FlyerIntel Research
The Best and Worst Days of the Week to Fly
The difference between the best and worst weekday is smaller than the difference between morning and evening, but it is real, and it is free.
Published August 30, 2026 · Source period July 2023 – July 2026
Summary
Across 17,884,589 departures from major US airports, Tuesday is the most reliable day to fly at 81.6% on time, and Sunday the least at 75.0%, a gap of 6.6 percentage points. Tuesday was also the best day at 50 of the 64 airports measured individually, so the pattern is national rather than local.
Key findings
- Tuesday is the most reliable day nationally, at 81.6% on time.
- Sunday is the least reliable, at 75.0%.
- Cancellations follow a different pattern: Wednesday has the lowest rate at 1.11% and Sunday the highest at 2.01%.
- The weekday effect is roughly a third the size of the time-of-day effect, so if you can only change one thing, change the departure time.
On-time arrival rate by day of week
Cancellation rate by day of week
Why midweek wins
Airline schedules are built around business demand, which peaks on Monday mornings and Thursday and Friday evenings, and around leisure demand, which peaks at weekends. Midweek sits between the two: fewer flights competing for the same runways and gates, more slack in aircraft rotations, and more room to recover when something goes wrong. The weekend penalty is partly the reverse: a network running at full stretch with nothing held back.
Best and worst day at each airport
| Airport | City | Best day | On time | Worst day | On time | Spread |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FLL | Fort Lauderdale | Wednesday | 77.8% | Sunday | 66.0% | 11.8 pts |
| MIA | Miami | Tuesday | 78.2% | Sunday | 67.3% | 10.9 pts |
| SAN | San Diego | Tuesday | 83.7% | Friday | 73.3% | 10.4 pts |
| LAS | Las Vegas | Tuesday | 83.5% | Sunday | 73.7% | 9.8 pts |
| MCO | Orlando | Tuesday | 79.6% | Sunday | 70.0% | 9.7 pts |
| SNA | Santa Ana | Tuesday | 86.5% | Sunday | 77.0% | 9.5 pts |
| MSY | New Orleans | Tuesday | 83.4% | Sunday | 74.0% | 9.3 pts |
| TPA | Tampa | Tuesday | 82.7% | Sunday | 73.5% | 9.2 pts |
| ATL | Atlanta | Wednesday | 83.3% | Sunday | 74.2% | 9.1 pts |
| OAK | Oakland | Tuesday | 87.1% | Friday | 78.0% | 9.1 pts |
| DAL | Dallas | Tuesday | 81.0% | Sunday | 72.0% | 9 pts |
| BUR | Burbank | Tuesday | 87.5% | Friday | 78.6% | 8.9 pts |
| CLT | Charlotte | Wednesday | 79.3% | Sunday | 70.8% | 8.5 pts |
| ABE | Allentown | Wednesday | 86.3% | Sunday | 78.1% | 8.2 pts |
| AUS | Austin | Tuesday | 82.4% | Sunday | 74.2% | 8.2 pts |
| BWI | Baltimore | Tuesday | 80.1% | Sunday | 72.1% | 8 pts |
| JFK | New York | Tuesday | 81.2% | Sunday | 73.2% | 8 pts |
| SJC | San Jose | Tuesday | 88.6% | Friday | 80.5% | 8 pts |
| DCA | Washington | Saturday | 81.4% | Friday | 73.7% | 7.7 pts |
| RSW | Fort Myers | Tuesday | 82.1% | Sunday | 74.6% | 7.5 pts |
| BNA | Nashville | Tuesday | 82.0% | Sunday | 74.7% | 7.3 pts |
| SFO | San Francisco | Tuesday | 83.2% | Friday | 76.0% | 7.2 pts |
| STL | St. Louis | Tuesday | 82.7% | Sunday | 75.6% | 7.1 pts |
| DFW | Dallas–Fort Worth | Tuesday | 76.6% | Sunday | 69.7% | 7 pts |
| LGA | New York | Saturday | 81.7% | Sunday | 74.8% | 6.9 pts |
| PHL | Philadelphia | Tuesday | 80.5% | Sunday | 73.6% | 6.9 pts |
