Alaska Airlines Reliability

Reliability

July 2023 – July 2026

Airline Reliability Score

71/ 100Good

Better than 83% of US reporting carriers (15 compared)

Calculated from 813,732 flights. How this is calculated

On-time arrivals

78.9%

631,735 of 801,077

Cancellation rate

1.28%

10,446 cancelled

Median arrival delay

-4 min

Average 3.6 min

Severe delays

5.0%

60+ minutes late

Delay when late

51 min

Average, when 15+ min late

Departure punctuality

80.2%

Left the gate on time

Against the 15 carriers FlyerIntel covers — all measured over the same period, from the same source — Alaska Airlines ranks 8th of 15 for on-time arrivals, 6th for cancellations and 2nd for arrivals more than an hour late. The full table is at the foot of this page.

Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07) Alaska Airlines arrived on time 79.6% of the time, against 77.7% in the 12 months before (2024-08 to 2025-07) — improving by 1.9 percentage points.

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026

Why Alaska Airlines cancels flights

Every cancellation carries a reason code the operating carrier filed with US DOT. July 2023 – July 2026.

Alaska Airlines cancelled 10,446 of 813,732 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 78. The reason it filed most often was the airline, 68.5% of the cancellations it coded — about 1 in every 114 scheduled flights.

Share of cancellations

Airline68.5%

Weather28.8%

Air traffic2.7%

Security0.0%

Of 10,446 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.

What each reason means

The airline1 in 114

Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.

7,157 cancellations, 68.5% of the total.

Extreme weather1 in 271

Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.

3,005 cancellations, 28.8% of the total.

The air traffic system1 in 2,865

Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.

284 cancellations, 2.7% of the total.

Security—

A terminal evacuation, a security breach, screening equipment failure, or screening queues over 29 minutes.

0 cancellations, 0.0% of the total.

What these shares do not measure

A reason code is the operating carrier’s own filing. US DOT collects the reason the airline gave; it does not adjudicate it, and carriers differ in how they fill the form in. The split above describes what kind of disruption Alaska Airlines records, not who was at fault when it happened, and it cannot be set against another airline’s split to decide which of the two is better run.

That is measurable rather than a disclaimer. Across the 15 carriers FlyerIntel publishes, the correlation between how much of its own canceling a carrier attributes to itself and how often it actually cancels is -0.46 — negative, which is the wrong sign for a ranking of fault and about the right sign for a difference in filing convention. Hawaiian Airlines attributed 82.8% of its cancellations to itself and cancelled 1.00% of its flights; SkyWest Airlines attributed 2.7% and cancelled 1.33%. The airline taking the most blame is the one that cancels least.

The figure on this page that does compare cleanly between airlines is the cancellation rate in Reliability, because it counts cancellations instead of reading the reason filed for them. The First Flight of the Day sets out the same finding from the airport-carrier records, and declines on the strength of it to compare any two carriers’ codes.

Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.

By airport

Alaska Airlines cancellation causes by airport
Airport	Cancelled	Rate	Airline	Weather	Air traffic	Security
SEA Seattle	2,377	0.99%	72%	24%	3%	0%
PDX Portland	655	1.10%	74%	23%	2%	0%
ANC Anchorage	573	1.29%	47%	51%	2%	0%
SAN San Diego	536	1.58%	71%	25%	4%	0%

Shares are of Alaska Airlines’s own coded cancellations at each airport and run across the row, so they total 100%. “Rate” is cancellations as a share of its scheduled departures there. Reading down a column compares one airline with itself in different weather and different airspace, which is the comparison these codes support — a carrier files the same way wherever it flies, so its filing habits largely cancel out of the differences between these rows in a way they never cancel out of a comparison between two airlines. Airports where Alaska Airlines recorded fewer coded cancellations than the published minimum are not listed.

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026 · These are the reason codes Alaska Airlines itself filed with US DOT — the reason the airline gave, not an independent finding of fault, and airlines differ in how they apply them. FlyerIntel publishes the split only for carriers with at least 500 coded cancellations in the period; 10,446 were recorded. Whatever the reason code, a cancelled flight may qualify for an automatic refund under DOT’s rule — the refund checker covers eligibility.

