American Airlines Reliability

Reliability

July 2023 – July 2026

Airline Reliability Score

52/ 100Fair

Better than 23% of US reporting carriers (15 compared)

Calculated from 3,019,376 flights. How this is calculated

On-time arrivals

74.8%

2,212,528 of 2,956,639

Cancellation rate

1.76%

53,140 cancelled

Median arrival delay

-5 min

Average 13.7 min

Severe delays

10.0%

60+ minutes late

Delay when late

85 min

Average, when 15+ min late

Departure punctuality

75.0%

Left the gate on time

Against the 15 carriers FlyerIntel covers — all measured over the same period, from the same source — American Airlines ranks 13th of 15 for on-time arrivals, 8th for cancellations and 12th 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) American Airlines arrived on time 74.6% of the time, against 75.9% in the 12 months before (2024-08 to 2025-07) — broadly unchanged.

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

Why American Airlines cancels flights

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

American Airlines cancelled 53,140 of 3,019,376 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 57. The reason it filed most often was extreme weather, 85.2% of the cancellations it coded — about 1 in every 67 scheduled flights.

Share of cancellations

Weather85.2%

Airline10.4%

Air traffic4.4%

Security0.0%

Of 53,140 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.

What each reason means

Extreme weather1 in 67

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

45,275 cancellations, 85.2% of the total.

The airline1 in 545

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

5,540 cancellations, 10.4% of the total.

The air traffic system1 in 1,299

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

2,325 cancellations, 4.4% 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 American 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

American Airlines cancellation causes by airport
Airport	Cancelled	Rate	Airline	Weather	Air traffic	Security
DFW Dallas–Fort Worth	11,758	2.30%	8%	90%	2%	0%
CLT Charlotte	5,411	1.46%	8%	88%	4%	0%
ORD Chicago	3,011	1.79%	11%	80%	9%	0%
MIA Miami	2,768	1.46%	8%	85%	7%	0%
PHL Philadelphia	2,724	1.94%	9%	84%	6%	0%
DCA Washington	1,849	2.18%	9%	84%	7%	0%
LGA New York	1,536	2.93%	9%	82%	9%	0%
PHX Phoenix	1,224	0.71%	14%	79%	7%	0%
MCO Orlando	1,012	1.74%	8%	85%	7%	0%
BOS Boston	960	1.87%	10%	82%	8%	0%
TPA Tampa	905	2.21%	9%	88%	3%	0%
LAX Los Angeles	832	0.90%	22%	75%	4%	0%
JFK New York	791	1.75%	10%	83%	7%	0%
AUS Austin	695	1.73%	12%	85%	3%	0%
EWR Newark	592	2.90%	4%	81%	15%	0%
LAS Las Vegas	573	1.31%	14%	81%	5%	0%
RDU Raleigh–Durham	570	1.74%	12%	83%	5%	0%
IAH Houston	560	2.48%	12%	85%	3%	0%
BNA Nashville	549	2.04%	12%	84%	4%	0%

Shares are of American 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 American 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 American 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; 53,140 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 American Airlines operations. The strongest single month of the period was November 2023 at 84.9% on time; the weakest was July 2024 at 62.1%. 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 American 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

American Airlines — best and worst months to fly
Month	Flights	On time	Cancelled
January	229,202	75.7%	4.76%
February	217,529	79.9%	1.20%
March	249,440	74.8%	1.55%
April	248,010	76.4%	1.10%
May	261,627	71.1%	2.15%
June	257,464	68.3%	2.45%
July	348,351	65.5%	2.46%
August	254,141	71.0%	2.07%
September	234,985	79.8%	0.90%
October	253,637	81.4%	0.69%
November	231,989	81.6%	0.94%
December	233,001	77.7%	0.52%

Combining 3 to 4 years of operations by calendar month, American Airlines is at its best in November, when 81.6% of arrivals were on time, and at its worst in July at 65.5% — a spread of 16.1 percentage points between two months of the same airline. Cancellations peak in a month of their own: January at 4.76% of flights, against 0.52% in December.

This is the shape of the calendar, not a forecast. It says that if you book American Airlines in July you are booking into the part of the year when this airline has historically been least punctual, and that a November 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 American Airlines

How American 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.

Thursday 5–6 AM was the most reliable slot for American Airlines (90.8% on time, 15,665 flights) and Sunday 7–8 PM the least (57.1%, 25,390 flights).

Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 8.7 points from the network-wide rate, weekday averages 2.2 points.

