Airline profile · WN

Southwest Airlines

On-time performance, cancellations and route reliability, calculated from 4,246,645 flights.

Reliability

July 2023 – June 2026

Airline Reliability Score

71/ 100Good

Better than 80% of US reporting carriers (15 compared)

Calculated from 4,246,645 flights. How this is calculated

On-time arrivals

78.5%

3,298,138 of 4,201,435

Cancellation rate

0.85%

36,010 cancelled

Median arrival delay

-4 min

Average 5.7 min

Severe delays

5.9%

60+ minutes late

Delay when late

54 min

Average, when 15+ min late

Departure punctuality

75.2%

Left the gate on time

Over the last 12 months Southwest Airlines arrived on time 76.6% of the time, against 80.8% in the 12 months before — declining by 4.2 percentage points.

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

Performance over time

What causes the delays

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

Late-arriving aircraft51%

Carrier28%

National airspace system18%

Weather3%

Security0%

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

Where this airline flies

Departure performance at the airports FlyerIntel covers.

Airport	Departures	On time	Cancelled	Median delay
DEN Denver	281,472	71.4%	0.74%	0 min
LAS Las Vegas	260,926	75.9%	0.64%	-3 min
BWI Baltimore	218,264	75.1%	1.17%	-2 min
MDW Chicago	213,263	76.6%	1.17%	-3 min
PHX Phoenix	200,703	77.8%	0.57%	-3 min
BNA Nashville	164,618	78.4%	0.84%	-4 min
MCO Orlando	139,876	74.6%	1.07%	-2 min
STL St. Louis	121,821	78.4%	0.82%	-4 min
AUS Austin	113,797	77.0%	0.62%	-3 min
SAN San Diego	107,197	75.8%	0.93%	-3 min
OAK Oakland	98,260	81.6%	0.58%	-5 min
SJC San Jose	85,392	82.7%	0.58%	-6 min

Strongest airports

IAH (82.9%), SJC (82.7%), OAK (81.6%)

Weakest airports

SFO (66.1%), DEN (71.4%), FLL (74.0%)

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

Route performance

Most reliable routes

MSP→PHXMinneapolis to Phoenix91.4%PDX→MDWPortland to Chicago88.8%LAX→SLCLos Angeles to Salt Lake City87.9%SJC→BNASan Jose to Nashville87.3%SJC→SLCSan Jose to Salt Lake City86.5%RDU→ATLRaleigh–Durham to Atlanta86.2%IAH→BNAHouston to Nashville86.1%SJC→MDWSan Jose to Chicago86.0%

Least reliable routes

LAS→SFOLas Vegas to San Francisco56.0%DCA→AUSWashington to Austin56.9%DEN→SFODenver to San Francisco56.9%MDW→SFOChicago to San Francisco57.5%SFO→STLSan Francisco to St. Louis61.1%SAN→SFOSan Diego to San Francisco61.1%DEN→BOSDenver to Boston61.4%SFO→SANSan Francisco to San Diego61.4%

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

Compare airlines

Every carrier on FlyerIntel is measured the same way, over the same period, using the same source data. See all airlines ranked →

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