Reliability over time

24

25

26

Each column is one month of Alaska Airlines operations. The strongest single month of the period was October 2023 at 85.6% on time; the weakest was July 2025 at 69.4%. Individual months move for reasons that do not repeat — a hurricane season, a technology outage, a winter storm — which is why the section below combines the same data by calendar month instead.

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026

Best and worst months to fly

Every Alaska Airlines January stacked on every other January, and so on through the year.

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Alaska Airlines — best and worst months to fly
Month	Flights	On time	Cancelled
January	62,374	78.4%	6.24%
February	57,191	81.7%	1.35%
March	66,357	79.0%	1.18%
April	65,677	81.8%	0.46%
May	72,192	78.5%	0.63%
June	74,633	75.5%	0.70%
July	101,928	74.8%	1.08%
August	69,215	75.7%	0.85%
September	63,721	81.9%	0.56%
October	61,446	82.9%	1.05%
November	58,469	82.5%	0.79%
December	60,529	77.3%	0.92%

Combining 3 to 4 years of operations by calendar month, Alaska Airlines is at its best in October, when 82.9% of arrivals were on time, and at its worst in July at 74.8% — a spread of 8.1 percentage points between two months of the same airline. Cancellations peak in a month of their own: January at 6.24% of flights, against 0.46% in April.

This is the shape of the calendar, not a forecast. It says that if you book Alaska Airlines in July you are booking into the part of the year when this airline has historically been least punctual, and that an October itinerary starts from a better position. It does not say anything about a particular date, and it cannot: the figure behind each month is 3 to 4 years of that same month combined, precisely so that one storm does not decide the answer.

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Rates are recalculated from the summed monthly counts, so a heavy month carries more weight than a light one.

Best time to fly Alaska Airlines

How Alaska Airlines departures have done at each hour of each weekday, across its whole network.

By day and hour

On-time arrival rate for each weekday and scheduled departure hour, in local time at the airport each flight leaves from, so the grid mixes time zones across the network.

Wednesday 5–6 AM was the most reliable slot for Alaska Airlines (93.0% on time, 1,072 flights) and Sunday 7–8 PM the least (67.8%, 7,329 flights).

Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 4.6 points from the network-wide rate, weekday averages 2.0 points.

On-time arrival rate for Alaska Airlines by weekday and scheduled departure hour, local time. Each button reads out one slot.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
12 AM–1 AM
1 AM–2 AM
2 AM–3 AM
3 AM–4 AM
4 AM–5 AM
5 AM–6 AM
6 AM–7 AM
7 AM–8 AM
8 AM–9 AM
9 AM–10 AM
10 AM–11 AM
11 AM–12 PM
12 PM–1 PM
1 PM–2 PM
2 PM–3 PM
3 PM–4 PM
4 PM–5 PM
5 PM–6 PM
6 PM–7 PM
7 PM–8 PM
8 PM–9 PM
9 PM–10 PM
10 PM–11 PM
11 PM–12 AM

On-time rate, % · stronger color, fewer on time

68–71
72–75
76–79
80–83
84–87
88–91
92–95

Fewer than 120 flights, not scored
Most reliable slot
Least reliable slot

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · On time is arrival within 15 minutes of schedule. Cells round to whole percentages; the table shows one decimal.

Best and worst slots are named only among slots with 500+ flights, and only when the gap is larger than sampling error.