On-time arrival rate for American 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

50–59
60–69
70–79
80–89
90–99

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 American Airlines. A dash means fewer than 120 flights, which are not scored.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
12 AM–1 AM	81.1% on time1,492 flights	83.3% on time1,234 flights	88.8% on time1,000 flights	87.8% on time1,062 flights	82.8% on time1,358 flights	82.0% on time1,363 flights	85.0% on time1,163 flights
1 AM–2 AM	82.6% on time238 flights	82.7% on time195 flights	86.3% on time163 flights	85.0% on time183 flights	84.5% on time240 flights	82.4% on time224 flights	82.4% on time167 flights
2 AM–3 AM	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score
3 AM–4 AM	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score
4 AM–5 AM	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score
5 AM–6 AM	88.7% on time15,739 flights	89.4% on time14,320 flights	90.0% on time14,537 flights	90.8% on time15,665 flights	89.3% on time15,733 flights	88.2% on time15,200 flights	88.4% on time15,506 flights
6 AM–7 AM	87.5% on time31,161 flights	88.5% on time30,237 flights	88.9% on time30,366 flights	88.7% on time30,923 flights	87.7% on time31,045 flights	87.3% on time29,648 flights	87.2% on time29,742 flights
7 AM–8 AM	84.8% on time34,415 flights	86.5% on time32,048 flights	86.3% on time32,288 flights	86.6% on time34,425 flights	85.2% on time34,491 flights	84.7% on time32,422 flights	84.7% on time34,008 flights
8 AM–9 AM	83.0% on time32,947 flights	84.5% on time32,657 flights	84.8% on time32,678 flights	84.2% on time32,644 flights	82.8% on time32,963 flights	82.3% on time30,844 flights	82.4% on time32,635 flights
9 AM–10 AM	81.2% on time22,079 flights	83.4% on time21,429 flights	83.6% on time21,542 flights	82.2% on time22,221 flights	81.4% on time22,006 flights	80.7% on time20,172 flights	80.8% on time22,172 flights
10 AM–11 AM	80.0% on time25,873 flights	82.6% on time25,653 flights	82.1% on time25,502 flights	80.6% on time25,582 flights	79.2% on time25,935 flights	80.3% on time23,615 flights	78.7% on time25,593 flights
11 AM–12 PM	77.5% on time26,268 flights	81.6% on time25,263 flights	80.5% on time25,421 flights	78.0% on time26,429 flights	77.1% on time26,204 flights	77.4% on time23,961 flights	76.5% on time26,597 flights
12 PM–1 PM	75.0% on time23,820 flights	79.0% on time23,674 flights	78.1% on time23,609 flights	75.5% on time23,321 flights	73.4% on time23,844 flights	75.0% on time21,436 flights	72.5% on time23,409 flights
1 PM–2 PM	72.5% on time25,773 flights	77.7% on time24,912 flights	77.1% on time25,109 flights	72.7% on time25,790 flights	71.2% on time25,731 flights	73.7% on time22,837 flights	69.8% on time26,038 flights
2 PM–3 PM	69.6% on time23,839 flights	75.0% on time22,853 flights	73.7% on time23,146 flights	69.5% on time23,767 flights	68.7% on time23,863 flights	71.7% on time21,495 flights	66.8% on time24,130 flights
3 PM–4 PM	67.3% on time23,390 flights	72.8% on time22,818 flights	70.9% on time22,762 flights	66.1% on time22,832 flights	66.5% on time23,324 flights	69.4% on time21,203 flights	63.2% on time23,257 flights
4 PM–5 PM	65.3% on time23,895 flights	71.2% on time22,890 flights	70.2% on time23,070 flights	64.4% on time23,713 flights	64.1% on time24,000 flights	67.9% on time21,620 flights	62.0% on time24,293 flights
5 PM–6 PM	64.6% on time25,612 flights	70.9% on time24,022 flights	68.7% on time24,246 flights	62.9% on time25,137 flights	63.1% on time25,573 flights	66.9% on time22,340 flights	59.8% on time25,528 flights
6 PM–7 PM	63.0% on time27,604 flights	68.5% on time24,893 flights	67.6% on time25,564 flights	61.9% on time27,553 flights	62.2% on time27,470 flights	65.3% on time24,433 flights	58.4% on time28,338 flights
7 PM–8 PM	62.0% on time24,682 flights	69.8% on time22,144 flights	67.4% on time22,973 flights	61.1% on time24,842 flights	62.0% on time24,718 flights	64.2% on time21,331 flights	57.1% on time25,390 flights
8 PM–9 PM	62.4% on time20,436 flights	68.9% on time17,396 flights	67.4% on time18,457 flights	62.1% on time21,297 flights	61.3% on time20,573 flights	64.2% on time18,140 flights	58.1% on time22,037 flights
9 PM–10 PM	66.4% on time14,707 flights	73.8% on time13,775 flights	71.5% on time13,893 flights	65.4% on time14,255 flights	66.4% on time14,768 flights	66.7% on time13,648 flights	62.4% on time14,645 flights
10 PM–11 PM	67.9% on time14,608 flights	75.1% on time11,426 flights	74.2% on time12,731 flights	67.8% on time15,407 flights	68.2% on time14,620 flights	69.6% on time12,808 flights	63.6% on time15,813 flights
11 PM–12 AM	79.2% on time4,814 flights	83.5% on time4,242 flights	83.0% on time4,387 flights	79.3% on time5,051 flights	79.2% on time4,936 flights	80.4% on time4,523 flights	76.2% on time5,241 flights

