Flight profile · American Airlines
AA1616
Charlotte (CLT) to Kansas City (MCI) · scheduled 9:30 AM – 11:20 AM
How AA1616 performs
961 operations, July 2023 – August 2026.
Between its first and last recorded date on CLT → MCI, AA1616 averaged about 6 operations a week (961 in 1,158 days, cancelled ones included).
AA1616 arrived on time 84.7% of the time, against 74.4% for all CLT → MCI flights, so this departure is 10.3 percentage points better than the route as a whole. Against American Airlines’ own flights on this route it is 10.5 points better.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · 961 operations, July 2023 – August 2026 · If AA1616 is cancelled or significantly changed, DOT’s automatic refund rule may entitle you to your money back. The refund checker walks through eligibility.
What stands out
How AA1616 compares to other flight numbers, not just to itself.
This flight runs unusually far ahead of the carrier's own average on this route, better than 92% of 12,152 comparable flight numbers.
84.7% on time for this specific departure, against 74.2% for the same carrier's other flights on this route.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – August 2026 · The one thing about this specific departure that ranks most extreme against every other published flight number, out of everything FlyerIntel checks — shown only when something clears a real statistical bar, not for every flight.
Where AA1616 is right now
A live reading, only if you ask for it. It is not part of the reliability record above.
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Against the rest of the route
| Flight or route | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Severe | Flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AA1616 | 84.7% | 1.04% | -7 min | 2.7% | 961 |
| American Airlines on CLT → MCI | 74.2% | 1.31% | -3 min | 8.8% | 4,045 |
| All CLT → MCI flights | 74.4% | 1.34% | -3 min | 8.7% | 4,095 |
AA1616 cancelled 10 of 961 operations (1.04%), close to the 1.34% for CLT → MCI.
2.7% of AA1616’s arrivals were an hour or more late, against 8.7% across CLT → MCI, so the long delays are less common on this number than on the route.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – August 2026
Why AA1616 runs late
Where US DOT attributed the delay minutes on this flight.
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
screening or terminal security incidents
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for AA1616 on CLT → MCI. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – August 2026
Does a late aircraft delay this flight?
How often the plane that flies AA1616 comes in late, and what that does to the departure.
The aircraft flying AA1616 came in 15 or more minutes late on 10% of the departures where its previous flight is known. There are not enough departures in both groups to say how the flight left after a late one and after an on-time one.
Matched by tail number to the aircraft’s previous flight into CLT: 855 of 951 departures. Unknown, cancelled or diverted inbounds and gaps over 12 hours are left out.
Against the network at the same turn length
| Share of departures | Inbound landed 15+ late |
|---|---|
| AA1616 | 10% |
| Network, same turn | 17% |
67 scheduled minutes is enough to clean and board when the aircraft is on time, with little to spare when it is not.
The network row is every flight with a scheduled turn of 60 to 89 minutes. How often AA1616’s aircraft landed 15 or more minutes late is lower than the network’s. There are not enough departures in both groups to compare how it left.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – August 2026
From pushback to gate
When it leaves CLT late, does that still matter by the time it reaches MCI?
AA1616 pushes back an average of 5.4 minutes late and reaches the gate at MCI an average of 0.1 minutes early. The 5.5 minutes between those two figures are slack the published schedule already carries, so on average a late pushback on this flight is made up before the gate. It spends 19.6 minutes on the taxiways at CLT, 5.6 minutes shorter than a typical CLT departure in the same hour.
On arrival at MCI, AA1616 spends 7.4 min taxiing from touchdown to the gate — ground time a connecting passenger sits through before they can even leave the aircraft, on top of however late the flight itself ran. That is 1.4 minutes longer than a typical MCI arrival (6.0 min).
Taxi-out is gate to wheels up and sits inside the scheduled block; the hourly comparison is 53,206 CLT departures. Taxi-in is landing to gate, set against 157,112 arrivals at MCI. More on taxi time.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – August 2026
The hour it leaves CLT
AA1616 has one departure time, 9:30 AM, so this is what that hour at CLT is worth.
On-time arrival rate. 53,206 departures from CLT are scheduled in the 9 AM–10 AM hour over the period, against 633,368 across the whole day.
AA1616 is scheduled out of CLT at 9:30 AM, in the 9 AM–10 AM bank. Departures from CLT in that hour arrive on time 84.8% of the time against 74.6% across the airport’s whole day — the slot alone is worth 10.2 points better before anything about this particular flight is considered.
Both airport figures cover every destination from CLT, so they describe the slot, not this journey; the route comparison is above. Why the hour matters.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – August 2026 · Hours below 120 departures are not scored.
By day of week
Does AA1616 run worse on particular days?
Sunday scored highest and Saturday lowest, 6.4 points apart, but with about 137 operations per scored day that is within what chance alone produces, so no day stands out.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – August 2026 · Days with fewer than 120 operations are not scored.
Other routes AA1616 has flown
Carriers reassign flight numbers. AA1616 also served these 3 other city pairs in the period.
| Route | Operated | Flights | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| MCI→CLT Kansas City to Charlotte | July 1, 2023 – August 31, 2026 | 916 | 80.8% |
| BUF→CLT Buffalo to Charlotte | May 21, 2026 – August 4, 2026 | 76 | — |
| CLT→BUF Charlotte to Buffalo | May 21, 2026 – August 4, 2026 | 76 | — |
The figures above describe only CLT → MCI, the route AA1616 flies now.
When it goes wrong
The average describes a usual day. This is the day that ruins a connection.
25 min late
against a median of 7 min early
Percentiles over 961 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – August 2026
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 961 records of AA1616 operating CLT → MCI, published by the US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics. A flight counts as delayed when it arrives 15 or more minutes after schedule; cancelled and diverted flights are reported separately, not in the on-time rate.
Full methodology · Data sources · Report a problem
Related research: Most and Least Reliable Flight Numbers · The Delay You Inherit · Making Up Time in the Air
Analysis last recomputed