View as tableHide table

On-time arrival rate (%) with flights beneath, by scheduled departure hour and weekday for Alaska Airlines. A dash means fewer than 120 flights, which are not scored.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
12 AM–1 AM	81.6% on time606 flights	84.1% on time566 flights	84.8% on time506 flights	85.4% on time561 flights	83.6% on time623 flights	78.8% on time603 flights	81.8% on time596 flights
1 AM–2 AM	81.2% on time535 flights	84.4% on time524 flights	89.0% on time508 flights	88.6% on time516 flights	86.4% on time549 flights	82.0% on time530 flights	83.0% on time525 flights
2 AM–3 AM	78.9% on time294 flights	80.7% on time270 flights	84.9% on time276 flights	83.3% on time277 flights	80.7% on time297 flights	77.4% on time285 flights	79.7% on time300 flights
3 AM–4 AM	18 flights, too few to score	18 flights, too few to score	18 flights, too few to score	18 flights, too few to score	21 flights, too few to score	8 flights, too few to score	21 flights, too few to score
4 AM–5 AM	1 flight, too few to score	2 flights, too few to score	5 flights, too few to score	1 flight, too few to score	3 flights, too few to score	2 flights, too few to score	2 flights, too few to score
5 AM–6 AM	91.7% on time1,134 flights	91.4% on time1,085 flights	93.0% on time1,072 flights	91.6% on time1,115 flights	90.6% on time1,081 flights	91.4% on time987 flights	90.8% on time920 flights
6 AM–7 AM	90.8% on time5,736 flights	90.6% on time5,081 flights	91.3% on time4,993 flights	91.0% on time5,682 flights	89.9% on time5,727 flights	90.0% on time4,954 flights	90.5% on time5,384 flights
7 AM–8 AM	84.7% on time13,372 flights	86.5% on time12,564 flights	86.4% on time12,487 flights	85.2% on time13,250 flights	84.6% on time13,443 flights	85.3% on time12,593 flights	84.9% on time13,089 flights
8 AM–9 AM	81.1% on time8,467 flights	83.7% on time8,113 flights	82.8% on time8,179 flights	81.3% on time8,357 flights	80.3% on time8,422 flights	82.3% on time7,873 flights	81.2% on time8,146 flights
9 AM–10 AM	79.8% on time7,540 flights	82.9% on time7,299 flights	82.1% on time7,225 flights	79.0% on time7,575 flights	78.8% on time7,589 flights	80.3% on time7,078 flights	80.0% on time7,421 flights
10 AM–11 AM	80.0% on time7,972 flights	81.4% on time7,529 flights	81.0% on time7,572 flights	78.4% on time7,952 flights	78.0% on time7,947 flights	80.0% on time7,188 flights	78.3% on time7,765 flights
11 AM–12 PM	76.9% on time7,375 flights	79.9% on time7,045 flights	79.0% on time7,168 flights	76.5% on time7,337 flights	75.3% on time7,352 flights	78.8% on time6,708 flights	78.3% on time7,203 flights
12 PM–1 PM	77.3% on time5,031 flights	80.9% on time4,857 flights	79.6% on time4,870 flights	76.8% on time5,070 flights	76.0% on time5,080 flights	78.6% on time4,573 flights	77.2% on time5,024 flights
1 PM–2 PM	76.4% on time6,408 flights	80.2% on time6,113 flights	79.2% on time6,059 flights	74.5% on time6,385 flights	75.3% on time6,377 flights	79.1% on time5,885 flights	76.5% on time6,282 flights
2 PM–3 PM	77.5% on time6,602 flights	81.3% on time6,214 flights	80.4% on time6,330 flights	75.7% on time6,595 flights	75.4% on time6,598 flights	80.1% on time5,660 flights	76.9% on time6,547 flights
3 PM–4 PM	74.8% on time6,178 flights	78.9% on time5,848 flights	79.0% on time5,858 flights	73.5% on time6,192 flights	72.4% on time6,101 flights	77.9% on time5,515 flights	75.6% on time6,048 flights
4 PM–5 PM	76.5% on time5,758 flights	81.0% on time5,265 flights	79.3% on time5,264 flights	73.4% on time5,638 flights	73.8% on time5,765 flights	78.2% on time4,910 flights	75.3% on time5,715 flights
5 PM–6 PM	74.8% on time8,900 flights	80.3% on time8,467 flights	78.2% on time8,512 flights	71.6% on time8,828 flights	73.1% on time8,865 flights	79.4% on time7,794 flights	72.3% on time8,887 flights
6 PM–7 PM	73.1% on time8,049 flights	78.6% on time7,116 flights	76.4% on time7,285 flights	70.5% on time7,973 flights	70.9% on time7,992 flights	76.3% on time6,772 flights	70.1% on time8,019 flights
7 PM–8 PM	70.0% on time7,250 flights	76.8% on time6,305 flights	75.5% on time6,362 flights	68.6% on time7,151 flights	69.6% on time7,222 flights	76.3% on time5,940 flights	67.8% on time7,329 flights
8 PM–9 PM	76.4% on time4,182 flights	81.4% on time3,088 flights	79.4% on time3,182 flights	72.1% on time4,149 flights	72.5% on time4,173 flights	79.3% on time3,216 flights	71.3% on time4,290 flights
9 PM–10 PM	76.0% on time4,999 flights	81.4% on time3,727 flights	80.9% on time3,761 flights	72.2% on time5,014 flights	73.7% on time5,116 flights	79.6% on time3,991 flights	71.4% on time5,151 flights
10 PM–11 PM	73.8% on time2,529 flights	80.5% on time2,293 flights	78.6% on time2,354 flights	71.7% on time2,492 flights	72.9% on time2,646 flights	74.4% on time2,398 flights	70.7% on time2,644 flights
11 PM–12 AM	79.2% on time2,213 flights	83.9% on time1,994 flights	81.9% on time2,103 flights	79.1% on time2,298 flights	77.8% on time2,493 flights	77.7% on time2,051 flights	77.0% on time2,521 flights