Why American Airlines runs late

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

Late-arriving aircraft47.3%

the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late

The airline33.4%

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

Air traffic control13.7%

airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control

Weather5.5%

weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically

Security0.2%

screening or terminal security incidents

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

The largest single category for American Airlines is late-arriving aircraft, at 47.3% of attributed minutes. The category squarely inside the carrier’s own control — crew, maintenance, boarding, fueling — accounts for 33.4% of its delay minutes, against 33.9% across the 15 carriers covered here.

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 American 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 American Airlines’ weather-matched departures left in an hour of bad weather at the origin. 5.4% of them were cancelled, 3.9 times the 1.4% cancelled in normal hours, and 63.5% of those that flew arrived on time, against 75.6%. Those hours held 25% of the airline’s cancelled departures.

In bad weather American Airlines cancelled fewer flights than other carriers: 5.5% of its departures in those hours were cancelled, against 6.1% for the other carriers at the same airports in the same months. In normal hours American Airlines was level with them (1.4% against 1.3%), so the difference is a bad-weather one. Its flights that operated arrived on time 63.3% of the time, 1.2 points below the others’ 64.5%.

Bad-weather hours against normal hours

Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026

American 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	2,263,705	1.4%	75.6%
Other carriers	2,263,705compared	1.3%	79.6%
Bad-weather hours	223,6638% of all matched	5.4%3.9 times normal	63.5%12.1 points below normal
Other carriers	216,846compared	6.1%	64.5%

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 9% of American 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 American Airlines had there.

The most exposed airports were DFW (10.0% of 38,491), LGA (7.6% of 6,685), EWR (7.2% of 2,735); the least, LAX (0.8% of 9,554), SNA (0.9% of 1,265), LAS (0.9% of 1,081). The widest gap above the other carriers was at AUS, Austin: 2.7% cancelled against 1.3%. The widest below them was at DCA, Washington: 6.4% cancelled against 9.5%.

Most exposed airports

Most exposed airports: American Airlines departures in bad weather by airport
Airport	Departures	Cancelled	Other carriers	Normal hours
DFW Dallas–Fort Worth	38,491	10.0%	10.9%	1.6%
LGA New York	6,685	7.6%	9.3%	2.0%
EWR Newark	2,735	7.2%	7.0%	2.1%

Least exposed airports

Least exposed airports: American Airlines departures in bad weather by airport
Airport	Departures	Cancelled	Other carriers	Normal hours
LAX Los Angeles	9,554	0.8%	1.1%	1.0%
SNA Santa Ana	1,265	0.9%	2.4%	1.5%
LAS Las Vegas	1,081	0.9%	1.9%	1.3%

Airports are listed with at least 500 of American 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 American Airlines’ departures there, and is left blank where American 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 90.3% of American 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 1,627 airport-months in which American 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. 6,817 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 American 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 American Airlines turn is scheduled for 61 minutes on the ground and takes 69 minutes, against 56 minutes and 63 minutes across all airlines. American Airlines gives its aircraft longer on the ground than the network does. 21.7% of its turns began with an aircraft that landed 15 or more minutes late, against 18.9% for the network.

When the aircraft landed 15 or more minutes late (440,533 turns, 62 minutes late on average), 71% of the turns were finished in no more than the scheduled ground time, against 68% across all airlines. 69% of those flights left 15 or more minutes late, against 72%. After an aircraft that landed on time, 13% did (network 11%).

Given the turn lengths it schedules, the network’s rates would give 72% finished in the schedule and 67% leaving late. By that measure American Airlines finished late turns in the schedule about as often and passed lateness on to the next departure more often than the network would have.

