Route reliability record

PHX→LAX

Phoenix to Los Angeles

Flights: 7,608
Period: June 2025 to May 2026
Distance: 370 mi
Carriers: 7

This route lands a B+, 6 points better than the national rate of 77.4%. About one flight in six arrive 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by about an hour on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 7,608 flights, of which SkyWest Airlines flew 2,580 at 90.5% on time.

SkyWest Airlines is the most reliable of the four carriers covered here at 90.5% on time across 2,580 flights.

On time

83.3%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 7,559 completed flights

Avg delay

60 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.60%

National rate is 1.80%

Best carrier

SkyWest

90.5% on time across 2,580 flights

These figures cover 7,608 flights between June 2025 and May 2026. The median arrival is 7 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.

Carrier by carrier

Which airline is most reliable on PHX to LAX

The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. SkyWest Airlines arrives on time 90.5% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 74.0%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 2,033 flights means less than a ten-point one.

On-time performance by carrier on PHX to LAX
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Envoy Airthin sample	9	100.0%	—	0.00%	A+
Delta Air Linesthin sample	138	95.6%	211 min	0.72%	A+
SkyWest Airlines	2,580	90.5%	67 min	0.74%	A+
United Airlinesthin sample	347	87.6%	107 min	0.29%	A+
Frontier Airlines	482	83.9%	86 min	1.04%	B
American Airlines	2,019	82.0%	61 min	0.54%	B+
Southwest Airlines	2,033	74.0%	48 min	0.44%	C+

The spread between SkyWest 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.

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 27 points, against 17 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am1,635 flights94.7%
8am–11am1,419 flights88.1%
11am–2pm1,113 flights84.0%
2pm–5pm1,283 flights81.0%
5pm–8pm1,176 flights76.6%
8pm–5am982 flights67.8%

Scale runs 60% to 100%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 94.7% of the time, against 67.8% for the overnight window. That is 27 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on.

Across the year

When delays peak on this route

Twelve months, one bar each, drawn from the same 7,608 flights. The strip shows how much of this route's record is set by the calendar rather than by the operation.

Darker means more delays. Figures are on-time percentages.September best, November worst

September is the best month on the calendar at 85.5% on time. Shoulder season thins the schedule and takes the summer weather with it, and the operation gets its margin back.

Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 87.9% on time and Sunday the weakest at 76.5%. 11 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Delay causes

Why this route gets delayed

One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 42% of the 76,000 delay minutes carriers reported, and the remaining four split what is left. The split is by minutes rather than by flights, so a few very long delays count for as much as many short ones.

Late-arriving aircraft
42%
Carrier
41%
National Airspace System
12%
Extreme weather
4%
Security
0%

42% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. That is a cascade, and cascades start small and grow through the day. Across 76,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 11 to one. It is the strongest argument for booking the first departure of the morning, when the aircraft has been sitting at the gate overnight with nothing to inherit.

The largest share of delay minutes, 41%, falls under carrier control: crew scheduling, maintenance, fuelling, baggage. Unlike weather, that is a management outcome, and it is the category where the gap between two carriers on the same schedule is genuinely earned. It accounts for 31,000 of the 76,000 delay minutes reported here.

Cancellations are rare at 0.60%, below the national 1.80% 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

Badly late arrivals are rare here: only 4.9% land an hour or more behind schedule, against 8.2% nationally. Connections built on this flight are about as safe as US domestic connections get, though a cancelled flight still ignores every layover you give it.

At 370 miles this is a short hop, and stage length matters more than it looks. A flight this short spends under two hours in the air, which leaves almost nothing to claw back a late pushback with. Delay here is decided on the ground, in the turn, which is why the 5am–8am window matters as much as it does.

The return leg runs 81.2% on time across 7,608 flights, within 2 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 7,608 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.

What to do with this

Booking this route

Put together: avoid the 8pm–5am departure. It runs 67.8% on time against 94.7% for the 5am–8am slot, and that 27 points is the largest single thing you control here. SkyWest Airlines is the strongest operator if the fares are close.

Common questions

PHX to LAX questions

How often is PHX to LAX delayed?

About one flight in six arrive at least 15 minutes late, which is the Department of Transportation's definition of a delayed arrival. That works out to 16.7% of the 7,608 flights in this analysis, against 22.6% nationally. Delayed flights are late by about an hour on average.

Which airline is most reliable on PHX to LAX?

SkyWest Airlines leads at 90.5% on time across 2,580 flights. Southwest Airlines is at the other end on 74.0%, 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 PHX to LAX?

The 5am–8am departure window is the strongest at 94.7% on time. The 8pm–5am window is the weakest at 67.8%, 27 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 November delays on PHX to LAX?

November is the weakest month at 80.5% on time, compared with 85.5% in September. Across the year that is 5 points between the best and worst months. The seasonal swing is modest enough that it should not decide when you travel.

Where to go next

Direction matters. PHX to LAX and LAX to PHX are scored separately because they are separate operations, with different departure banks and different aircraft. Compare the return leg.

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, June 2025 to May 2026. Updated monthly. How this data is collected.

Key figures