Why Alaska Airlines runs late

Share of total reported delay minutes by cause, as classified by the operating carrier.

Late-arriving aircraft39.0%

the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late

The airline30.4%

crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control

Air traffic control26.0%

airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control

Weather4.1%

weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically

Security0.5%

screening or terminal security incidents

Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for Alaska Airlines. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.

The largest single category for Alaska Airlines is late-arriving aircraft, at 39.0% of attributed minutes. The category squarely inside the carrier’s own control — crew, maintenance, boarding, fueling — accounts for 30.4% of its delay minutes, against 33.9% across the 15 carriers covered here. That is 3.5 percentage points less of its delay minutes falling inside the airline than is typical for this group.

These shares describe how delay minutes were divided, not how often delays happened. A carrier with an unusually large air-traffic-control share is not necessarily worse run; it may simply fly more of its schedule through congested airspace. The one category that is squarely the airline’s own is the carrier category, which is why it is the one compared above.

Source: US DOT BTS delay cause categories · July 2023 – July 2026 · Cause minutes are only reported for arrivals delayed 15 minutes or more.

How Alaska Airlines handles bad weather

Departures by the weather at the origin in the hour they were scheduled to leave, July 2023 – July 2026.

8% of Alaska Airlines’ weather-matched departures left in an hour of bad weather at the origin. 2.3% of them were cancelled, 2.2 times the 1.1% cancelled in normal hours, and 71.4% of those that flew arrived on time, against 79.0%. Those hours held 16% of the airline’s cancelled departures.

In bad weather Alaska Airlines cancelled about as many flights as the other carriers: 2.4% of its departures in those hours were cancelled, against 2.4% for the other carriers at the same airports in the same months. Its flights that operated arrived on time 71.1% of the time, 2.9 points below the others’ 74.0%.

Bad-weather hours against normal hours

Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026

Alaska Airlines cancellation and on-time rates in bad-weather and normal hours at the origin, with the other carriers at the same airports and months
Weather at the origin	Departures	Cancelled	Arrived on time
Normal hours	539,782	1.1%	79.0%
Other carriers	538,349compared	0.9%	81.4%
Bad-weather hours	55,5518% of all matched	2.3%2.2 times normal	71.4%7.6 points below normal
Other carriers	48,771compared	2.4%	74.0%

Bad weather means IFR or LIFR conditions, or a storm, snow, ice, fog, heavy rain or high wind, at the origin; normal means VFR with none of those. Marginal hours are in neither row, and were 13% of Alaska Airlines’ matched departures. Cancelled is the share of scheduled departures. The other carriers’ rows apply their rate in each airport and month to the departures Alaska Airlines had there.

The most exposed airports were JFK (5.2% of 1,586), DFW (4.9% of 533), EWR (4.9% of 1,216); the least, LAX (1.1% of 2,917), DEN (1.4% of 641), SFO (1.8% of 3,124). The widest gap above the other carriers was at AUS, Austin: 3.6% cancelled against 1.4%. The widest below them was at DCA, Washington: 3.0% cancelled against 9.6%.

