Holiday travel
Labor Day at DCA
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Washington, DC. July 2023 – July 2026. Set against DCA’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 1.6 points below usual in 2024 to 10.2 points above usual in 2023.
0.53% of scheduled departures were cancelled across the Labor Day windows, against 2.14% 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 | 1,074 | 91.0% | 80.8% | +10.2better | 0.37% | 2.14% |
| 2024Aug 31 – Sep 2, 2024 | 1,073 | 79.2% | 80.8% | −1.6about the same | 0.93% | 2.14% |
| 2025Aug 30 – Sep 1, 2025 | 1,087 | 84.7% | 80.8% | +3.9better | 0.28% | 2.15% |
| All years3 windows | 3,234 | 85.0% | 80.8% | +4.2better | 0.53% | 2.14% |
Day by day
The Saturday before Labor Day was the worst day of the window in both years. Over the years it ran 82.7% on time, 2.0 points below an ordinary Saturday.
No day was the best more than once: Sunday, Sep 3 in 2023 and Monday, Sep 2 in 2024.
- 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.
| Day | Departures against an ordinary day | On time | Usual | Gap, points | Cancelled | Each year: 2023, 2024, 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday beforeoutside the window | about the same | 79.4% | 75.8% | +3.6better | 6.34% | 86.4 · 66.7 · 82.6 |
| Friday beforeoutside the window | about the same | 71.9% | 76.7% | −4.8worse | 1.65% | 79.3 · 62.8 · 73.3 |
| Saturday before | about the same | 82.7% | 84.7% | −2.0about the same | 1.23% | 89.0 · 73.4 · 85.1 |
| Sunday before | 4% fewer | 85.2% | 79.5% | +5.7better | 0.44% | 93.8 · 77.1 · 84.8 |
| Labor Day | about the same | 86.5% | 79.2% | +7.3better | 0.08% | 90.0 · 85.4 · 84.2 |
| Tuesday afteroutside the window | about the same | 86.8% | 82.5% | +4.3better | 0.08% | 90.1 · 88.0 · 82.4 |
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 DCA were Sunday, Sep 3, 2023 (370 departures), Monday, Sep 4, 2023 (401 departures), Sunday, Sep 1, 2024 (381 departures), Monday, Sep 2, 2024 (399 departures), Sunday, Aug 31, 2025 (377 departures), and Monday, Sep 1, 2025 (411 departures).
Across the whole window, flights leaving 9 AM–12 PM had the highest on-time rate: 89.9%, 2.9 points above usual for that time of day. Those leaving 6–9 PM had the lowest: 76.3%, still 4.8 points above usual for that time of day.
The holiday helped flights leaving 3–6 PM the most (10.0 points above usual for that time of day) and those leaving 5–9 AM the least (0.1 points above).
On each year’s two busiest days, flights leaving 5–9 AM had the highest on-time rate: 91.4%, 1.7 points above usual for that time of day. Those leaving 6–9 PM had the lowest: 76.6%, still 7.7 points above usual for that time of day.
The holiday helped flights leaving 3–6 PM the most (14.0 points above usual for that time of day) and those leaving 5–9 AM the least (1.7 points above).
| Leaving | On time, whole window | Usual | Gap, points | On time, busiest days | Usual | Gap, points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5–9 AM | 89.9% | 89.8% | +0.1about the same | 91.4% | 89.7% | +1.7about the same |
| 9 AM–12 PM | 89.9% | 87.0% | +2.9better | 91.3% | 86.0% | +5.3better |
| 12–3 PM | 84.0% | 80.3% | +3.7better | 84.8% | 79.4% | +5.4better |
| 3–6 PM | 83.8% | 73.8% | +10.0better | 85.9% | 71.9% | +14.0better |
| 6–9 PM | 76.3% | 71.5% | +4.8better | 76.6% | 68.9% | +7.7better |
| 9 PM–5 AM | 82.4% | — | — | 81.3% | 77.6% | +3.7about the same |
DCA beside every covered airport
Storms and outages move whole regions at once. This puts DCA’s year beside the year of all covered airports together, each against its own usual, to show whether DCA did better or worse than the network.
| Year | DCA on time | DCA, gap from usual | All airports on time | All airports, gap from usual |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023Sep 2–4, 2023 | 91.0% | +10.2 | 87.4% | +7.6 |
| 2024Aug 31 – Sep 2, 2024 | 79.2% | −1.6 | 82.1% | +2.4 |
| 2025Aug 30 – Sep 1, 2025 | 84.7% | +3.9 | 82.2% | +2.5 |
For every holiday at once, see the five holidays at DCA, or the network view.