Holiday travel
Labor Day at BWI
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Baltimore, MD. July 2023 – July 2026. Set against BWI’s own ordinary days of the same weekday in the weeks around each holiday.
The window, year by year
The window runs the Saturday through the Monday, around Labor Day (the first Monday of September). In the data: Sep 2–4, 2023; Aug 31 – Sep 2, 2024; Aug 30 – Sep 1, 2025. Three windows are in the data: enough to see whether a day repeats, not enough to call it a rule.
Compared with ordinary days, Labor Day flights were better in two and about the same in one of the three years. The gap ran from 2.2 points above usual in 2024 to 11.8 points above usual in 2023.
0.49% of scheduled departures were cancelled across the Labor Day windows, against 1.66% on ordinary days of the same weekdays. It was lower in all three years.
| Year | Departures | On time | Usual | Gap, points | Cancelled | Usual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023Sep 2–4, 2023 | 740 | 89.0% | 77.2% | +11.8better | 0.14% | 1.65% |
| 2024Aug 31 – Sep 2, 2024 | 773 | 79.4% | 77.2% | +2.2about the same | 0.65% | 1.66% |
| 2025Aug 30 – Sep 1, 2025 | 731 | 88.4% | 77.1% | +11.3better | 0.68% | 1.66% |
| All years3 windows | 2,244 | 85.5% | 77.2% | +8.3better | 0.49% | 1.66% |
Day by day
The Sunday before Labor Day was the worst day of the window in two of the three years. Over the years it ran 84.0% on time, still 8.4 points above an ordinary Sunday.
Labor Day was the best day of the window in all three years. Over the years it ran 89.5% on time, 12.8 points above an ordinary Monday.
- Better than usual
- Worse than usual
- About the same
- What ordinary days of the same weekday had
- Lowest to highest single year
- Lighter bars: days just outside the window
Bars show the on-time arrival rate and start at 50%, not zero. A dashed stub is a day with too few flights to print a rate.
| Day | Departures against an ordinary day | On time | Usual | Gap, points | Cancelled | Each year: 2023, 2024, 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday beforeoutside the window | about the same | 72.9% | 73.7% | −0.8about the same | 1.73% | 78.7 · 57.0 · 83.8 |
| Friday beforeoutside the window | about the same | 75.0% | 74.8% | +0.2about the same | 0.58% | 75.2 · 67.8 · 82.4 |
| Saturday before | about the same | 82.2% | 79.2% | +3.0better | 0.56% | 89.1 · 70.2 · 87.7 |
| Sunday before | 22% fewer | 84.0% | 75.6% | +8.4better | 0.74% | 85.8 · 79.6 · 86.6 |
| Labor Day | 2% fewer | 89.5% | 76.7% | +12.8better | 0.23% | 91.6 · 86.7 · 90.4 |
| Tuesday afteroutside the window | about the same | 89.8% | 82.1% | +7.7better | 0.13% | 89.2 · 90.8 · 89.3 |
A dash means fewer than 120 flights stood behind the figure, or behind the ordinary days it would be compared with: too few to print a rate, and nothing is estimated in its place. “Usual” is what ordinary days of the same weekday had at the same place in the weeks around the holiday, weighted by the flights being compared.
Which departure times held up
The busiest days at BWI were Saturday, Sep 2, 2023 (239 departures), Monday, Sep 4, 2023 (274 departures), Saturday, Aug 31, 2024 (245 departures), Monday, Sep 2, 2024 (301 departures), Saturday, Aug 30, 2025 (229 departures), and Monday, Sep 1, 2025 (282 departures).
Across the whole window, flights leaving 5–9 AM had the highest on-time rate: 94.8%, 6.1 points above usual for that time of day. Those leaving 6–9 PM had the lowest: 78.0%, still 11.5 points above usual for that time of day.
The holiday helped flights leaving 9 PM–5 AM the most (15.6 points above usual for that time of day) and those leaving 12–3 PM the least (4.8 points above).
On each year’s two busiest days, flights leaving 5–9 AM had the highest on-time rate: 94.3%, 5.8 points above usual for that time of day. Those leaving 6–9 PM had the lowest: 78.1%, still 10.0 points above usual for that time of day.
The holiday helped flights leaving 9 PM–5 AM the most (14.5 points above usual for that time of day) and those leaving 12–3 PM the least (5.6 points above).
| Leaving | On time, whole window | Usual | Gap, points | On time, busiest days | Usual | Gap, points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5–9 AM | 94.8% | 88.7% | +6.1better | 94.3% | 88.5% | +5.8better |
| 9 AM–12 PM | 91.0% | 85.2% | +5.8better | 92.4% | 84.5% | +7.9better |
| 12–3 PM | 83.9% | 79.1% | +4.8better | 85.0% | 79.4% | +5.6better |
| 3–6 PM | 80.3% | 69.6% | +10.7better | 81.1% | 69.3% | +11.8better |
| 6–9 PM | 78.0% | 66.5% | +11.5better | 78.1% | 68.1% | +10.0better |
| 9 PM–5 AM | 78.8% | 63.2% | +15.6better | 80.3% | 65.8% | +14.5better |
BWI beside every covered airport
Storms and outages move whole regions at once. This puts BWI’s year beside the year of all covered airports together, each against its own usual, to show whether BWI did better or worse than the network.
| Year | BWI on time | BWI, gap from usual | All airports on time | All airports, gap from usual |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023Sep 2–4, 2023 | 89.0% | +11.8 | 87.4% | +7.6 |
| 2024Aug 31 – Sep 2, 2024 | 79.4% | +2.2 | 82.1% | +2.4 |
| 2025Aug 30 – Sep 1, 2025 | 88.4% | +11.3 | 82.2% | +2.5 |
For every holiday at once, see the five holidays at BWI, or the network view.