Most exposed airports

Most exposed airports: Alaska Airlines departures in bad weather by airport
Airport	Departures	Cancelled	Other carriers	Normal hours
JFK New York	1,586	5.2%	6.0%	1.5%
DFW Dallas–Fort Worth	533	4.9%	10.0%	1.0%
EWR Newark	1,216	4.9%	6.9%	1.9%

Least exposed airports

Least exposed airports: Alaska Airlines departures in bad weather by airport
Airport	Departures	Cancelled	Other carriers	Normal hours
LAX Los Angeles	2,917	1.1%	1.0%	1.2%
DEN Denver	641	1.4%	2.7%	0.9%
SFO San Francisco	3,124	1.8%	1.4%	1.3%

Airports are listed with at least 500 of Alaska Airlines’ bad-weather departures and 500 weather-matched departures in all. Other carriers is their cancellation rate in the same airport and months, applied to Alaska Airlines’ departures there, and is left blank where Alaska Airlines was nearly the only carrier flying in the bad-weather hours of most months and there is no one to compare with.

This is the weather reported at the origin in the hour a flight was scheduled to leave, July 2023 – July 2026. It leaves out the weather at the destination and on the way, and an hour takes the worst conditions any report in it gave. Weather was matched to 84.3% of Alaska Airlines’ scheduled departures: the rest left from airports with no archived weather, in hours with no report, or at a scheduled time the flight records cannot place exactly. The comparison covers 1,505 airport-months in which Alaska Airlines flew in bad weather; the other carriers are held to the same airport and calendar month, not the same hour of the day or the same aircraft, so a carrier that schedules more of those departures at the busiest or the quietest times is not fully adjusted for. 6,780 of its bad-weather departures were in an airport and month where the other carriers had fewer than 120 of their own, and are not in that comparison.

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS flight records and Iowa Environmental Mesonet weather reports · July 2023 – July 2026 · Where the weather comes from, and its limits. All covered airports side by side: What Weather Costs Each Airport.

Turning aircraft around at Alaska Airlines

Time on the ground between one flight and the next of the same aircraft, and what a late arrival does to the next departure, July 2023 – July 2026.

The median Alaska Airlines turn is scheduled for 60 minutes on the ground and takes 68 minutes, against 56 minutes and 63 minutes across all airlines. Alaska Airlines gives its aircraft longer on the ground than the network does.

When the aircraft landed 15 or more minutes late (114,635 turns, 45 minutes late on average), 74% of the turns were finished in no more than the scheduled ground time, against 68% across all airlines. 65% of those flights left 15 or more minutes late, against 72%. After an aircraft that landed on time, 11% did (network 11%).

Given the turn lengths it schedules, the network’s rates would give 74% finished in the schedule and 66% leaving late. By that measure Alaska Airlines finished late turns in the schedule about as often and passed lateness on about as often than the network would have. 45% of its late-inbound turns had a scheduled turn of 60 to 89 minutes, against 29% of the network’s.

Turns, Alaska Airlines against the network

592,965 turns, July 2023 – July 2026

Alaska Airlines aircraft turns against all airlines: scheduled and actual time on the ground and what a late inbound aircraft does
Measure	Alaska Airlines	All airlines	All airlines, same turn lengths
Median scheduled turn	60 min	56 min	—
Median actual turn	68 min	63 min	—
Turns that began with an aircraft 15+ minutes late	19%	19%	—
Late turns finished within the schedule	74%	68%	74%
Late inbound that left 15+ minutes late	65%	72%	66%
On-time inbound that left 15+ minutes late	11%	11%	—

Late means 15 or more minutes. A turn finishes within the schedule when the aircraft spent no more time on the ground than the schedule gave it. The last column applies the network’s rate in each scheduled-turn band (under 30 minutes up to 3 to 6 hours) to the number of Alaska Airlines turns in that band, so it shows what the same turn lengths would give across all airlines.

A turn pairs an aircraft’s landing with its next departure by tail number; the aircraft is never named. These 592,965 turns are 73% of Alaska Airlines’ flights in the period; the rest are an aircraft’s first flight after a long stay, flights without a usable inbound, and cancelled flights. Ground time is measured from the gate: the scheduled turn plus the departing flight’s delay minus the inbound’s arrival delay. Overnight stays (6 hours or more on the ground), cancelled flights and flights whose inbound diverted are not turns here. Turns scheduled under 30 minutes are a small share and are kept, but they are rarely a plan for that aircraft (more often a swap or recovery, with the flight waiting for an aircraft that was not the one scheduled), so most of them across the network leave late even after an on-time landing. A flight that an airline covered with a different aircraft is linked to the one that flew it, not the one first planned.

