Flight profile · United Airlines
UA1966
Austin (AUS) to Houston (IAH) · scheduled 5:30 AM – 5:58 AM
How UA1966 performs
628 operations, September 2024 – August 2026.
Between its first and last recorded date on AUS → IAH, UA1966 averaged about 6 operations a week (628 in 705 days, cancelled ones included).
UA1966 arrived on time 94.8% of the time, against 78.7% for all AUS → IAH flights, so this departure is 16.1 percentage points better than the route as a whole. Against United Airlines’ own flights on this route it is 16.1 points better.
UA1966’s scheduled departure has moved during the period FlyerIntel has on file: it typically left around 5:00 AM earlier on, and around 5:30 AM more recently — a 30-minute shift, not the few minutes of day-to-day rounding every published schedule carries. Confirm the current departure time before booking around an older listing.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · 628 operations, September 2024 – August 2026 · If UA1966 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 UA1966 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 99% of 12,152 comparable flight numbers.
94.8% on time for this specific departure, against 78.7% for the same carrier's other flights on this route.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · September 2024 – 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 UA1966 is right now
A live reading, only if you ask for it. It is not part of the reliability record above.
Ask for the position of UA1966 right now, if receivers on the ground are hearing it. Nothing is requested until you press the button.
Against the rest of the route
| Flight or route | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Severe | Flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UA1966 | 94.8% | 1.59% | -14 min | 2.4% | 628 |
| United Airlines on AUS → IAH | 78.7% | 1.47% | -4 min | 6.7% | 7,399 |
| All AUS → IAH flights | 78.7% | 1.44% | -4 min | 6.7% | 7,695 |
UA1966 cancelled 10 of 628 operations (1.59%), close to the 1.44% for AUS → IAH.
2.4% of UA1966’s arrivals were an hour or more late, against 6.7% across AUS → IAH, so the long delays are less common on this number than on the route.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · September 2024 – August 2026
Why UA1966 runs late
Where US DOT attributed the delay minutes on this flight.
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for UA1966 on AUS → IAH. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering September 2024 – August 2026
Does a late aircraft delay this flight?
How often the plane that flies UA1966 comes in late, and what that does to the departure.
UA1966 is usually the aircraft’s first flight of the day: the schedule gives it a median of 7.8 hours on the ground at AUS, so its “inbound” is mostly the aircraft’s arrival the evening before.
When the aircraft came in 15 or more minutes late, UA1966 pushed back an average of 3 minutes late; when it came in on time or early, an average of 2 minutes early.
Matched by tail number to the aircraft’s previous flight into AUS: 603 of 618 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 | Left 15+ late after a late inbound | Left 15+ late after an on-time inbound |
|---|---|---|---|
| UA1966 | 28% | 10% | 3% |
| Network, same turn | 29% | 12% | 9% |
A night on the ground absorbs most of a late arrival, so a late inbound matters far less here than on a same-day turn.
The network row is every flight with a scheduled turn of 6 hours or more, usually overnight. How often UA1966’s aircraft landed 15 or more minutes late is about the same as the network’s and, once the aircraft was late, how often UA1966 left 15 or more minutes late is about the same as the network’s.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering September 2024 – August 2026
From pushback to gate
When it leaves AUS late, does that still matter by the time it reaches IAH?
UA1966 pushes back an average of 0.1 minutes early and reaches the gate at IAH an average of 8.5 minutes early. The 8.4 minutes between those two figures are slack the published schedule already carries. It spends 15.5 minutes on the taxiways at AUS, 1.5 minutes longer than a typical AUS departure in the same hour.
On arrival at IAH, UA1966 spends 8.1 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 2.5 minutes shorter than a typical IAH arrival (10.6 min).
Taxi-out is gate to wheels up and sits inside the scheduled block; the hourly comparison is 12,138 AUS departures. Taxi-in is landing to gate, set against 369,280 arrivals at IAH. More on taxi time.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · September 2024 – August 2026
The hour it leaves AUS
UA1966 has one departure time, 5:30 AM, so this is what that hour at AUS is worth.
On-time arrival rate. 12,138 departures from AUS are scheduled in the 5 AM–6 AM hour over the period, against 280,096 across the whole day.
UA1966 is scheduled out of AUS at 5:30 AM, in the 5 AM–6 AM bank. Departures from AUS in that hour arrive on time 93.9% of the time against 77.9% across the airport’s whole day — the slot alone is worth 15.9 points better before anything about this particular flight is considered.
Both airport figures cover every destination from AUS, 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 · September 2024 – August 2026 · Hours below 120 departures are not scored.
Other routes UA1966 has flown
Carriers reassign flight numbers. UA1966 also served these 19 other city pairs in the period.
| Route | Operated | Flights | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| IAH→MIA Houston to Miami | February 12, 2026 – August 10, 2026 | 163 | 89.5% |
| IAH→LGA Houston to New York | August 19, 2025 – February 11, 2026 | 136 | 87.4% |
| IAH→DEN Houston to Denver | March 6, 2025 – January 5, 2026 | 53 | — |
| DEN→CLT Denver to Charlotte | November 28, 2025 | 1 | — |
| IAH→FLL Houston to Fort Lauderdale | August 1–18, 2025 | 18 | — |
| IAH→SAT Houston to San Antonio | June 26, 2025 – July 31, 2025 | 36 | — |
| JAC→DEN Jackson to Denver | May 1, 2025 | 1 | — |
| SFO→MCI San Francisco to Kansas City | February 13, 2025 | 1 | — |
| BNA→IAH Nashville to Houston | January 7, 2025 | 1 | — |
| ORD→AUS Chicago to Austin | December 1–2, 2024 | 2 | — |
| ORD→IND Chicago to Indianapolis | November 10, 2024 | 1 | — |
| PHX→ORD Phoenix to Chicago | November 3, 2024 | 1 | — |
| IAH→IAD Houston to Washington | October 27, 2024 | 1 | — |
| IAH→PHL Houston to Philadelphia | August 19, 2024 – October 26, 2024 | 60 | — |
| LAX→IAH Los Angeles to Houston | June 27, 2024 – September 25, 2024 | 91 | 89.9% |
| IAH→MSY Houston to New Orleans | August 1, 2023 – August 18, 2024 | 117 | 87.8% |
| MSY→EWR New Orleans to Newark | July 1, 2023 – June 26, 2024 | 270 | 90.0% |
| EWR→PHX Newark to Phoenix | February 15, 2024 – March 30, 2024 | 45 | — |
| SFO→AUS San Francisco to Austin | December 15, 2023 | 1 | — |
The figures above describe only AUS → IAH, the route UA1966 flies now.
When it goes wrong
The average describes a usual day. This is the day that ruins a connection.
0 min late
against a median of 14 min early
Percentiles over 628 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering September 2024 – August 2026
Other flights on this route
Same airports, same journey, different odds of arriving on time.
| Flight | Airline | On time | Median arrival | Operations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UA1966 this flight | United Airlines | 94.8% | 14 min early | 628 |
| UA2196 | United Airlines | 82.7% | 5 min early | 972 |
| UA685 | United Airlines | 69.8% | 2 min late | 742 |
| UA1326 | United Airlines | 68.4% | 5 min late | 835 |
Among all 4 departures on this route with at least 600 operations, UA1966 has the highest on-time rate. Every departure here has at least 600 operations; the other rows are the most punctual on the route, not all of them.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 628 records of UA1966 operating AUS → IAH, 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