Route profile
BOS→MEM
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Boston to Memphis, 1,139 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 7% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 1,411 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
BOS → MEM arrives on time 74.3% of the time; the return trip, MEM → BOS, arrives on time 91.5% of the time, a 17.3-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair. BOS → MEM also cancels 4.25% of flights, against 1.06% for MEM → BOS.
BOS → MEM spends 29.1 minutes on the ground on a 1,139-mile trip: 22.1 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at BOS and 7.0 minutes from touchdown to gate at MEM.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route's worst arrivals run unusually far past its typical one, a bigger gap than 90% of 4,598 comparable routes.
A typical arrival is 9 min early, but the worst tenth run 71 minutes worse than that.
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 4,598 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where BOS to MEM differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
BOS to MEM is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 8 PM: 73.6% arrive on time, 8.4 points ahead of the 65.2% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 6.2 points.
In July, BOS to MEM runs 8.9 points below routes of similar length, 59.6% on time to 68.5%. Against all other routes the gap is 10.1 points.
Republic Airways’ flights on BOS to MEM arrive on time 74.3% of the time, 8.9 points below the 83.2% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 7.8 points.
BOS to MEM against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 8 PM departures | 73.6% | routes of similar length | 65.2% | +8.4 pts | 474 here, 114,948 there |
| Month: July | 59.6% | routes of similar length | 68.5% | −8.9 pts | 161 here, 265,560 there |
| Airline: Republic Airways | 74.3% | routes of similar length | 83.2% | −8.9 pts | 1,348 here, 25,587 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 1,139 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 → MEM flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
BOS → MEM cancelled 60 of 1,411 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 24. The reason filed most often was the air traffic system, 56.7% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 42 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 60 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
34 cancellations, 56.7% of the total.
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
15 cancellations, 25.0% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
11 cancellations, 18.3% 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. With only one or two carriers on the route, the split mostly reflects how they file. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
60 coded cancellations were recorded on BOS → MEM; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
62 min late
against a median of 9 min early
BOS → MEM has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 9 min early, but the worst tenth are 71 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 1,411 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at MEM after arriving from BOS.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 38% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 25% | High risk |
| 60 min | 19% | High risk |
| 90 min | 10% | 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 4.25% 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 1,348 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 62 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 1,411 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
BOS → MEM flights departing 3–6 PM arrived on time 84.6% of the time, against 62.8% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 21.8 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 PM: too few flights to score
- 7 PM: 69.1% on time from 257 flights
- 8 PM: 73.6% on time from 495 flights
- 9 PM: 62.8% on time from 316 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why BOS → MEM 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
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for BOS → MEM. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on BOS → MEM, at 49.2%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 3–6 PM departures arrived on time 84.6% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 62.8%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republic Airways | 1,411 | 74.3% | 4.25% | -9 min | 10.5% |
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| YX5594 Republic Airways | 9:15 PM | 662 | 67.2% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 13.5 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-07 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 66.2% against 66.8% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 1,411 BOS → MEM 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