United Airlines Reliability

Reliability

July 2023 – July 2026

Airline Reliability Score

66/ 100Good

Better than 63% of US reporting carriers (15 compared)

Calculated from 2,418,979 flights. How this is calculated

On-time arrivals

79.7%

1,899,974 of 2,382,570

Cancellation rate

1.21%

29,388 cancelled

Median arrival delay

-7 min

Average 6.0 min

Severe delays

7.5%

60+ minutes late

Delay when late

72 min

Average, when 15+ min late

Departure punctuality

81.2%

Left the gate on time

Against the 15 carriers FlyerIntel covers — all measured over the same period, from the same source — United Airlines ranks 7th of 15 for on-time arrivals, 5th for cancellations and 8th 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) United Airlines arrived on time 79.3% of the time, against 80.1% 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 United Airlines cancels flights

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

United Airlines cancelled 29,388 of 2,418,979 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 82. The reason it filed most often was extreme weather, 44.5% of the cancellations it coded — about 1 in every 185 scheduled flights.

Share of cancellations

Weather44.5%

Airline44.3%

Air traffic11.1%

Security0.0%

Of 29,388 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.

What each reason means

Extreme weather1 in 185

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

13,089 cancellations, 44.5% of the total.

The airline1 in 186

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

13,024 cancellations, 44.3% of the total.

The air traffic system1 in 739

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

3,275 cancellations, 11.1% 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 United 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

United Airlines cancellation causes by airport
Airport	Cancelled	Rate	Airline	Weather	Air traffic	Security
EWR Newark	4,575	2.17%	31%	56%	13%	0%
ORD Chicago	3,330	1.15%	36%	56%	8%	0%
IAH Houston	2,510	1.15%	36%	49%	15%	0%
DEN Denver	2,318	0.72%	58%	34%	8%	0%
SFO San Francisco	1,357	0.80%	69%	21%	11%	0%
IAD Washington	1,072	1.02%	50%	42%	8%	0%
LAX Los Angeles	838	0.97%	71%	21%	8%	0%
MCO Orlando	691	1.57%	47%	32%	21%	0%
BOS Boston	677	1.74%	31%	57%	12%	0%
LGA New York	620	2.35%	27%	62%	11%	0%

Shares are of United 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 United 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 United 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; 29,388 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 United Airlines operations. The strongest single month of the period was November 2023 at 89.0% on time; the weakest was July 2023 at 67.8%. 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 United 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

United Airlines — best and worst months to fly
Month	Flights	On time	Cancelled
January	184,643	81.0%	4.02%
February	174,268	83.1%	0.85%
March	202,680	81.0%	0.79%
April	194,751	81.8%	0.51%
May	206,163	76.6%	0.81%
June	202,120	74.7%	0.83%
July	274,693	70.6%	2.75%
August	201,686	77.9%	1.46%
September	194,353	84.1%	0.66%
October	205,714	85.2%	0.43%
November	188,169	83.5%	0.66%
December	189,739	81.5%	0.35%

Combining 3 to 4 years of operations by calendar month, United Airlines is at its best in October, when 85.2% of arrivals were on time, and at its worst in July at 70.6% — a spread of 14.6 percentage points between two months of the same airline. Cancellations peak in a month of their own: January at 4.02% of flights, against 0.35% in December.

This is the shape of the calendar, not a forecast. It says that if you book United 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 United Airlines

How United 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 United Airlines (94.8% on time, 5,210 flights) and Sunday 8–9 PM the least (66.3%, 14,304 flights).

Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 7.0 points from the network-wide rate, weekday averages 1.7 points.

