Carrier route record
ASLAX→DCA
Alaska Airlines · Los Angeles to Washington
- Flights
- 364
- Period
- September 2025 to August 2026
- Share of route
- 25%
- Carriers
- 3
Historical statistics for September 2025 to August 2026, not live status. For today’s flights, check with Alaska Airlines.
Alaska on LAX to DCA lands a B+, about a point better than the national rate of 77.3%. Roughly one flight in five arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by a little over an hour on average. That rests on 364 flights, with a median arrival 14 minutes early.
The US average over the same twelve months is 77.3%, so there is little to separate Alaska on LAX to DCA from the country as a whole. The variation that matters here is internal: which carrier, and what time of day.
Key figures
On time
78.2%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 357 completed flights
Avg delay
68 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
0.82%
National rate is 1.89%
Whole route
79.9%
Every carrier on LAX to DCA, 1,454 flights
These figures cover 364 flights between September 2025 and August 2026. Beyond the headline rate, 9.5% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 8.3% nationally.
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Carrier by carrier
Alaska against every carrier on LAX to DCA
Alaska flew 364 of the 1,454 flights on LAX to DCA, about 25% of it. Its 78.2% on time is 2 points worse than the route as a whole, which runs 79.9%. Ranked by on-time rate it is last of three carriers on the route, where the range runs from American at 80.5% to Alaska at 78.2%. One of those carriers flew fewer than 365 flights here, so treat their positions as rough.
Only one carrier clears this site's 365-flight floor here, so there is no comparison to draw. The table below is the full picture.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 728 | 80.5% | 66 min | 1.10% | B |
| Delta Air Linesthin sample | 362 | 80.4% | 101 min | 2.21% | B |
| Alaska Airlines (this page)thin sample | 364 | 78.2% | 68 min | 0.82% | B+ |
Flight by flight
Alaska flight numbers on LAX to DCA
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.
Departure window
When Alaska runs best on this route
Departure time is the single lever a traveller controls, and it moves the odds more than most people expect. Each bar below is the on-time rate for flights scheduled to leave inside that window, across 364 flights.
There are not enough flights in each departure window to split Alaska's LAX to DCA record by time of day without the percentages moving on noise. The headline rate of 78.2% is the reliable figure here.
Across the year
Alaska on LAX to DCA through the year
- Jul–Sep 202530 flights90.0%
- Oct–Dec 202591 flights79.1%
- Jan–Mar 202690 flights71.3%
- Apr–Jun 202691 flights82.2%
- Jul–Sep 202662 flights74.6%
Scale runs 65% to 95%.
Monthly volumes are too low here to break the year into twelve reliable readings. What the twelve-month total says is 78.2% on time across 364 flights.
Alaska on LAX to DCA did not run the same all year. Its best quarter was Jul–Sep 2025 at 90.0% on time and its weakest Jan–Mar 2026 at 71.3%, a swing of 19 points on roughly 73 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.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 86.3% on time and Friday the weakest at 70.6%, a spread of 16 points.
Arrival by arrival
How late Alaska on LAX to DCA runs when it is late
Alaska on LAX to DCA often beats the schedule: 178 of 357 completed flights, 50%, arrived 15 minutes or more early. The 78 late arrivals split 19 under half an hour, 25 between 30 and 60 minutes, and 34 an hour or more.
- 15+ min early178 flights49.9%
- Within 15 min101 flights28.3%
- 15–29 min late19 flights5.3%
- 30–59 min late25 flights7.0%
- 1–2 hours late22 flights6.2%
- 2+ hours late12 flights3.4%
Scale runs 0% to 100%.
Share of 357 completed flights by arrival against schedule.
20 of 89 late departures made up the time and arrived on time, 22% of them. 9 flights left on time and still arrived late.
The worst days
Worst days for Alaska on LAX to DCA
The latest arrival of the period was on 20 May 2026, 6 hours 11 minutes behind schedule; most of its delay minutes were filed as carrier-caused (crew, maintenance, fuelling, baggage). The five worst days are spread across May, February, January and December, with no single month standing out.
| Date | Arrived late by | Largest filed cause |
|---|---|---|
| 20 May 2026 | 6 hours 11 minutes | Carrier |
| 16 February 2026 | 3 hours 13 minutes | Late-arriving aircraft |
| 30 January 2026 | 3 hours 8 minutes | National Airspace System |
| 19 December 2025 | 3 hours | Carrier |
| 29 January 2026 | 2 hours 55 minutes | National Airspace System |
Delay causes
Why Alaska runs late on this route
National Airspace System accounts for 56% of the 5,333 delay minutes carriers reported here, and the remaining four split what is left.
- 56%National Airspace System
- 23%Carrier
- 18%Late-arriving aircraft
- 3%Extreme weather
56% of delay minutes are charged to the National Airspace System: air traffic volume, runway configuration, ground stops. No carrier can price its way out of that, which is why airport choice moves the number here more than carrier choice does. That is 2,982 minutes out of 5,333, against a national NAS share of 21%. The split is drawn from 5,333 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations are rare at 0.82%, 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 costs
9.5% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 8.3% nationally. Ninety minutes is the honest minimum for a connection here, and two hours if the onward flight is on a separate ticket.
At 2,311 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.
The return leg is a different operation and performs like one: it runs 70.5% on time across 364 flights, 8 points below this direction. Departure banks, aircraft rotations and the congestion at each end all differ, so scoring the two directions together would average away a real 8 points of difference.
One caution: this is a thin sample. 364 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.
What to do with this
Booking Alaska on LAX to DCA
Put together: treat all of this as provisional. 364 flights over twelve months is enough to clear this site's floor and not enough to be confident to better than a couple of points. The 78.2% headline is the most reliable number on the page; the hour and month splits below it are built on a few dozen flights each. 357 completed flights over 12 months sit behind that.
Related
Where to go next
- LAX to DCA, every carrier
- Alaska on DCA to LAX, the return leg
- American Airlines on LAX to DCA80.5%
- Delta Air Lines on LAX to DCA80.4%
- Alaska Airlines network-wide record
- Los Angeles International (LAX) delay statistics
- Ronald Reagan Washington National (DCA) delay statistics
- How often a connection fails at the major US hubs
- Connecting flights: how much buffer the data says you need
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.