Route reliability record
DEN→LAX
Denver to Los Angeles
- Flights
- 7,708
- Period
- September 2025 to August 2026
- Distance
- 862 mi
- Carriers
- 5
This route lands a B+, about a point better than the national rate of 77.3%. About one flight in five arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by about an hour on average. That rests on 7,708 DEN to LAX flights, of which United Airlines flew 3,079 at 84.0% on time.
Best time to fly DEN to LAX: a 5am–8am departure, ideally on a Saturday. Flights in that window arrived on time 91.4% of the time and Saturday flights 82.1%, against 78.7% for the route overall.
United Airlines is the most reliable of the five carriers covered here at 84.0% on time across 3,079 flights.
Key figures
On time
78.7%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 7,661 completed flights
Avg delay
63 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
0.53%
National rate is 1.89%
Best carrier
United
84.0% on time across 3,079 flights
These figures cover 7,708 flights between September 2025 and August 2026. The median arrival is 5 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.
Fare search by Aviasales, a Travelpayouts partner. Booking through it may earn this site a commission at no cost to you; it changes no figure here.
Carrier by carrier
Which airline is most reliable on DEN to LAX
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. United Airlines arrives on time 84.0% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 67.2%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 1,881 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 3,079 | 84.0% | 56 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| Frontier Airlines | 797 | 83.4% | 68 min | 0.75% | B+ |
| Delta Air Lines | 746 | 81.2% | 101 min | 1.34% | B |
| SkyWest Airlines | 1,205 | 78.5% | 81 min | 0.75% | B+ |
| Southwest Airlines | 1,881 | 67.2% | 52 min | 0.85% | C+ |
The spread between United and Southwest is 17 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 17 more arrivals inside the on-time window.
Flight by flight
Flights on DEN to LAX
The flight numbers below flew this route at least 250 times in the period, busiest first. Each has its own record, with its schedule and delay causes.
- United 163808:0091.8% · 365 flights
- United 101311:4583.8% · 365 flights
- United 40510:0291.2% · 364 flights
- United 224018:0575.3% · 328 flights
- United 53121:2076.3% · 316 flights
- United 119515:4382.5% · 309 flights
- Frontier 434522:3974.9% · 306 flights
- Frontier 234106:0089.8% · 276 flights
- Delta 200207:2589.5% · 267 flights
Timetable by Aviasales, a Travelpayouts partner. Booking through it may earn this site a commission at no cost to you; it changes no figure here.
Best ways to make this trip
The most reliable ways to fly Denver to Los Angeles
Every airline on this route and on the routes between nearby airports, ranked by how often a scheduled flight actually operated and arrived on time. 2 of the top 5 use a different airport at one end.
| Option | Airline | Success | On time | Cancelled | Best departure | Most punctual flight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. DEN → SNADenver to Santa Ana | United Airlines | 85.2% | 85.3% | 0.16% | 5am–8am, Tue | UA 2666 07:40 |
| 2. DEN → LAXDenver to Los Angeles | United Airlines | 84.0% | 84.0% | 0.00% | 5am–8am, Sat | UA 1638 08:00 |
| 3. DEN → LAXDenver to Los Angeles | Frontier Airlines | 82.8% | 83.4% | 0.75% | 5am–8am, Sun | F9 2341 06:00 |
| 4. DEN → LAXDenver to Los Angeles | Delta Air Lines | 80.1% | 81.2% | 1.34% | 5am–8am, Mon | DL 2002 07:25 |
| 5. DEN → ONTDenver to Ontario | Frontier Airlines | 79.9% | 80.3% | 0.54% | 5am–8am, Sun | F9 1261 22:29 |
Success is the share of scheduled flights that operated and arrived less than 15 minutes late, so a cancelled flight counts against it. “(route)” means the best time comes from every carrier on the route rather than this airline alone.
Departure window
The best time of day to leave
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 24 points, against 17 points between the best and worst carrier.
- 5am–8am1,013 flights91.4%
- 8am–11am1,223 flights89.7%
- 11am–2pm1,795 flights82.8%
- 2pm–5pm746 flights75.9%
- 5pm–8pm1,534 flights68.9%
- 8pm–5am1,397 flights67.1%
Scale runs 60% to 95%.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 91.4% of the time, against 67.1% for the overnight window. That is 24 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 11am–2pm window is the busiest, with 1,795 flights scheduled in it.
Explore
Filter DEN to LAX by airline, time, month and day
Pick a breakdown and a carrier. The dashed mark on each row is the same slice for every US flight.
On DEN to LAX, the best departure window is 5am–8am at 91.4% on time and the worst is 8pm–5am at 67.1%, a wide gap of 24.3 points. All US flights leaving 5am–8am ran 89.3%.
