How to Check a Flight's On-Time Record (and What the Numbers Mean)
DelayGuard Research Team. Published October 3, 2026. 6 min read.
Figures checked against DelayGuard BTS tables on 2026-10-03. Canonical pages: airline on-time rankings and US airport delay rankings.
An on-time record answers one question: how often do flights like this one arrive on time? The honest answer comes as a rate over a window of time, for a group of flights, not as a verdict on one flight number. This guide shows where to find those rates, what they count, and how far to trust them.
The Short Answer
In BTS data for January 2023 to December 2025, 21.2% of US domestic flights arrived 15 or more minutes late. For 2024 to 2025, 1.41% of scheduled flights were cancelled. Those are the baselines. Your flight's record is better or worse depending on the airline, the airport, the route and the time of day, and each of those has its own page.
What "On Time" Means
The US Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) counts a flight as delayed when it arrives 15 or more minutes after its scheduled arrival time. That is the standard used throughout DelayGuard.
- Delayed: arrived 15 or more minutes late. Arriving 10 minutes late still counts as on time.
- Cancelled: the flight did not operate. Cancellations are reported separately and are not included in delay rates.
- Diverted: landed at a different airport. Also excluded from delay rates.
Because cancelled and diverted flights are left out of the delay rate, a low delay rate does not mean a low chance of disruption. Check both numbers.
Where to Look, by Question
Which airline is more reliable? The airline rankings list delay and cancellation rates for each carrier. Among the airlines in the rankings, Delta ran late least often at 17.8% and Frontier most often at 29.3%. Cancellation rates differ too: Southwest 0.84%, Delta 1.00%, American 1.68%, Frontier 2.05%.
Which airport is worse? Among the 22 major airports in the airport rankings, the share of departing flights that arrived 15 or more minutes late runs from 16.7% at Salt Lake City to 27.3% at Fort Lauderdale. Each airport page adds hour-by-hour and day-of-week tables.
How does a specific route perform? Route pages cover pairs of major hubs. Chicago O'Hare to Boston, for example, arrived late 26.4% of the time across 20,115 flights, with 1.38% cancelled. Departures scheduled around 6 AM ran late 10.5% of the time, against 42.4% for flights scheduled around 3 PM. Friday was the weakest day (30.4%) and Saturday the strongest (19.5%). See ORD to BOS for the full breakdown.
Who cancels the most? The cancellation rates page ranks airlines, and each airport page shows its own cancellation rate. LaGuardia (2.67%) and Newark (2.52%) are at the high end; the US overall rate is 1.41%.
Why a Flight Number Alone Is Not Enough
It is natural to look for the record of one flight number. A single flight number operates at most once a day, so a month of history is about 30 data points, which is a small sample. Rates for the airline, the route and the time of day rest on thousands of flights and change less from week to week, which makes them a steadier guide.
Read the Sample Window
Every rate depends on its window. DelayGuard's delay figures cover January 2023 to December 2025, and cancellation figures cover 2024 to 2025. A few cautions:
- Seasonality. Summer thunderstorms and winter weather push rates up. A three-year average hides that, so check the month tables on airport and airline pages for your travel dates.
- Sample size. Rates on routes with few flights move a lot. DelayGuard only shows route figures built on at least 500 flights.
- Change over time. Airline mergers, new schedules and runway projects can shift a record. Treat a three-year rate as a starting point, not a promise.
Time of Day Changes the Odds
The same airline and airport look very different by departure time. Across the BTS data, 11.0% of flights scheduled before 8 AM arrived 15 or more minutes late, against 28.7% of flights scheduled after 8 PM. Morning vs evening flight delays shows the full table and the airports where the gap is widest.
From History to a Forecast for Your Flight
Historical rates describe the past. To see how that applies to a specific flight, DelayGuard's flight delay predictor combines these rates with current weather and FAA data. Free checks show a risk band; Premium and credits add the exact percentage and a full factor breakdown. How DelayGuard predicts flight delays explains the method and its limits.
Quick Checklist
- Look up the airline in the airline rankings for delay and cancellation rates.
- Check both airports in the airport rankings and the hour-of-day table for your departure time.
- If your route is a major hub pair, open its route page.
- Compare your travel month against the seasonal tables.
- Run the predictor for the exact flight.
FAQ
How do I check a flight's on-time performance? Look up the airline, the airports and the route in BTS-based rankings, then check the hour of day. DelayGuard's airline, airport and route pages show delay and cancellation rates for each, using BTS data for January 2023 to December 2025.
What counts as a delayed flight? BTS counts a flight as delayed when it arrives 15 or more minutes after its scheduled arrival time. Cancelled and diverted flights are reported separately.
What is the average US flight delay rate? In BTS data for January 2023 to December 2025, 21.2% of US domestic flights arrived 15 or more minutes late. The 2024 to 2025 cancellation rate was 1.41%.
Does DelayGuard show the history of a specific flight number? No. DelayGuard shows rates by airline, airport and route, which rest on larger samples than a single flight number.
Related Delay Data
Data: BTS On-Time Reporting, January 2023 to December 2025 (delays) and 2024 to 2025 (cancellations). Delay means arriving 15 or more minutes after scheduled arrival; cancelled and diverted flights are excluded from delay rates.
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