Flight profile · United Airlines

UA491

Houston (IAH) to New Orleans (MSY) · scheduled 7:30 AM – 8:34 AM

FlyerIntel does not track flights in the air. This page describes how UA491 has historically performed, which is a different and more useful question when you are deciding what to book. For today’s status, check with United Airlines.

How UA491 performs

635 operations, 2024-06-27 to 2026-06-30.

On-time arrivals
90.9%
569 of 626 completed
Cancellation rate
1.26%
8 cancelled
Median arrival delay
-13 min
Average -6.2 min
Severe delays
3.0%
Arrived 60+ minutes late
Delay when late
52 min
Average, when 15+ min late
Departure punctuality
91.5%
Left the gate on time

UA491 arrived on time 90.9% of the time, against 80.3% for all IAHMSY flights — this specific departure is 10.6 percentage points better than the route as a whole. Against United Airlines’s own flights on this route it is 10.4 points better.

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · 635 operations between 2024-06-27 to 2026-06-30

Against the rest of the route

On timeCancelledMedian delaySevereFlights
UA49190.9%1.26%-13 min3.0%635
United Airlines on IAHMSY80.5%1.38%-7 min7.4%7,777
All IAHMSY flights80.3%1.46%-7 min7.6%8,825

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · 2024-06-27 to 2026-06-30

Other routes UA491 has flown

A flight number is a slot in a schedule, and carriers reassign it. These are the other city pairs this number served in the analysis period.

RouteOperatedFlightsOn time
LAXIAH Los Angeles to Houston2025-05-222026-06-3032693.1%
MSYORD New Orleans to Chicago2026-01-082026-02-0919
MEMIAH Memphis to Houston2026-02-042026-02-041
BUFIAD Buffalo to Washington2025-11-282025-11-281
IAHSAT Houston to San Antonio2025-05-242025-08-1820
IAHLGA Houston to New York2025-06-262025-07-3131
MSYIAD New Orleans to Washington2025-03-302025-04-3028
DCADEN Washington to Denver2024-11-292024-11-291
IAHBTR Houston to Baton Rouge2024-08-312024-08-311
IAHFCA Houston to Kalispell2024-06-302024-08-1815
DENSFO Denver to San Francisco2024-05-232024-06-2635
BZNDEN Bozeman to Denver2023-07-012024-05-2232784.5%

Because the same number has served different journeys, the statistics above describe only the route UA491 currently operates. Blending them would produce an average of two different flights.

Data and methodology

Calculated by FlyerIntel from 635 records of UA491 operating IAHMSY, 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 excluded from the on-time rate and reported separately. Flight numbers are resolved as carrier plus number plus route, because the same number serves different routes over time.

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