FlyerIntel Research
The Best Major Airports for a Tight Connection
Where an inbound flight is most likely to land on time, and how long you then spend taxiing before the clock really starts.
Published August 30, 2026 · Source period July 2023 – July 2026
Summary
Connecting through SLC (Salt Lake City) gives a tight itinerary the best chance: 85.1% of arrivals are on time, only 5.1% land an hour or more late, and taxi-in averages 7.1 minutes. ORD (Chicago) is the hardest of the airports measured. The most overlooked factor is taxi time: at ORD the average arrival spends 17.8 minutes taxiing after landing, time that is invisible on a ticket and is subtracted directly from a connection.
Key findings
- SLC is the strongest major connecting airport on these measures.
- ORD is the weakest.
- Taxi-in ranges from 4.1 to 17.8 minutes, a difference of over 14 minutes that no schedule shows you.
- Severe arrival delays, the kind that end a connection outright, range from 3.8% to 10.2%.
What this measures, and what it does not
The DOT data records individual flights, not itineraries, so it cannot show how often a passenger actually missed a connection. What it can show is every input to that outcome: how reliably the inbound flight arrives, how often it arrives late enough that no realistic connection survives, and how many minutes disappear taxiing to the gate. Terminal layout and the distance between concourses matter too, and are not in this data. Treat the ranking as a measure of arrival risk rather than a prediction about your itinerary.
Major connecting airports ranked
| # | Airport | City | Arrivals on time | Arrived 60+ min late | 90th percentile delay | Average taxi-in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SLC | Salt Lake City | 85.1% | 5.1% | 28 min | 7.1 min |
| 2 | SJC | San Jose | 81.8% | 5.1% | 33 min | 4.1 min |
| 3 | HNL | Honolulu | 83.0% | 3.8% | 26 min | 8.3 min |
| 4 | SNA | Santa Ana | 82.2% | 4.7% | 31 min | 6.7 min |
| 5 | OAK | Oakland | 81.1% | 4.9% | 33 min | 5.8 min |
| 6 | SBA | Santa Barbara | 81.3% | 5.8% | 35 min | 4.8 min |
| 7 | PDX | Portland | 80.9% | 5.7% | 35 min | 5.1 min |
| 8 | BUR | Burbank | 80.3% | 5.8% | 37 min | 4.4 min |
| 9 | SMF | Sacramento | 80.4% | 5.6% | 35 min | 5.1 min |
| 10 | MSP | Minneapolis | 82.4% | 6.6% | 37 min | 6.8 min |
| 11 | IAD | Washington | 82.7% | 6.3% | 34 min | 7.5 min |
| 12 | TUS | Tucson | 79.8% | 6.5% | 39 min | 4.7 min |
| 13 | MDW | Chicago | 79.5% | 6.0% | 37 min | 5.2 min |
| 14 | BWI | Baltimore | 80.0% | 6.0% | 37 min | 6.1 min |
| 15 | HOU | Houston | 79.0% | 5.8% | 37 min | 5.8 min |
| 16 | ANC | Anchorage | 78.1% | 5.1% | 36 min | 5.9 min |
| 17 | STL | St. Louis | 79.9% | 6.4% | 39 min | 5.9 min |
| 18 | DAL | Dallas | 78.9% | 6.2% | 39 min | 5.5 min |
| 19 | PHX | Phoenix | 80.8% | 6.3% | 37 min | 7.5 min |
| 20 | ABQ | Albuquerque | 79.0% | 6.1% | 39 min | 6.0 min |
| 21 | ONT | Ontario | 78.8% | 6.4% | 40 min | 5.2 min |
| 22 | ATL | Atlanta | 82.3% | 6.6% | 37 min | 9.6 min |
| 23 | MYR | Myrtle Beach | 78.6% | 7.7% | 45 min | 5.5 min |
| 24 | ILM | Wilmington | 78.9% | 8.0% | 47 min | 5.4 min |
| 25 | MCI | Kansas City | 77.6% | 7.2% | 44 min | 6.0 min |
| 26 | SAT | San Antonio | 77.0% | 7.6% | 46 min | 4.8 min |
| 27 | DTW | Detroit | 81.3% | 7.5% | 42 min | 9.4 min |
| 28 | LAX | Los Angeles | 80.8% | 6.2% | 37 min | 10.7 min |
| 29 | SEA | Seattle | 80.5% | 5.3% | 34 min | 11.9 min |
| 30 | OMA | Omaha | 77.3% | 7.6% | 46 min | 5.3 min |
| 31 | ABE | Allentown | 78.3% | 8.5% | 50 min | 5.0 min |
| 32 | BNA | Nashville | 78.6% | 6.9% | 42 min | 7.8 min |
| 33 | MSY | New Orleans | 77.1% | 7.7% | 46 min | 5.4 min |
| 34 | PIT | Pittsburgh | 78.2% | 7.8% | 47 min | 6.4 min |
| 35 | CMH | Columbus | 78.4% | 7.5% | 45 min | 7.3 min |
| 36 | LAS | Las Vegas | 78.2% | 7.2% | 44 min | 7.7 min |
| 37 | SAN | San Diego | 75.9% | 6.8% | 44 min | 6.0 min |
| 38 | IND | Indianapolis | 78.2% | 7.8% | 46 min | 7.0 min |