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS flight records · July 2023 – July 2026 · All airlines side by side: How Fast an Aircraft Turns When It Has To.

What sets Alaska Airlines apart

Where Alaska Airlines differs most from the other covered airlines, July 2023 – July 2026.

Alaska Airlines flights scheduled to leave at 1 AM arrive on time 84.9% of the time, 7.2 points better than the 77.7% the other covered airlines manage at that hour.

8 AM is where Alaska Airlines falls furthest behind the other airlines: 81.8% of its 8 AM departures arrive on time, 4.4 points below the 86.2% for that hour elsewhere.

July suits Alaska Airlines more than it suits the other airlines: 74.8% on time against 71.0%, 3.8 points ahead.

DAL is where Alaska Airlines stands out most against local competition: 82.9% of its departures arrive on time, 7 points above the 75.9% of the other airlines out of the same airport.

Out of HNL, Alaska Airlines arrives on time 77.2% of the time, 9.6 points below the 86.8% the other airlines there manage.

Alaska Airlines against the other airlines

July 2023 – July 2026

Where Alaska Airlines differs most from the other covered airlines, with the flights behind each figure
Measure	Alaska Airlines	Elsewhere	Gap	Flights behind it
Hour: 1 AM departures	84.9%	77.7%	+7.2 pts	3,640 here, 7,798 elsewhere
Hour: 8 AM departures	81.8%	86.2%	−4.4 pts	56,544 here, 1,403,238 elsewhere
Month: July	74.8%	71.0%	+3.8 pts	100,526 here, 2,323,314 elsewhere
Airport: DAL	82.9%	75.9%	+7.0 pts	860 here, 219,925 elsewhere
Airport: HNL	77.2%	86.8%	−9.6 pts	28,452 here, 155,960 elsewhere

“Elsewhere” is every other covered airline together, from the same aggregates as this page. Hours and months appear only where both sides have at least 120 completed flights; airports only where Alaska Airlines and everyone else there each have at least 500. Gaps must be at least 2 points and 2 standard errors, and only the largest in each direction is shown. Airlines fly different airports, so the hour and month rows partly compare different traffic; the airport rows compare like with like. The taxi figure is weighted by departures, mixes airports, and has no error estimate, so it appears from 2 minutes.

Where this airline flies

Departure performance at the airports FlyerIntel covers.

Airports served

94

53 of them covered in detail here

Departures from its largest base

29.6%

SEA · Seattle

Departures from its top three

42.4%

SEA, PDX, ANC

Alaska Airlines departed from 94 airports in this period, with no single one accounting for more than 29.6% of departures and the largest three together 42.4%. Performance is spread across the network rather than resting on one or two hubs, so a single weak airport moves this carrier’s overall figure less than it would at a hub-and-spoke airline.

Where this airline flies
Airport	Departures	On time	Cancelled	Median delay
SEA Seattle	240,691	76.2%	0.99%	-2 min
PDX Portland	59,811	82.7%	1.10%	-5 min
ANC Anchorage	44,536	84.2%	1.29%	-7 min
SFO San Francisco	34,246	76.4%	1.41%	-4 min
SAN San Diego	33,927	78.0%	1.58%	-5 min
HNL Honolulu	28,921	77.2%	1.50%	1 min
LAX Los Angeles	28,187	81.9%	1.18%	-7 min
LAS Las Vegas	17,931	77.7%	1.25%	-5 min
PHX Phoenix	16,035	83.8%	0.97%	-5 min
SNA Santa Ana	13,155	87.5%	1.22%	-8 min
JFK New York	12,057	76.6%	2.21%	-7 min
EWR Newark	9,892	73.7%	2.29%	-6 min

Strongest airports

SNA (87.5%), OAK (85.4%), SJC (85.4%)

Weakest airports

PHL (69.7%), FLL (70.4%), TPA (70.7%)

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Airports where this carrier flew fewer than 500 departures are not listed.

