Route profile
BNA→BOS
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Nashville to Boston, 942 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 22% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 8,710 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
BNA → BOS arrives on time 74.1% of the time; the return trip, BOS → BNA, arrives on time 74.8% of the time.
BNA → BOS spends 24.4 minutes on the ground on a 942-mile trip: 16.4 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at BNA and 8.0 minutes from touchdown to gate at BOS.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where BNA to BOS differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
BNA to BOS struggles most at 1 PM: 59.0% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 17.4 points behind the 76.4% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 18.1 points.
Thursday is the day BNA to BOS slips furthest against routes of similar length, 70.0% on time where they average 76.3%, 6.3 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 6.8 points.
In September, BNA to BOS runs 12.1 points below routes of similar length, 70.0% on time to 82.1%. Against all other routes the gap is 12.4 points.
January is kinder to BNA to BOS than to routes of similar length: 82.1% on time against 78.1%, 4 points better.
Southwest Airlines’ flights on BNA to BOS arrive on time 68.1% of the time, 8.1 points below the 76.2% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 9.3 points.
BNA to BOS against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 1 PM departures | 59.0% | routes of similar length | 76.4% | −17.4 pts | 361 here, 172,807 there |
| Weekday: Thursday | 70.0% | routes of similar length | 76.3% | −6.3 pts | 1,285 here, 438,570 there |
| Month: September | 70.0% | routes of similar length | 82.1% | −12.1 pts | 769 here, 225,799 there |
| Month: January | 82.1% | routes of similar length | 78.1% | +4.0 pts | 469 here, 225,970 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 68.1% | routes of similar length | 76.2% | −8.1 pts | 2,797 here, 757,940 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 942 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.
Why BNA → BOS flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
BNA → BOS cancelled 135 of 8,710 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 65. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 49.6% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 130 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 135 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
67 cancellations, 49.6% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
38 cancellations, 28.1% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
30 cancellations, 22.2% of the total.
A terminal evacuation, a security breach, screening equipment failure, or screening queues over 29 minutes.
0 cancellations, 0.0% of the total.
Reason codes are the operating airline’s own filing with US DOT, not an independent finding of fault. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
135 coded cancellations were recorded on BNA → BOS; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
60 min late
against a median of 5 min early
BNA → BOS has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 5 min early, but the worst tenth are 65 minutes worse than that. If the trip has something unmissable at the end of it, the median is the wrong number to plan against.
Percentiles over 8,710 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at BOS after arriving from BNA.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 41% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 25% | High risk |
| 60 min | 18% | High risk |
| 90 min | 9.9% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 5.6% | Some 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 1.55% of the time and diverts 0.13% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 8,564 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 60 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 8,710 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
BNA → BOS flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 88.1% of the time, against 60.9% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 27.2 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 90.6% on time from 497 flights
- 7 AM: 87.6% on time from 975 flights
- 8 AM: 83.7% on time from 135 flights
- 9 AM: 83.7% on time from 759 flights
- 10 AM: 83.3% on time from 980 flights
- 11 AM: 78.0% on time from 799 flights
- 12 PM: 72.9% on time from 405 flights
- 1 PM: 59.0% on time from 372 flights
- 2 PM: 66.9% on time from 313 flights
- 3 PM: 54.9% on time from 315 flights
- 4 PM: 62.4% on time from 232 flights
- 5 PM: 65.5% on time from 344 flights
- 6 PM: 70.5% on time from 1,198 flights
- 7 PM: 63.6% on time from 822 flights
- 8 PM: 53.3% on time from 398 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why BNA → BOS runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow 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 BNA → BOS. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on BNA → BOS, at 42.0%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 88.1% of the time and 3–6 PM departures 60.9%.
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 | 2,829 | 68.1% | 1.03% | 3 min | 9.4% |
| JetBlue | 2,435 | 72.1% | 1.93% | -7 min | 12.2% |
| Delta Air Lines | 1,580 | 78.1% | 1.14% | -11 min | 11.9% |
| Republic Airways | 1,252 | 85.3% | 1.84% | -12 min | 5.6% |
| Spirit Airlines | 511 | 75.1% | 3.52% | -6 min | 11.0% |
Southwest Airlines flew 32.9% of the 8,607 flights listed. Spirit Airlines cancelled 3.52% of its flights here against 1.03% for Southwest Airlines.
Republic Airways arrived on time 17.2 percentage points more often than Southwest Airlines on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| B61806 JetBlue | 11:48 AM | 677 | 73.5% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 10.2 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 82.1%
- Feb: 79.3%
- Mar: 77.7%
- Apr: 77.2%
- May: 72.4%
- Jun: 70.0%
- Jul: 65.4%
- Aug: 76.8%
- Sep: 70.0%
- Oct: 72.3%
- Nov: 80.5%
- Dec: 76.5%
July is historically the weakest month and January the strongest, a spread of 16.7 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 63.1% from 201 flights
- August 2023: 73.8% from 199 flights
- September 2023: 73.4% from 242 flights
- October 2023: 81.2% from 288 flights
- November 2023: 78.5% from 228 flights
- December 2023: 79.0% from 222 flights
- January 2024: 82.1% from 171 flights
- February 2024: 84.4% from 162 flights
- March 2024: 81.9% from 166 flights
- April 2024: 75.4% from 196 flights
- May 2024: 75.7% from 277 flights
- June 2024: 74.3% from 274 flights
- July 2024: 70.6% from 269 flights
- August 2024: 76.9% from 260 flights
- September 2024: 80.5% from 274 flights
- October 2024: 80.1% from 287 flights
- November 2024: 85.9% from 221 flights
- December 2024: 76.0% from 210 flights
- January 2025: 86.4% from 153 flights
- February 2025: 83.5% from 129 flights
- March 2025: 83.7% from 234 flights
- April 2025: 81.8% from 248 flights
- May 2025: 72.6% from 292 flights
- June 2025: 68.0% from 282 flights
- July 2025: 65.5% from 290 flights
- August 2025: 78.9% from 266 flights
- September 2025: 55.5% from 257 flights
- October 2025: 57.4% from 330 flights
- November 2025: 77.3% from 231 flights
- December 2025: 74.4% from 203 flights
- January 2026: 78.3% from 182 flights
- February 2026: 71.2% from 176 flights
- March 2026: 68.7% from 234 flights
- April 2026: 73.9% from 238 flights
- May 2026: 68.7% from 270 flights
- June 2026: 67.9% from 269 flights
- July 2026: 62.0% from 279 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 68.7% against 77.5% in the 12 months before — declining by 8.8 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 8,710 BNA → BOS 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