| 39 | RSW | Fort Myers | 76.8% | 8.1% | 49 min | 5.6 min |
| 40 | CHS | Charleston | 77.8% | 7.8% | 46 min | 7.7 min |
| 41 | MKE | Milwaukee | 76.6% | 8.4% | 50 min | 5.7 min |
| 42 | DEN | Denver | 79.3% | 7.5% | 44 min | 9.8 min |
| 43 | AUS | Austin | 77.2% | 7.3% | 45 min | 8.3 min |
| 44 | IAH | Houston | 80.0% | 7.6% | 43 min | 10.7 min |
| 45 | MEM | Memphis | 76.4% | 8.3% | 50 min | 6.1 min |
| 46 | RDU | Raleigh–Durham | 77.3% | 8.3% | 50 min | 7.0 min |
| 47 | TPA | Tampa | 76.0% | 8.6% | 51 min | 6.0 min |
| 48 | CLE | Cleveland | 77.4% | 8.3% | 49 min | 8.5 min |
| 49 | LGA | New York | 77.7% | 9.2% | 54 min | 8.2 min |
| 50 | JAX | Jacksonville | 75.6% | 8.7% | 52 min | 6.8 min |
| 51 | BUF | Buffalo | 74.8% | 9.1% | 55 min | 5.8 min |
| 52 | CLT | Charlotte | 79.7% | 8.0% | 45 min | 12.8 min |
| 53 | PHL | Philadelphia | 76.6% | 9.2% | 55 min | 8.2 min |
| 54 | MIA | Miami | 76.9% | 8.5% | 50 min | 9.8 min |
| 55 | DCA | Washington | 75.5% | 9.4% | 55 min | 7.6 min |
| 56 | EWR | Newark | 77.5% | 9.9% | 59 min | 10.1 min |
| 57 | JFK | New York | 77.7% | 9.3% | 55 min | 11.5 min |
| 58 | FLL | Fort Lauderdale | 74.1% | 9.7% | 58 min | 7.4 min |
| 59 | SJU | San Juan | 72.3% | 9.9% | 59 min | 6.2 min |
| 60 | BOS | Boston | 75.3% | 10.2% | 61 min | 9.0 min |
| 61 | MCO | Orlando | 75.6% | 9.4% | 56 min | 10.9 min |
| 62 | SFO | San Francisco | 72.3% | 9.5% | 57 min | 7.9 min |
| 63 | DFW | Dallas–Fort Worth | 76.8% | 9.4% | 56 min | 13.6 min |
| 64 | ORD | Chicago | 76.9% | 9.2% | 54 min | 17.8 min |
Average taxi-in time after landing
Booking a connection
Two practical consequences. First, the legal minimum connection time an airline will sell you is not a safe connection time at a slow-taxi airport: the published minimum assumes the inbound is on time and the taxi is typical, and at the airports at the bottom of this table neither assumption is reliable. Second, connect early in the day if you can: the inbound is less likely to be late, and if the connection does fail there are more remaining departures to be rebooked onto.
Pages for what this report covers
Methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 21,708,321 individual flight records in the US Department of Transportation Bureau of Transportation Statistics Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance dataset, covering July 2023 through July 2026. Following BTS methodology, a flight counts as delayed when it arrives 15 or more minutes after its scheduled arrival time. Cancelled and diverted flights have no arrival time and are excluded from on-time rates rather than counted as late; cancellation rates are reported separately. Full definitions are published at /methodology/. Figures describe arrivals at each airport. The ranking uses a published, deliberately simple index: on-time arrival percentage, minus one and a half times the share of arrivals 60 or more minutes late, minus average taxi-in minutes. The severe-delay term is weighted more heavily because an hour-late arrival ends a connection outright rather than merely making it tight.
Limitations
The source dataset covers scheduled domestic flights operated by carriers above the DOT reporting threshold; smaller carriers and international flights are not included. Flights sold under a mainline brand but flown by a regional carrier are attributed to the operating carrier, which is how the DOT records them. Past performance describes what has happened and is not a prediction about any individual flight. The dataset contains flights, not itineraries, so actual missed-connection rates cannot be measured. Terminal geography, inter-terminal transit and security re-clearance are material to a real connection and are not captured here.
Sources
- FlyerIntel analysis — FlyerIntel · source
- Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance — US Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics · source
Full FlyerIntel methodology · Report a problem with this analysis