Holiday travel
Veterans Day flight delays
10 to 12 November, around the federal holiday on the 11th.
Based on 2025 and earlier data. 2026 results expected around January 2027. Historical statistics, not a forecast and not live status.
Dates first: Tuesday 10 November 2026 to Thursday 12 November 2026 is the next Veterans Day. No figures for it exist yet, and they will not until about January 2027, because US on-time data lags by roughly two months. Everything below is based on 2025 data and the Veterans Days before it back to 2023.
This is a holiday with a real effect on flying. In 2 of the last 3 years it cleared the measurable-effect test, and on average the on-time rate ran above normal. 2 of 3 years were better than normal rather than worse.
Of the 3 Veterans Days on record here (2023, 2024 and 2025), 2 moved a headline figure past the test and 1 did not.
Key figures for 2025
On time, 2025
78.0%
Normal weeks: 79.8%
Avg delay
75 min
Normal weeks: 72 min
Cancelled
6.39%
Normal weeks: 2.05%
Flights
55,937
Monday 10 November to Wednesday 12 November 2025
Measured against its own surrounding weeks, Veterans Day has run +2.6 points of on-time rate in 2023, +4.4 points of on-time rate in 2024 and −1.8 points of on-time rate in 2025. Cancellations shifted −0.08 points in 2023, −0.48 points in 2024 and +4.34 points in 2025, and the average delay of late flights −3 minutes in 2023, −5 minutes in 2024 and +3 minutes in 2025.
From 56,133 flights in 2023 to 55,937 in 2025, the holiday schedule held steady. Per day, 2025 ran −2% against its normal weeks, 18,646 flights against 18,974.
The share of arrivals an hour or more late, the figure that decides a connection, was 2.8% in 2023 (normally 3.6%), 2.6% in 2024 (normally 4.5%) and 9.1% in 2025 (normally 7.4%).
Year on year
Every Veterans Day in the data
| Year | Flights | On time | Normal weeks | Change | Cancelled | Normal weeks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023, close to normal | 56,133 | 89.1% | 86.5% | +2.6 | 0.11% | 0.19% |
| 2024 | 59,083 | 89.8% | 85.4% | +4.4 | 0.08% | 0.56% |
| 2025 | 55,937 | 78.0% | 79.8% | −1.8 | 6.39% | 2.05% |
“Normal weeks” are the two weeks either side of the holiday, leaving out other holiday periods. Change is in percentage points.
Patterns
What repeats from year to year
2025 was the hardest Veterans Day to fly, 78.0% on time, and 2024 the easiest at 89.8%: a spread of 11.8 points between the best and worst years.
The busiest single day each year was Friday 10 November 2023 (19,791 flights), Monday 11 November 2024 (20,777 flights) and Monday 10 November 2025 (20,224 flights).
Each year's weakest day: Sunday 12 November 2023 (87.8%), Sunday 10 November 2024 (88.4%) and Monday 10 November 2025 (60.1%). The worst day moved around from year to year, which points to weather rather than to a fixed crunch in the holiday schedule.
Day 1 of the window has been the day to avoid, 79.0% on time on average across 2023, 2024 and 2025; day 3 of the window has been the day to pick at 90.3%. Veterans Day moves across the week from year to year, so the day's position in the window is used instead of its name.
Early or late matters: 5am–8am departures averaged 90.8% on time across 2023, 2024 and 2025, 5pm–8pm departures 80.9%. That 9.9 points gap is bigger than the holiday effect itself.
The cancellation rate has been as low as 0.08% (2024) and as high as 6.39% (2025), with Chicago (MDW) at 16.82% in the worst year.
Airports and airlines
Who handles Veterans Day best
Averaged across 2023, 2024 and 2025, the airports that handled the holiday best against their own normal weeks were Dallas (DAL, +8.6), Denver (DEN, +7.1) and Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW, +5.7); the ones that struggled most were New York (LGA, −1.4), Boston (BOS, −1.2) and Nashville (BNA, −0.7).
Each year one airport took the biggest hit against its own normal weeks: Seattle (SEA, −2.8 points) in 2023, New York (JFK, +0.4 points) in 2024 and New York (LGA, −11.8 points) in 2025.
By carrier across 2023, 2024 and 2025, Envoy Air averaged the best on-time rate at 88.8% and Frontier Airlines the worst at 75.9%, a gap of 12.8 points.
Against their own normal weeks, Republic Airways was hit hardest by the holiday on average, −3.6 points, while Envoy Air fared best at +4.0.
Top of the carrier table each year: Endeavor Air in 2023 (94.3%), Envoy Air in 2024 (93.3%) and Alaska Airlines in 2025 (86.7%).
LAX to SFO and SFO to LAX were among the five busiest routes in every year, so their figures on the year pages are worth comparing across years.
What to do with this
Planning Veterans Day 2026
For Veterans Day 2026: fly day 3 of the window if the dates allow; take a 5am–8am departure; and allow more connection time at New York (LGA) and Boston (BOS). Each year page has the day-by-day and airport-by-airport detail.
On time means arriving less than 15 minutes after the scheduled gate time. Average delay counts delayed flights only; cancellations are a share of every scheduled flight. A holiday is compared with the two weeks either side of it, leaving out days that belong to other holidays. The measurable-effect test asks for 3 points of on-time rate, 5 minutes of average delay or 2 points of cancellations; airports, routes and carriers need 500 flights in the window to be ranked. The US DOT publishes on-time data about two months after the month it covers.
Related
Where to go next
- Veterans Day 202389.1%
- Veterans Day 202489.8%
- Veterans Day 202578.0%
- Every US travel holiday
- The holidays that fly better than a normal week
- The busiest US travel days, and what they cost in punctuality
- How the figures are computed
Holiday windows are fixed by rule each year. See every window.
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.