Route performance

Alaska Airlines’ own on-time rate on each route — this carrier's flights only, which can differ from the route's rate across every airline that flies it.

Most reliable

LAX→PDXLos Angeles to Portland88.4%PHX→PDXPhoenix to Portland87.7%SNA→SEASanta Ana to Seattle86.4%PDX→SEAPortland to Seattle86.0%SEA→SNASeattle to Santa Ana85.7%PDX→LAXPortland to Los Angeles85.7%SFO→SANSan Francisco to San Diego84.8%ANC→SEAAnchorage to Seattle83.7%

Least reliable

SAN→SFOSan Diego to San Francisco53.0%LAX→SFOLos Angeles to San Francisco59.3%SEA→SFOSeattle to San Francisco64.5%ORD→SFOChicago to San Francisco66.8%HNL→LAXHonolulu to Los Angeles67.5%LAS→SFOLas Vegas to San Francisco68.7%BOS→SFOBoston to San Francisco69.2%ORD→SEAChicago to Seattle70.6%

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Routes with fewer than 600 flights by this carrier are not ranked.

Where Alaska Airlines flies best and worst

The airports and routes where Alaska Airlines is on time most and least often, set beside the other airlines at the same place.

Alaska Airlines arrives on time 87.5% of the time at SNA, 5.9 points better than the 81.6% for the other airlines there.

Alaska Airlines arrives on time 85.4% of the time at OAK, 3.5 points better than the 81.9% for the other airlines there.

SJC is a strong airport for Alaska Airlines at 85.4%, but the other airlines there do about as well at 84.1%, so the airport is easy rather than the airline special.

Alaska Airlines manages 69.7% at PHL, 6.6 points below the 76.3% for the other airlines there.

Alaska Airlines manages 70.4% at FLL, 2.2 points below the 72.6% for the other airlines there.

Alaska Airlines manages 70.7% at TPA, 7.6 points below the 78.3% for the other airlines there.

Alaska Airlines arrives on time 88.4% of the time on LAX to PDX, 2.6 points better than the 85.8% for the other airlines on it.

Alaska Airlines arrives on time 87.7% of the time on PHX to PDX, 10 points better than the 77.7% for the other airlines on it.

Alaska Airlines arrives on time 86.4% of the time on SNA to SEA, 2.6 points better than the 83.8% for the other airlines on it.

Alaska Airlines manages 53.0% on SAN to SFO, 14.3 points below the 67.3% for the other airlines on it.

Alaska Airlines manages 59.3% on LAX to SFO, 10.5 points below the 69.8% for the other airlines on it.

Alaska Airlines manages 64.5% on SEA to SFO, 7.2 points below the 71.7% for the other airlines on it.

Airports, best and worst

Airports, best and worst: Alaska Airlines on-time rate beside the other airlines, with the flights behind each figure
Place	Alaska Airlines	Other airlines	Flights behind it
SNA	87.5%	81.6%	12,986 here, 122,509 others
OAK	85.4%	81.9%	2,766 here, 113,538 others
SJC	85.4%	84.1%	8,708 here, 137,217 others
PHL	69.7%	76.3%	2,019 here, 295,752 others
FLL	70.4%	72.6%	2,462 here, 270,622 others
TPA	70.7%	78.3%	3,164 here, 234,324 others

Routes, best and worst

Routes, best and worst: Alaska Airlines on-time rate beside the other airlines, with the flights behind each figure
Place	Alaska Airlines	Other airlines	Flights behind it
LAX to PDX	88.4%	85.8%	5,664 here, 7,808 others
PHX to PDX	87.7%	77.7%	3,622 here, 8,089 others
SNA to SEA	86.4%	83.8%	8,250 here, 4,059 others
SAN to SFO	53.0%	67.3%	890 here, 18,851 others
LAX to SFO	59.3%	69.8%	1,431 here, 33,112 others
SEA to SFO	64.5%	71.7%	8,511 here, 12,044 others

July 2023 – July 2026. Airports need at least 2,000 completed flights by Alaska Airlines, routes 600. The other airlines are everyone else at the same airport or on the same route, compared only where they have at least 500 (airports) or 200 (routes) completed flights; a gap counts as ahead or behind only at 2 points and 2 standard errors. Route figures are for one direction. Airlines fly different times of day and aircraft, so a gap is a comparison, not a cause.