Turns, American Airlines against the network

2,027,218 turns, July 2023 – July 2026

American Airlines aircraft turns against all airlines: scheduled and actual time on the ground and what a late inbound aircraft does
Measure	American Airlines	All airlines	All airlines, same turn lengths
Median scheduled turn	61 min	56 min	—
Median actual turn	69 min	63 min	—
Turns that began with an aircraft 15+ minutes late	22%	19%	—
Late turns finished within the schedule	71%	68%	72%
Late inbound that left 15+ minutes late	69%	72%	67%
On-time inbound that left 15+ minutes late	13%	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 American 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 2,027,218 turns are 67% of American 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 American Airlines apart

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

American Airlines flights scheduled to leave at 1 AM arrive on time 83.6% of the time, 4.1 points better than the 79.5% the other covered airlines manage at that hour.

6 PM is where American Airlines falls furthest behind the other airlines: 63.7% of its 6 PM departures arrive on time, 7 points below the 70.7% for that hour elsewhere.

American Airlines’ weakest month against the field is August, 71.0% on time to 78.5% for the other airlines, 7.5 points short.

JFK is where American Airlines stands out most against local competition: 80.9% of its departures arrive on time, 4.5 points above the 76.4% of the other airlines out of the same airport.

Out of ANC, American Airlines arrives on time 70.4% of the time, 13.6 points below the 84.0% the other airlines there manage.

American Airlines against the other airlines

July 2023 – July 2026

Where American Airlines differs most from the other covered airlines, with the flights behind each figure
Measure	American Airlines	Elsewhere	Gap	Flights behind it
Hour: 1 AM departures	83.6%	79.5%	+4.1 pts	1,380 here, 10,058 elsewhere
Hour: 6 PM departures	63.7%	70.7%	−7.0 pts	181,238 here, 1,103,312 elsewhere
Month: August	71.0%	78.5%	−7.5 pts	247,876 here, 1,542,298 elsewhere
Airport: JFK	80.9%	76.4%	+4.5 pts	44,151 here, 297,774 elsewhere
Airport: ANC	70.4%	84.0%	−13.6 pts	1,702 here, 56,241 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 American 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

139

59 of them covered in detail here

Departures from its largest base

16.9%

DFW · Dallas–Fort Worth

Departures from its top three

35.4%

DFW, CLT, MIA

American Airlines departed from 139 airports in this period, with no single one accounting for more than 16.9% of departures and the largest three together 35.4%. 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.

Envoy Air, PSA Airlines, Piedmont Airlines, and Air Wisconsin operate exclusively as American Airlines’ own regional partners — not for any other airline, which is what makes their flights attributable to this brand at all. Across the 124 airports where American Airlines itself has a real base, 30.3% of the combined departures were actually flown by them, not American Airlines. The largest single example is DFW (Dallas–Fort Worth), where 246,568 of 757,235 departures — 32.6% — were theirs. This excludes larger regional partners such as SkyWest and Republic, which also fly for other mainline brands and cannot be split between them from public flight data — see the network-wide comparison for the fuller picture.

Where this airline flies
Airport	Departures	On time	Cancelled	Median delay
DFW Dallas–Fort Worth	510,667	68.1%	2.30%	0 min
CLT Charlotte	370,231	73.1%	1.46%	-3 min
MIA Miami	189,097	71.0%	1.46%	-3 min
PHX Phoenix	171,271	79.6%	0.71%	-6 min
ORD Chicago	168,332	70.9%	1.79%	-3 min
PHL Philadelphia	140,148	75.5%	1.94%	-6 min
LAX Los Angeles	92,868	78.9%	0.90%	-7 min
DCA Washington	84,728	76.6%	2.18%	-8 min
MCO Orlando	58,207	74.8%	1.74%	-5 min
LGA New York	52,440	75.4%	2.93%	-8 min
BOS Boston	51,334	79.5%	1.87%	-11 min
JFK New York	45,081	80.9%	1.75%	-12 min

Strongest airports

HNL (87.1%), SJC (83.2%), ONT (83.1%)

Weakest airports

DFW (68.1%), ORD (70.9%), MIA (71.0%)

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

American 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

HNL→LAXHonolulu to Los Angeles87.3%SMF→PHXSacramento to Phoenix86.9%PHX→SLCPhoenix to Salt Lake City85.9%PHX→SEAPhoenix to Seattle85.5%SEA→PHXSeattle to Phoenix85.1%ATL→CLTAtlanta to Charlotte85.1%SLC→PHXSalt Lake City to Phoenix85.1%RDU→ORDRaleigh–Durham to Chicago85.0%

Least reliable

ORD→EWRChicago to Newark59.7%DFW→SFODallas–Fort Worth to San Francisco61.9%ORD→CLEChicago to Cleveland61.9%DFW→MCODallas–Fort Worth to Orlando62.5%DFW→IAHDallas–Fort Worth to Houston63.5%ORD→PITChicago to Pittsburgh63.5%DFW→SLCDallas–Fort Worth to Salt Lake City64.1%ORD→MSPChicago to Minneapolis64.8%

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 American Airlines flies best and worst

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

HNL is a strong airport for American Airlines at 87.1%, but the other airlines there do about as well at 85.2%, so the airport is easy rather than the airline special.