On-time arrival rate for United 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

65–69
70–74
75–79
80–84
85–89
90–94
95–99

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 United Airlines. A dash means fewer than 120 flights, which are not scored.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
12 AM–1 AM	84.2% on time997 flights	85.4% on time865 flights	89.0% on time801 flights	87.0% on time873 flights	86.0% on time918 flights	86.4% on time941 flights	86.1% on time928 flights
1 AM–2 AM	74.0% on time200 flights	79.3% on time189 flights	78.7% on time185 flights	79.4% on time195 flights	77.2% on time200 flights	72.8% on time195 flights	79.8% on time187 flights
2 AM–3 AM	79 flights, too few to score	77 flights, too few to score	76 flights, too few to score	76 flights, too few to score	77 flights, too few to score	77 flights, too few to score	80 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	93.5% on time5,564 flights	94.3% on time5,213 flights	94.8% on time5,210 flights	94.7% on time5,597 flights	92.7% on time5,563 flights	92.5% on time5,609 flights	93.7% on time5,449 flights
6 AM–7 AM	90.9% on time21,811 flights	92.4% on time20,480 flights	92.7% on time20,284 flights	91.6% on time21,803 flights	90.3% on time21,847 flights	89.7% on time21,040 flights	90.2% on time20,904 flights
7 AM–8 AM	87.8% on time31,082 flights	89.7% on time29,420 flights	90.0% on time29,461 flights	88.5% on time31,087 flights	86.7% on time31,012 flights	86.8% on time28,984 flights	87.2% on time30,255 flights
8 AM–9 AM	86.4% on time27,729 flights	87.8% on time26,941 flights	88.0% on time26,944 flights	86.6% on time27,770 flights	85.4% on time27,831 flights	85.9% on time25,463 flights	85.8% on time27,056 flights
9 AM–10 AM	84.6% on time23,863 flights	86.0% on time23,353 flights	86.0% on time23,433 flights	83.9% on time23,835 flights	82.6% on time23,710 flights	82.8% on time21,942 flights	83.1% on time23,212 flights
10 AM–11 AM	83.6% on time20,699 flights	85.8% on time20,372 flights	85.6% on time20,441 flights	83.4% on time20,753 flights	81.5% on time20,631 flights	81.6% on time18,776 flights	81.6% on time20,148 flights
11 AM–12 PM	82.8% on time21,009 flights	84.4% on time20,656 flights	83.9% on time20,796 flights	81.4% on time21,004 flights	79.8% on time20,956 flights	81.5% on time18,871 flights	80.2% on time20,340 flights
12 PM–1 PM	81.9% on time19,746 flights	84.3% on time19,561 flights	83.6% on time19,611 flights	81.2% on time19,685 flights	79.6% on time19,701 flights	81.6% on time17,574 flights	79.7% on time18,952 flights
1 PM–2 PM	79.6% on time22,610 flights	82.3% on time22,161 flights	81.8% on time22,344 flights	78.9% on time22,525 flights	77.6% on time22,640 flights	80.5% on time20,266 flights	77.6% on time22,032 flights
2 PM–3 PM	76.4% on time19,969 flights	80.2% on time19,270 flights	77.9% on time19,682 flights	75.0% on time19,798 flights	73.5% on time19,815 flights	77.8% on time17,767 flights	74.1% on time19,243 flights
3 PM–4 PM	75.1% on time15,190 flights	78.6% on time14,590 flights	76.2% on time14,974 flights	73.2% on time15,016 flights	72.6% on time15,162 flights	75.7% on time13,219 flights	72.9% on time14,790 flights
4 PM–5 PM	73.5% on time23,969 flights	76.8% on time23,270 flights	74.6% on time23,483 flights	70.8% on time23,726 flights	71.0% on time24,013 flights	74.9% on time21,325 flights	71.1% on time23,326 flights
5 PM–6 PM	70.3% on time23,421 flights	73.3% on time22,742 flights	71.7% on time23,098 flights	67.8% on time23,216 flights	68.8% on time23,293 flights	73.0% on time20,923 flights	67.9% on time22,898 flights
6 PM–7 PM	70.7% on time22,763 flights	74.2% on time20,464 flights	71.3% on time22,007 flights	67.5% on time22,668 flights	69.0% on time22,881 flights	73.2% on time18,960 flights	67.6% on time22,434 flights
7 PM–8 PM	71.2% on time20,576 flights	75.9% on time19,123 flights	73.2% on time19,984 flights	68.5% on time20,596 flights	69.2% on time20,732 flights	73.1% on time17,587 flights	67.6% on time20,464 flights
8 PM–9 PM	69.6% on time14,064 flights	75.1% on time12,842 flights	72.7% on time13,660 flights	66.6% on time14,112 flights	67.5% on time14,335 flights	72.3% on time12,414 flights	66.3% on time14,304 flights
9 PM–10 PM	73.0% on time8,218 flights	78.3% on time6,759 flights	75.3% on time7,786 flights	70.5% on time8,429 flights	72.3% on time8,481 flights	76.5% on time7,046 flights	71.0% on time8,780 flights
10 PM–11 PM	81.8% on time6,044 flights	87.4% on time5,436 flights	82.5% on time5,790 flights	79.7% on time6,095 flights	79.7% on time6,123 flights	82.7% on time5,847 flights	79.2% on time6,188 flights
11 PM–12 AM	84.6% on time5,659 flights	88.9% on time4,917 flights	85.4% on time5,426 flights	83.0% on time6,003 flights	83.3% on time5,962 flights	85.0% on time5,747 flights	81.9% on time6,252 flights

