the airline that has been folded into its figures.

Four measures

Of Alaska's late flights, 24.1% crossed the one-hour mark, against 36.6% nationally. That is the measure that decides whether a 50-minute connection in Seattle survives a late inbound, and Alaska sits at the good end of the table on it, alongside Southwest at 27.6%.

If I had to pick one number to judge an airline by for connections, it would be this one.

On cancellations Alaska is solid rather than exceptional: its 1.20% sits under the national 1.89% but above United at 1.02% and Southwest at 0.92%.

The network explains much of the rest. Alaska flies long sectors, averaging 1,281 miles against 773 for Southwest, and a longer sector carries more scheduled time in which to recover a late push-back. Inside Alaska itself it flies a different kind of airline altogether: short multi-stop hops between Anchorage, Juneau, Sitka and Ketchikan, such as AS 62 from Sitka to Ketchikan, in some of the hardest flying weather in the country, and still largely on time.

Hawaiian, inside the numbers

Alaska Air Group bought Hawaiian Airlines in 2024, and the two have since moved onto a single operating certificate. The DOT data shows the join. Flights reported under Hawaiian's code stop after December 2025. From January 2026 the same routes, including the inter-island shuttles, appear under Alaska's. I first noticed it in the pipeline's output rather than in any press release: the Honolulu to Kahului route split into two carrier files, one ending in December and one starting in January.

That has two consequences for reading this page. First, Hawaiian's own figure, 80.8% on time with 0.87% cancelled, covers only August to December 2025, five months of mostly short island hops. Its high place in the airline tables rests on those five months. Second, Alaska's figure is a blend: five months of Alaska alone and seven of Alaska plus Hawaiian.

The route pages let you compare the two periods. Between August and December 2025, Hawaiian's Honolulu to Maui flights ran well above 80% on time in most months. Between January and July 2026, the same route under Alaska's code ran lower, climbing back toward Hawaiian's level only by early summer. The Kahului to Honolulu route and Lihue to Honolulu show the same step. Some of that is the calendar: Hawaii's wet season runs through the winter, and Hawaiian's own December 2025 was already weaker than its autumn. Some may be the cost of merging two operations. One year of data cannot separate the two, and anyone booking island hops should read the latest months on the route page rather than the annual figure. The Hawaii inter-island guide covers the routes themselves.

{
 "flights": 309844,
 "completed": 305255,
 "onTimePct": 79.7,
 "veryLatePct": 4.9,
 "avgDelayMin": 51.9,
 "medianArrDelay": -4,
 "cancelPct": 1.2,
 "divertPct": 0.28,
 "causes": {
  "carrier": 0.3309,
  "weather": 0.0457,
  "nas": 0.2417,
  "security": 0.0038,
  "lateAircraft": 0.3779
 },
 "byHourBlock": [87.4, 81.8, 77.9, 76.8, 75.3, 79 ],
 "byMonth": [79, 82.9, 78.1, 84.2, 83.2, 80.6, 76.8, 75.5, 83.6, 80.1, 81.2, 72 ],
 "byDow": [78.8, 82.7, 82.2, 77.5, 77.1, 81.9, 78.1 ]
}

This is the file my pipeline writes for Alaska each month. Its January to July months already include the flying that used to be filed as Hawaiian, which is why I read its month strip with the merger in mind.

The flattest day of any big airline

Alaska's day barely slopes. Between 5am and 8am it ran 87.4% on time, slightly below the national 89.3%. Between 5pm and 8pm it ran 75.3%, against 68.0% nationally. The gap, 12.1 points, is a fraction of the national 21.3.

This is mostly geography. Alaska's aircraft spend their days on the West Coast and in Alaska, where summer afternoon thunderstorms are rare and the ground delay programmes are concentrated at San Francisco. A delay that begins in the morning has little to feed on later. The cause codes agree: late-arriving aircraft account for 38% of Alaska's delay minutes, a little under the national 40%.

Tuesday was Alaska's best day at 82.7% and Friday its worst at 77.1%. Its best month was April at 84.2% and its worst December at 72.0%, the month Seattle's winter weather and the holiday peak coincide.

Seattle, Portland, Anchorage and Honolulu

Seattle is Alaska's hub and a quarter of its departures. Alaska ran slightly below the airport's 79.5% there, and fell hardest in summer, when Seattle's peak season fills its three runways; the Seattle July page shows the month. Portland runs better, as the Seattle and Portland guide explains, and Anchorage is one of Alaska's most punctual stations despite its winters.

Honolulu and Maui are the weak ones, and they are almost entirely the former Hawaiian flying since January. Honolulu as a whole ran 82.1% on time, and Alaska's departures there ran several points below it.

Best and worst Alaska routes

Alaska's best busy routes run along the coast. The Los Angeles to Portland route and Orange County to Seattle lead its list, and the Anchorage to Seattle route ran 86.9% on time. Phoenix to Seattle is close behind.

The worst involve San Francisco or Hawaii. Seattle to San Francisco is Alaska's weakest busy route; the route ran 59.8% for all carriers, likely held down by San Francisco's morning arrival restrictions. From April to July 2026 several routes into San Francisco, this one included, fell to roughly 35 to 50% on time. My first assumption was a bug in the aggregation; checked against the raw month files, the drop is in the data, and the data does not say why. Seattle to Honolulu ran 66.2% as a route, one of several mainland to Honolulu routes that run well below the national average.

Flight numbers worth knowing

Alaska's most punctual flight numbers are short West Coast sectors. AS 1325, the 6:45am from Orange County to Seattle, and AS 1410, the 8am from San Francisco to Portland, are among the best in its schedule. Leaving San Francisco is easy; arriving there is the problem.

The weakest are transcontinental. AS 16, the mid-afternoon Seattle to Kennedy, AS 21, the 7am Kennedy to Seattle, and AS 41, the evening Kennedy to San Francisco, trail most of the schedule. Even a morning departure from New York inherits the Northeast's airspace; the transcontinental routes guide covers why.

If it were my ticket on Alaska

Choose Alaska when a long delay would hurt more than a short one. Its late flights are among the shortest in the country, which protects connections and evening plans.

Do not pay extra for an early departure on the West Coast. Alaska's evening flights lose far less ground to its morning ones than other airlines' do.

For Hawaii island hops, read the current months. The inter-island record under Alaska's code was still changing through 2026. The route page's month strip matters more than any annual figure.

Avoid San Francisco arrivals between 8am and 11am. Alaska cannot fly around SFO's low cloud any more than United can. At 59.8% for the route, I would not put a tight connection behind a Seattle to San Francisco flight. The connection risk tool shows the effect on a connection.

Alaska's record in detail: Alaska Airlines · Alaska at Seattle · Alaska at Portland · Alaska at Honolulu · Hawaiian Airlines · Middle-tier carriers