SJC is a strong airport for American Airlines at 83.2%, but the other airlines there do about as well at 84.2%, so the airport is easy rather than the airline special.

ONT is a strong airport for American Airlines at 83.1%, but the other airlines there do about as well at 83.6%, so the airport is easy rather than the airline special.

American Airlines manages 68.1% at DFW, 10.7 points below the 78.8% for the other airlines there.

American Airlines manages 70.9% at ORD, 4.4 points below the 75.3% for the other airlines there.

American Airlines manages 71.0% at MIA, 4.9 points below the 75.9% for the other airlines there.

American Airlines arrives on time 87.3% of the time on HNL to LAX, 5 points better than the 82.3% for the other airlines on it.

American Airlines arrives on time 86.9% of the time on SMF to PHX, 3.6 points better than the 83.3% for the other airlines on it.

PHX to SLC is a strong route for American Airlines at 85.9%, but the other airlines on it do about as well at 84.4%, so the route is easy rather than the airline special.

American Airlines manages 59.7% on ORD to EWR, 13.9 points below the 73.6% for the other airlines on it.

American Airlines manages 61.9% on DFW to SFO, 9.4 points below the 71.3% for the other airlines on it.

American Airlines manages 61.9% on ORD to CLE, 14 points below the 75.9% for the other airlines on it.

Airports, best and worst

Airports, best and worst: American Airlines on-time rate beside the other airlines, with the flights behind each figure
Place	American Airlines	Other airlines	Flights behind it
HNL	87.1%	85.2%	7,350 here, 177,062 others
SJC	83.2%	84.2%	4,941 here, 140,984 others
ONT	83.1%	83.6%	10,442 here, 68,633 others
DFW	68.1%	78.8%	497,500 here, 439,611 others
ORD	70.9%	75.3%	164,748 here, 767,739 others
MIA	71.0%	75.9%	185,655 here, 148,612 others

Routes, best and worst

Routes, best and worst: American Airlines on-time rate beside the other airlines, with the flights behind each figure
Place	American Airlines	Other airlines	Flights behind it
HNL to LAX	87.3%	82.3%	3,559 here, 13,356 others
SMF to PHX	86.9%	83.3%	3,165 here, 8,031 others
PHX to SLC	85.9%	84.4%	1,161 here, 16,521 others
ORD to EWR	59.7%	73.6%	2,381 here, 15,511 others
DFW to SFO	61.9%	71.3%	9,210 here, 3,255 others
ORD to CLE	61.9%	75.9%	1,155 here, 10,337 others

July 2023 – July 2026. Airports need at least 2,000 completed flights by American 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 American Airlines flight numbers, ranked on the route each one flies today.

Most reliable

AA548JAX→CLT · 5:00 AM95.1%AA444FLL→PHL · 7:00 AM94.0%AA1896MCO→CLT · 5:00 AM93.9%AA1418BOS→MIA · 5:15 AM93.3%AA2894MCO→MIA · 6:00 AM93.3%AA1196EWR→MIA · 5:10 AM93.2%AA1808LAS→PHX · 6:20 AM93.1%AA2159BOS→DCA · 6:00 AM92.9%

Least reliable

AA662DFW→DEN · 10:49 PM47.6%AA2235DFW→DEN · 6:50 PM50.3%AA2186DFW→MCO · 6:30 PM50.4%AA1322DFW→DEN · 4:40 PM51.1%AA446DFW→SFO · 10:40 PM52.3%AA1771DFW→LAS · 6:53 PM52.9%AA2791DFW→MCO · 4:40 PM52.9%AA2810DFW→SFO · 4:53 PM53.4%

349 American Airlines flight numbers have operated their current route at least 600 times. The strongest of them, AA548 from Jacksonville to Charlotte, arrived on time 95.1% of the time. The weakest, AA662 from Dallas–Fort Worth to Denver, managed 47.6% — a gap of 47 percentage points inside one airline. The departures in the first column are scheduled to leave at a median of 6:00 AM; those in the second at 6:50 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 349 American 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 3,019,376 American 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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American Airlines on-time performance, from FlyerIntel

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