Why United Airlines runs late

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

Late-arriving aircraft38.4%

the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late

Air traffic control28.7%

airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control

The airline27.9%

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

Weather5.1%

weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically

Security<0.1%

screening or terminal security incidents

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

The largest single category for United Airlines is late-arriving aircraft, at 38.4% of attributed minutes. The category squarely inside the carrier’s own control — crew, maintenance, boarding, fueling — accounts for 27.9% of its delay minutes, against 33.9% across the 15 carriers covered here. That is 6.0 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 United Airlines handles bad weather

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

9% of United Airlines’ weather-matched departures left in an hour of bad weather at the origin. 2.9% of them were cancelled, 2.9 times the 1.0% cancelled in normal hours, and 66.7% of those that flew arrived on time, against 81.0%. Those hours held 22% of the airline’s cancelled departures.

In bad weather United Airlines cancelled fewer flights than other carriers: 2.9% of its departures in those hours were cancelled, against 5.0% for the other carriers at the same airports in the same months. It was below them in normal hours too (1.0% against 1.3%), so part of the difference is there in clear conditions as well. Its flights that operated arrived on time 66.5% of the time, 3.5 points above the others’ 63.0%.

Bad-weather hours against normal hours

Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026

United 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	1,796,413	1.0%	81.0%
Other carriers	1,796,413compared	1.3%	79.0%
Bad-weather hours	207,2099% of all matched	2.9%2.9 times normal	66.7%14.3 points below normal
Other carriers	201,536compared	5.0%	63.0%

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 9% of United 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 United Airlines had there.

The most exposed airports were EWR (5.3% of 28,226), LGA (5.2% of 3,159), DFW (4.8% of 2,209); the least, SMF (0.5% of 942), SEA (0.8% of 2,531), SLC (0.8% of 840). It did best against the others at DFW, Dallas–Fort Worth: 4.8% cancelled against 10.6%.

Most exposed airports

Most exposed airports: United Airlines departures in bad weather by airport
Airport	Departures	Cancelled	Other carriers	Normal hours
EWR Newark	28,226	5.3%	8.9%	1.6%
LGA New York	3,159	5.2%	9.5%	1.8%
DFW Dallas–Fort Worth	2,209	4.8%	10.6%	1.3%

Least exposed airports

Least exposed airports: United Airlines departures in bad weather by airport
Airport	Departures	Cancelled	Other carriers	Normal hours
SMF Sacramento	942	0.5%	1.1%	1.0%
SEA Seattle	2,531	0.8%	1.5%	1.2%
SLC Salt Lake City	840	0.8%	0.6%	1.3%

Airports are listed with at least 500 of United 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 United Airlines’ departures there, and is left blank where United 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 91.5% of United 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 1,608 airport-months in which United 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. 5,673 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 United 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 United Airlines turn is scheduled for 72 minutes on the ground and takes 81 minutes, against 56 minutes and 63 minutes across all airlines. United Airlines gives its aircraft longer on the ground than the network does.

When the aircraft landed 15 or more minutes late (274,969 turns, 60 minutes late on average), 81% of the turns were finished in no more than the scheduled ground time, against 68% across all airlines. 61% 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 79% finished in the schedule and 61% leaving late. By that measure United Airlines finished more late turns in the schedule and passed lateness on about as often than the network would have. 61% of its late-inbound turns had a scheduled turn of 60 to 89 minutes, against 29% of the network’s.

