Route profile
BOS→BNA
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Boston to Nashville, 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 27% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 8,711 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
BOS → BNA arrives on time 74.8% of the time; the return trip, BNA → BOS, arrives on time 74.1% of the time.
BOS → BNA spends 27.6 minutes on the ground on a 942-mile trip: 19.2 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at BOS and 8.4 minutes from touchdown to gate at BNA.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where BOS to BNA differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
BOS to BNA struggles most at 8 PM: 56.0% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 10.6 points behind the 66.6% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 11.4 points.
Thursday is the day BOS to BNA slips furthest against routes of similar length, 72.3% on time where they average 76.3%, 4 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 4.5 points.
In October, BOS to BNA runs 7.6 points below routes of similar length, 75.4% on time to 83.0%. Against all other routes the gap is 7.6 points.
March is kinder to BOS to BNA than to routes of similar length: 81.0% on time against 76.4%, 4.6 points better.
Republic Airways’ flights on BOS to BNA arrive on time 76.8% of the time, 5.6 points below the 82.4% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 5.3 points.
BOS to BNA against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 8 PM departures | 56.0% | routes of similar length | 66.6% | −10.6 pts | 491 here, 147,738 there |
| Weekday: Thursday | 72.3% | routes of similar length | 76.3% | −4.0 pts | 1,292 here, 438,563 there |
| Month: October | 75.4% | routes of similar length | 83.0% | −7.6 pts | 894 here, 245,449 there |
| Month: March | 81.0% | routes of similar length | 76.4% | +4.6 pts | 627 here, 258,938 there |
| Airline: Republic Airways | 76.8% | routes of similar length | 82.4% | −5.6 pts | 1,219 here, 66,368 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 BOS → BNA flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
BOS → BNA cancelled 130 of 8,711 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 67. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 46.2% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 145 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 130 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.
60 cancellations, 46.2% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
35 cancellations, 26.9% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
35 cancellations, 26.9% 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.
130 coded cancellations were recorded on BOS → BNA; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
59 min late
against a median of 6 min early
BOS → BNA has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 6 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 8,711 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at BNA after arriving from BOS.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 40% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 25% | High risk |
| 60 min | 17% | High risk |
| 90 min | 9.7% | 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 1.49% of the time and diverts 0.34% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 8,551 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 59 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 8,711 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
BOS → BNA flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 87.8% of the time, against 62.3% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 25.5 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 93.8% on time from 839 flights
- 6 AM: 89.9% on time from 565 flights
- 7 AM: 79.5% on time from 524 flights
- 8 AM: 84.8% on time from 613 flights
- 9 AM: 84.3% on time from 484 flights
- 10 AM: 83.0% on time from 277 flights
- 11 AM: 80.7% on time from 198 flights
- 12 PM: 77.0% on time from 480 flights
- 1 PM: 77.2% on time from 218 flights
- 2 PM: 70.8% on time from 447 flights
- 3 PM: 69.3% on time from 771 flights
- 4 PM: 65.6% on time from 834 flights
- 5 PM: 63.5% on time from 460 flights
- 6 PM: 60.4% on time from 340 flights
- 7 PM: 65.9% on time from 1,090 flights
- 8 PM: 56.0% on time from 499 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why BOS → BNA 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 BOS → BNA. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on BOS → BNA, at 44.3%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 87.8% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 62.3%.
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 | 2,828 | 75.0% | 0.95% | -3 min | 8.3% |
| JetBlue | 2,436 | 72.5% | 1.60% | -6 min | 11.1% |
| Delta Air Lines | 1,580 | 77.2% | 0.95% | -11 min | 11.2% |
| Republic Airways | 1,252 | 76.8% | 2.32% | -7 min | 9.1% |
| Spirit Airlines | 511 | 71.6% | 3.52% | -4 min | 11.6% |
Southwest Airlines flew 32.9% of the 8,607 flights listed. Spirit Airlines cancelled 3.52% of its flights here against 0.95% for Delta Air Lines.
Delta Air Lines arrived on time 5.6 percentage points more often than Spirit 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| B61807 JetBlue | 9:15 AM | 696 | 80.3% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 8.1 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 78.3%
- Feb: 81.1%
- Mar: 81.0%
- Apr: 76.9%
- May: 70.8%
- Jun: 68.9%
- Jul: 65.7%
- Aug: 78.4%
- Sep: 75.2%
- Oct: 75.4%
- Nov: 79.2%
- Dec: 75.9%
July is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 15.4 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 63.3% from 201 flights
- August 2023: 76.1% from 199 flights
- September 2023: 68.2% from 245 flights
- October 2023: 75.2% from 288 flights
- November 2023: 77.6% from 228 flights
- December 2023: 81.3% from 222 flights
- January 2024: 81.5% from 171 flights
- February 2024: 90.0% from 162 flights
- March 2024: 88.6% from 166 flights
- April 2024: 79.5% from 196 flights
- May 2024: 75.3% from 278 flights
- June 2024: 74.3% from 272 flights
- July 2024: 72.6% from 269 flights
- August 2024: 75.3% from 261 flights
- September 2024: 84.5% from 275 flights
- October 2024: 85.6% from 285 flights
- November 2024: 89.1% from 221 flights
- December 2024: 81.7% from 210 flights
- January 2025: 76.7% from 152 flights
- February 2025: 76.0% from 130 flights
- March 2025: 81.5% from 233 flights
- April 2025: 79.8% from 249 flights
- May 2025: 71.1% from 292 flights
- June 2025: 68.8% from 282 flights
- July 2025: 63.6% from 290 flights
- August 2025: 83.0% from 266 flights
- September 2025: 71.8% from 256 flights
- October 2025: 66.7% from 330 flights
- November 2025: 71.1% from 231 flights
- December 2025: 63.8% from 202 flights
- January 2026: 76.8% from 183 flights
- February 2026: 76.5% from 177 flights
- March 2026: 75.1% from 234 flights
- April 2026: 72.0% from 239 flights
- May 2026: 65.9% from 269 flights
- June 2026: 63.5% from 268 flights
- July 2026: 62.9% from 279 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 70.4% against 77.5% in the 12 months before — declining by 7.1 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 8,711 BOS → BNA 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