Route profile
AUS→HOU
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Austin to Houston, 148 miles.
Right now
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Route reliability
July 2023 – July 2026
Better than 61% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 4,692 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
AUS → HOU arrives on time 75.7% of the time; the return trip, HOU → AUS, arrives on time 77.5% of the time.
AUS → HOU spends 23.1 minutes on the ground on a 148-mile trip: 17.7 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at AUS and 5.4 minutes from touchdown to gate at HOU.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
On-time performance swings unusually widely by time of day here, wider than 93% of 4,023 comparable routes.
91.4% on time for 5–9 AM departures, against 59.6% for 3–6 PM.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Ranked against every other route with the same kind of figure and at least 4,023 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where AUS to HOU differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
AUS to HOU struggles most at 5 PM: 47.7% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 29.7 points behind the 77.4% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 22.1 points.
AUS to HOU is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 9 AM: 90.0% arrive on time, 4.7 points ahead of the 85.3% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 5.7 points.
Sunday is the day AUS to HOU slips furthest against routes of similar length, 69.9% on time where they average 77.0%, 7.1 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 4.9 points.
In June, AUS to HOU runs 14.7 points below routes of similar length, 59.5% on time to 74.2%. Against all other routes the gap is 13.2 points.
AUS to HOU against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 5 PM departures | 47.7% | routes of similar length | 77.4% | −29.7 pts | 283 here, 5,592 there |
| Hour: 9 AM departures | 90.0% | routes of similar length | 85.3% | +4.7 pts | 280 here, 8,566 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 69.9% | routes of similar length | 77.0% | −7.1 pts | 732 here, 16,788 there |
| Month: June | 59.5% | routes of similar length | 74.2% | −14.7 pts | 336 here, 9,174 there |
Each comparison pools the flights of other routes, with this route’s own left out. Similar length means within 15% of this route’s 148 miles, with at least 5 such routes. A bucket is set against the most comparable group that has enough flights: similar length, then the same origin (at least 3 routes), then all other routes. Hours, weekdays and months appear only where both sides have 120 completed flights, and airlines where both have 600. The gap must be at least 2 points and 2 standard errors, and only the largest gap each way is kept per measure. These are differences in the flights counted, not causes.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
40 min late
against a median of 3 min early
Percentiles over 4,692 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at HOU after arriving from AUS.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 43% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 23% | High risk |
| 60 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.3% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.1% | Low risk |
This is one leg of a connection. Gate changes and the next flight's own schedule matter too. And a connection can fail before delay is even the question — this route cancels 0.75% of the time and diverts 0.21% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 4,647 arrivals on this route that landed later than the connection time less 30 minutes to reach the next gate.
The worst tenth of arrivals on this route land at least 40 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 4,692 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
AUS → HOU flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 91.4% of the time, against 59.6% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 31.8 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 96.4% on time from 200 flights
- 6 AM: 94.9% on time from 754 flights
- 7 AM: 89.1% on time from 158 flights
- 8 AM: 82.4% on time from 360 flights
- 9 AM: 90.0% on time from 282 flights
- 10 AM to 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 65.9% on time from 351 flights
- 1 PM: 82.0% on time from 290 flights
- 2 PM: 68.8% on time from 195 flights
- 3 PM: 71.4% on time from 121 flights
- 4 PM: 66.3% on time from 291 flights
- 5 PM: 47.7% on time from 288 flights
- 6 PM: 58.8% on time from 439 flights
- 7 PM: 65.4% on time from 433 flights
- 8 PM: 67.5% on time from 279 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why AUS → HOU runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
screening or terminal security incidents
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for AUS → HOU. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on AUS → HOU, at 49.2%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 91.4% of the time and 3–6 PM departures 59.6%.
Airlines on this route
Carriers with at least 200 flights, by the airline that operated each one.
| Carrier | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Severe |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 4,692 | 75.7% | 0.75% | -3 min | 5.6% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 10.0 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 81.3%
- Feb: 83.9%
- Mar: 71.8%
- Apr: 74.4%
- May: 67.1%
- Jun: 59.5%
- Jul: 65.9%
- Aug: 79.3%
- Sep: 81.4%
- Oct: 79.9%
- Nov: 82.9%
- Dec: 81.8%
June is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 24.4 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 77.9% from 145 flights
- August 2023: 84.1% from 147 flights
- September 2023: 83.4% from 146 flights
- October 2023: 83.4% from 160 flights
- November 2023: 89.0% from 145 flights
- December 2023: 87.8% from 150 flights
- January 2024: 77.2% from 151 flights
- February 2024: 89.3% from 141 flights
- March 2024: 81.8% from 150 flights
- April 2024: 85.2% from 149 flights
- May 2024: 63.0% from 154 flights
- June 2024: 62.3% from 131 flights
- July 2024: 61.6% from 130 flights
- August 2024: 75.2% from 121 flights
- September 2024: too few flights to score (117)
- October 2024: 82.0% from 123 flights
- November 2024: too few flights to score (111)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (109)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (106)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (107)
- March 2025: 77.1% from 131 flights
- April 2025: 76.4% from 128 flights
- May 2025: 81.5% from 131 flights
- June 2025: 65.4% from 129 flights
- July 2025: 62.6% from 131 flights
- August 2025: 77.7% from 139 flights
- September 2025: 77.2% from 136 flights
- October 2025: 74.1% from 143 flights
- November 2025: too few flights to score (94)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (95)
- January 2026: 82.3% from 143 flights
- February 2026: 80.0% from 126 flights
- March 2026: too few flights to score (112)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (99)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (102)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (79)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (81)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 68.9% against 77.4% in the 12 months before — declining by 8.5 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 4,692 AUS → HOU flight records from the US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, covering July 2023 – July 2026. Late means 15 or more minutes past scheduled arrival; cancelled and diverted flights are left out of on-time rates.
Full methodology · Data sources · Report a problem
Related research: How Long a Layover Needs to Be · Two Airlines on One Route · Best Time of Day to Fly From Major US Airports
Analysis last recomputed