Turns, United Airlines against the network

1,599,426 turns, July 2023 – July 2026

United Airlines aircraft turns against all airlines: scheduled and actual time on the ground and what a late inbound aircraft does
Measure	United Airlines	All airlines	All airlines, same turn lengths
Median scheduled turn	72 min	56 min	—
Median actual turn	81 min	63 min	—
Turns that began with an aircraft 15+ minutes late	17%	19%	—
Late turns finished within the schedule	81%	68%	79%
Late inbound that left 15+ minutes late	61%	72%	61%
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 United 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 1,599,426 turns are 66% of United 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 United Airlines apart

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

United Airlines flights scheduled to leave at 10 PM arrive on time 81.7% of the time, 10.4 points better than the 71.3% the other covered airlines manage at that hour.

1 AM is where United Airlines falls furthest behind the other airlines: 77.3% of its 1 AM departures arrive on time, 3.1 points below the 80.4% for that hour elsewhere.

December suits United Airlines more than it suits the other airlines: 81.5% on time against 78.4%, 3.1 points ahead.

FLL is where United Airlines stands out most against local competition: 81.9% of its departures arrive on time, 10.3 points above the 71.6% of the other airlines out of the same airport.

Out of BUR, United Airlines arrives on time 74.0% of the time, 9.3 points below the 83.3% the other airlines there manage.

United Airlines aircraft spend 21.0 minutes on average between pushback and takeoff, 3.1 minutes more than the 17.9 minutes for the other covered airlines.

United Airlines against the other airlines

July 2023 – July 2026

Where United Airlines differs most from the other covered airlines, with the flights behind each figure
Measure	United Airlines	Elsewhere	Gap	Flights behind it
Hour: 10 PM departures	81.7%	71.3%	+10.4 pts	40,931 here, 454,650 elsewhere
Hour: 1 AM departures	77.3%	80.4%	−3.1 pts	1,319 here, 10,119 elsewhere
Month: December	81.5%	78.4%	+3.1 pts	188,705 here, 1,534,989 elsewhere
Airport: FLL	81.9%	71.6%	+10.3 pts	25,412 here, 247,672 elsewhere
Airport: BUR	74.0%	83.3%	−9.3 pts	5,448 here, 86,792 elsewhere
Taxi-out: Departures	21.0 min	17.9 min	+3.1 min	2,391,294 here, 19,001,680 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 United 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

134

57 of them covered in detail here

Departures from its largest base

13.2%

DEN · Denver

Departures from its top three

34.2%

DEN, ORD, IAH

United Airlines departed from 134 airports in this period, with no single one accounting for more than 13.2% of departures and the largest three together 34.2%. 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
DEN Denver	320,379	78.0%	0.72%	-5 min
ORD Chicago	288,979	76.7%	1.15%	-5 min
IAH Houston	218,579	78.0%	1.15%	-5 min
EWR Newark	210,528	76.5%	2.17%	-8 min
SFO San Francisco	170,135	81.8%	0.80%	-7 min
IAD Washington	105,607	81.1%	1.02%	-7 min
LAX Los Angeles	86,556	84.1%	0.97%	-9 min
LAS Las Vegas	45,107	81.5%	1.04%	-9 min
MCO Orlando	44,149	80.1%	1.57%	-8 min
BOS Boston	38,952	80.3%	1.74%	-8 min
SAN San Diego	32,235	82.1%	1.16%	-8 min
PHX Phoenix	31,069	83.5%	1.00%	-8 min

Strongest airports

SJC (88.4%), SMF (87.0%), TUS (86.8%)

Weakest airports

BUR (74.0%), STL (74.8%), CMH (75.3%)

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

United 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

SEA→LAXSeattle to Los Angeles90.8%PHX→LAXPhoenix to Los Angeles90.3%PDX→DENPortland to Denver89.2%SMF→DENSacramento to Denver88.9%LAX→IAHLos Angeles to Houston87.9%DTW→EWRDetroit to Newark87.8%AUS→LAXAustin to Los Angeles87.5%LAX→BOSLos Angeles to Boston87.1%

Least reliable

IND→ORDIndianapolis to Chicago69.2%ORD→INDChicago to Indianapolis70.0%CMH→ORDColumbus to Chicago70.8%DTW→ORDDetroit to Chicago70.9%SEA→SFOSeattle to San Francisco71.5%IAH→DFWHouston to Dallas–Fort Worth71.8%EWR→SFONewark to San Francisco72.1%LAS→SFOLas Vegas to San Francisco72.3%

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 United Airlines flies best and worst

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

United Airlines arrives on time 88.4% of the time at SJC, 4.4 points better than the 84.0% for the other airlines there.