Most and least reliable flights

Individual Alaska Airlines flight numbers, ranked on the route each one flies today.

Most reliable

AS1325SNA→SEA · 6:45 AM92.9%AS563MCI→SEA · 7:00 AM91.6%AS473STL→SEA · 7:00 AM89.0%AS1315LAX→PDX · 12:00 PM89.0%AS643DEN→SEA · 6:00 AM88.2%AS48ANC→SEA · 8:00 AM88.0%AS387MSP→SEA · 7:00 AM87.9%AS603PHX→SEA · 11:52 AM87.8%

Least reliable

AS16SEA→JFK · 2:40 PM54.5%AS1327SFO→SEA · 7:55 PM57.6%AS410SEA→ORD · 12:12 PM60.5%AS379BWI→SEA · 6:59 PM62.7%AS93SEA→ANC · 11:00 AM62.9%AS443PHL→SEA · 6:59 PM63.2%AS17JFK→SEA · 4:59 PM65.2%AS41JFK→SFO · 8:29 PM66.4%

122 Alaska Airlines flight numbers have operated their current route at least 600 times. The strongest of them, AS1325 from Santa Ana to Seattle, arrived on time 92.9% of the time. The weakest, AS16 from Seattle to New York, managed 54.5% — a gap of 38 percentage points inside one airline. The departures in the first column are scheduled to leave at a median of 7:00 AM; those in the second at 6:59 PM.

Choosing between two flights on the same airline and the same day is a decision most travelers make on price and timing alone, because nothing at the point of booking distinguishes them. These figures do. They are the record of the exact flight number, on the route it flies today, over the whole analysis period — not a carrier average applied to it.

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · A flight number is a slot in a schedule and gets reassigned to different city pairs over time, so each is measured only on the route it currently operates. Numbers with fewer than 600 operations on that route, or last flown more than a quarter ago, are not ranked. Schedules change — confirm a departure still operates before booking around it.

See all 122 Alaska Airlines flight numbers →

Compare airlines

Every carrier on FlyerIntel is measured the same way, over the same period, using the same source data. That is the whole point of the table: airline marketing reports punctuality on definitions of its own choosing, and this does not.

Compare airlines
Airline	Score	On time	Cancelled	60+ min late	Flights
Endeavor Air	70	85.1%	2.30%	6.0%	304,230
Hawaiian Airlines	80	83.7%	1.00%	2.9%	199,679
Republic Airways	61	82.3%	3.26%	6.7%	1,004,281
Delta Air Lines	71	82.1%	1.16%	6.3%	3,146,502
SkyWest Airlines	64	80.4%	1.33%	7.9%	2,433,643
Envoy Air	66	80.1%	1.80%	6.6%	886,878
United Airlines	66	79.7%	1.21%	7.5%	2,418,979
Alaska Airlines	71	78.9%	1.28%	5.0%	813,732
Southwest Airlines	71	78.2%	0.86%	6.0%	4,371,639
PSA Airlines	44	75.8%	3.43%	10.4%	717,562
Allegiant Air	58	75.7%	0.94%	9.5%	381,495
Spirit Airlines	54	75.5%	2.06%	9.6%	635,598
American Airlines	52	74.8%	1.76%	10.0%	3,019,376
JetBlue	45	72.5%	2.19%	11.7%	745,492
Frontier Airlines	45	71.8%	2.09%	11.5%	629,235

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Score is the FlyerIntel Airline Reliability Score. See all airlines ranked →

Data and methodology

Calculated by FlyerIntel from 813,732 Alaska Airlines flight records published by the US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, covering July 2023 – July 2026. A flight counts as delayed when it arrives 15 or more minutes after schedule. Cancelled and diverted flights are excluded from the on-time rate and reported separately, because folding them in would flatter a carrier that cancels rather than runs late. Figures below a published sample threshold are omitted rather than shown with a caveat.

Full methodology · Data sources · Report a problem

Analysis last recomputed September 26, 2026

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Alaska Airlines on-time performance, from FlyerIntel

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