| SMF | Sacramento | Tuesday | 86.8% | Friday | 80.0% | 6.8 pts |
| BOS | Boston | Wednesday | 80.6% | Sunday | 73.9% | 6.7 pts |
| EWR | Newark | Tuesday | 81.8% | Sunday | 75.1% | 6.7 pts |
| HOU | Houston | Tuesday | 82.3% | Sunday | 75.6% | 6.6 pts |
| JAX | Jacksonville | Tuesday | 83.3% | Sunday | 76.6% | 6.6 pts |
| MDW | Chicago | Tuesday | 79.4% | Sunday | 72.9% | 6.5 pts |
| LAX | Los Angeles | Tuesday | 85.0% | Sunday | 78.7% | 6.3 pts |
| BUF | Buffalo | Tuesday | 82.4% | Sunday | 76.2% | 6.2 pts |
| CHS | Charleston | Tuesday | 83.5% | Sunday | 77.4% | 6.2 pts |
| IAH | Houston | Tuesday | 80.8% | Sunday | 74.6% | 6.2 pts |
| MEM | Memphis | Tuesday | 84.6% | Sunday | 78.4% | 6.2 pts |
| MYR | Myrtle Beach | Wednesday | 84.4% | Sunday | 78.1% | 6.2 pts |
| CLE | Cleveland | Wednesday | 84.0% | Sunday | 77.8% | 6.1 pts |
| MCI | Kansas City | Wednesday | 84.0% | Sunday | 78.0% | 6 pts |
| ORD | Chicago | Tuesday | 77.7% | Friday | 71.7% | 6 pts |
| ILM | Wilmington | Tuesday | 84.7% | Sunday | 78.8% | 5.9 pts |
| IND | Indianapolis | Wednesday | 84.9% | Sunday | 79.0% | 5.9 pts |
| DTW | Detroit | Tuesday | 82.3% | Sunday | 76.4% | 5.8 pts |
| SEA | Seattle | Tuesday | 82.7% | Friday | 76.9% | 5.7 pts |
| ABQ | Albuquerque | Tuesday | 86.3% | Friday | 80.9% | 5.4 pts |
| CMH | Columbus | Tuesday | 84.9% | Sunday | 79.5% | 5.4 pts |
| PHX | Phoenix | Tuesday | 83.3% | Sunday | 77.9% | 5.4 pts |
| HNL | Honolulu | Tuesday | 87.3% | Friday | 82.1% | 5.2 pts |
| RDU | Raleigh–Durham | Tuesday | 82.1% | Sunday | 77.0% | 5.1 pts |
| ONT | Ontario | Tuesday | 86.3% | Friday | 81.3% | 4.9 pts |
| PIT | Pittsburgh | Tuesday | 84.7% | Sunday | 79.8% | 4.9 pts |
| MKE | Milwaukee | Tuesday | 83.0% | Sunday | 78.2% | 4.8 pts |
| SAT | San Antonio | Tuesday | 85.0% | Sunday | 80.2% | 4.8 pts |
| PDX | Portland | Tuesday | 85.7% | Friday | 81.0% | 4.7 pts |
| SBA | Santa Barbara | Tuesday | 84.9% | Friday | 80.3% | 4.6 pts |
| SJU | San Juan | Wednesday | 78.8% | Saturday | 74.2% | 4.5 pts |
| DEN | Denver | Tuesday | 78.6% | Friday | 74.2% | 4.4 pts |
| SLC | Salt Lake City | Tuesday | 86.7% | Sunday | 82.3% | 4.4 pts |
| TUS | Tucson | Tuesday | 86.6% | Friday | 82.5% | 4.1 pts |
| MSP | Minneapolis | Tuesday | 83.3% | Friday | 79.3% | 4 pts |
| IAD | Washington | Tuesday | 83.2% | Sunday | 79.3% | 3.9 pts |
| ANC | Anchorage | Wednesday | 85.3% | Monday | 82.3% | 3 pts |
| OMA | Omaha | Wednesday | 83.1% | Thursday | 80.7% | 2.3 pts |
Ranked by how much the day of week matters at that airport.
Pages for what this report covers
Airports: Fort Lauderdale (FLL) · Miami (MIA) · San Diego (SAN) · Las Vegas (LAS) · Orlando (MCO) · Santa Ana (SNA) · New Orleans (MSY) · Tampa (TPA) · Atlanta (ATL) · Oakland (OAK)
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/. Flights are grouped by scheduled departure date at the origin airport. National figures are computed from summed counts across covered airports rather than by averaging rates, so busy airports carry proportionate weight. An airport appears in the per-airport table only where all seven days each recorded at least 120 flights.
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. Holiday periods are included and are not evenly distributed across weekdays, which contributes some of the variation shown 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