United Airlines arrives on time 87.0% of the time at SMF, 4.1 points better than the 82.9% for the other airlines there.

United Airlines arrives on time 86.8% of the time at TUS, 2.7 points better than the 84.1% for the other airlines there.

United Airlines manages 74.0% at BUR, 9.3 points below the 83.3% for the other airlines there.

United Airlines manages 74.8% at STL, 4.5 points below the 79.3% for the other airlines there.

United Airlines manages 75.3% at CMH, 7.3 points below the 82.6% for the other airlines there.

United Airlines arrives on time 90.8% of the time on SEA to LAX, 9 points better than the 81.8% for the other airlines on it.

United Airlines arrives on time 90.3% of the time on PHX to LAX, 7.9 points better than the 82.4% for the other airlines on it.

United Airlines arrives on time 89.2% of the time on PDX to DEN, 11.2 points better than the 78.0% for the other airlines on it.

United Airlines manages 69.2% on IND to ORD, 13.7 points below the 82.9% for the other airlines on it.

United Airlines manages 70.0% on ORD to IND, 10 points below the 80.0% for the other airlines on it.

United Airlines manages 70.8% on CMH to ORD, 9.4 points below the 80.2% for the other airlines on it.

Airports, best and worst

Airports, best and worst: United Airlines on-time rate beside the other airlines, with the flights behind each figure
Place	United Airlines	Other airlines	Flights behind it
SJC	88.4%	84.0%	5,461 here, 140,464 others
SMF	87.0%	82.9%	12,559 here, 158,401 others
TUS	86.8%	84.1%	3,420 here, 55,310 others
BUR	74.0%	83.3%	5,448 here, 86,792 others
STL	74.8%	79.3%	8,329 here, 187,440 others
CMH	75.3%	82.6%	8,959 here, 122,628 others

Routes, best and worst

Routes, best and worst: United Airlines on-time rate beside the other airlines, with the flights behind each figure
Place	United Airlines	Other airlines	Flights behind it
SEA to LAX	90.8%	81.8%	1,769 here, 21,225 others
PHX to LAX	90.3%	82.4%	1,718 here, 20,685 others
PDX to DEN	89.2%	78.0%	5,648 here, 7,972 others
IND to ORD	69.2%	82.9%	1,211 here, 12,287 others
ORD to IND	70.0%	80.0%	1,219 here, 12,255 others
CMH to ORD	70.8%	80.2%	3,320 here, 8,661 others

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

Most reliable

UA459PDX→DEN · 5:00 AM96.2%UA1734BOS→IAD · 5:30 AM96.1%UA2089SJU→ORD · 7:45 AM96.0%UA2608LAS→IAH · 6:00 AM96.0%UA2022SJU→IAD · 7:25 AM95.2%UA469SAT→IAH · 5:30 AM95.0%UA320DEN→IAH · 5:00 AM94.7%UA2285SMF→DEN · 8:45 AM94.2%

Least reliable

UA254EWR→ORD · 6:25 PM47.4%UA2148DCA→ORD · 6:00 PM56.0%UA1757IAD→SFO · 5:55 PM56.1%UA2497IAD→ORD · 5:15 PM57.0%UA2040BOS→ORD · 4:27 PM58.0%UA1673CLE→ORD · 6:00 PM60.6%UA2356LAS→SFO · 8:00 AM61.1%UA1609DFW→IAH · 5:25 PM61.6%

360 United Airlines flight numbers have operated their current route at least 600 times. The strongest of them, UA459 from Portland to Denver, arrived on time 96.2% of the time. The weakest, UA254 from Newark to Chicago, managed 47.4% — a gap of 49 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 5:55 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 360 United 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 2,418,979 United 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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United Airlines on-time performance, from FlyerIntel

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