- 5–8am91.4%
- 8–11am89.7%
- 11am–2pm82.8%
- 2–5pm75.9%
- 5–8pm68.9%
- 8pm–5am67.1%
best all US flightsScale 60% to 95%.
Across the year
When delays peak on this route
This route's year swings by 18 points from best month to worst, which is wide. An annual average tells you very little about the week you are actually flying, so read the strip rather than the headline if your dates are fixed.
June is the worst month at 66.5% on time, 18 points below November, the best at 84.7%. Summer afternoon convection and peak-season schedules land on the same weeks every year, so this is a pattern you can book around rather than a run of bad luck. May was the busiest month here, with 687 flights.
Across the week, Saturday is the strongest day at 82.1% on time and Sunday the weakest at 75.0%, a spread of 7 points.
Delay causes
Why this route gets delayed
Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 44% of the 102,000 delay minutes carriers reported here, and the remaining four split what is left.
- 44%Late-arriving aircraft
- 39%Carrier
- 14%National Airspace System
- 3%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
44% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. Across 102,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 15 to one. The split is drawn from 102,441 reported delay minutes.
The largest share of delay minutes, 39%, falls under carrier control: crew scheduling, maintenance, fuelling, baggage. It accounts for 40,000 of the 102,000 delay minutes reported here.
Cancellations are rare at 0.53%, below the national 1.89% and low enough to earn the plus on the grade. Roughly one flight in 100 is called off; the risk here is arriving late, not not arriving.
Connections and stage length
What a delay here actually costs
6.6% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 8.3%, so a 60 to 75 minute layover is reasonable here while anything under 45 minutes is a bet. Most delays on this route last about an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.
The 862 miles between these two airports put this in the middle of the US network, around two and a half to three hours of block time. That is enough cruise to absorb a ten-minute late pushback and not enough to absorb thirty.
The return leg runs 81.6% on time across 7,709 flights, within 3 points of this direction. The two legs are scored separately because they usually differ; on this city pair they happen not to.
The sample behind these figures is 7,708 flights, enough that the headline rate is stable to within roughly a point. The hour-block and month splits divide that further, so read the thinner bars with more caution than the headline.
Work out the risk of missing a connection in LAX after this flight
What to do with this
Booking this route
Put together: the calendar is the biggest lever here, not the carrier or the hour. November runs 84.7% on time and June 66.5%, a swing of 18 points. If the dates move at all, move them out of June before you think about anything else. 7,661 completed flights over 12 months sit behind that.
Common questions
DEN to LAX questions
How often is DEN to LAX delayed?
About one flight in five arrives at least 15 minutes late, which is the Department of Transportation's definition of a delayed arrival. That works out to 21.3% of the 7,708 flights in this analysis, against 22.7% nationally. Delayed flights are late by about an hour on average.
Which airline is most reliable on DEN to LAX?
United Airlines leads at 84.0% on time across 3,079 flights. Southwest Airlines is at the other end on 67.2%, a gap of 17 points. Sample size matters as much as the percentage: a rate built from a few hundred flights moves around far more than one built from ten thousand.
What time of day has the fewest delays on DEN to LAX?
The 5am–8am departure window is the strongest at 91.4% on time. The 8pm–5am window is the weakest at 67.1%, 24 points behind. Later departures inherit delays from earlier flights the same aircraft has already flown, which is why the curve slopes the way it does.
How bad are June delays on DEN to LAX?
June is the weakest month at 66.5% on time, compared with 84.7% in November. Across the year that is 18 points between the best and worst months. Moving flexible dates out of that month is one of the few things that reliably helps.
Related
Where to go next
- LAX to DEN — the return legseparate record
- Denver International (DEN) delay statistics
- Los Angeles International (LAX) delay statistics
- United Airlines on DEN to LAX84.0%
- Frontier Airlines on DEN to LAX83.4%
- Delta Air Lines on DEN to LAX81.2%
- SkyWest Airlines on DEN to LAX78.5%
- Southwest Airlines on DEN to LAX67.2%
- DEN to PHX, a related route75.6%
- SFO to LAX, a related route70.9%
- DEN to SLC, a related route78.2%
- United Airlines on-time record84.0%
- Frontier Airlines on-time record83.4%
- Delta Air Lines on-time record81.2%
- Same route, different airline: where the carrier you pick matters most
- Why the first flight of the morning is statistically safest
Direction matters. DEN to LAX and LAX to DEN are scored separately because they are separate operations, with different departure banks and different aircraft. Compare the return leg.
Embed DEN to LAX’s on-time badge on your site
Paste this into a web page. The badge shows the current on-time rate, cancellation rate and grade, and updates every month. Preview it, or build a badge for another route or airport.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, September 2025 to August 2026. Last updated ; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.