Route profile
BOS→MSY
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Boston to New Orleans, 1,368 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 43% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 2,770 flights. How this is calculated
BOS → MSY arrives on time 78.1% of the time; the return trip, MSY → BOS, arrives on time 69.9% of the time, an 8.2-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
BOS → MSY spends 27.4 minutes on the ground on a 1,368-mile trip: 20.1 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at BOS and 7.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at MSY.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where BOS to MSY differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
BOS to MSY struggles most at 7 AM: 77.5% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 10.8 points behind the 88.3% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 10.3 points.
In February, BOS to MSY runs 11 points below routes of similar length, 70.5% on time to 81.5%. Against all other routes the gap is 11 points.
June is kinder to BOS to MSY than to routes of similar length: 82.1% on time against 71.7%, 10.4 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 9.4 points.
JetBlue does better on BOS to MSY than on its routes of similar length: 75.2% on time here, 71.1% there, 4.1 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 3 points.
BOS to MSY against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 7 AM departures | 77.5% | routes of similar length | 88.3% | −10.8 pts | 267 here, 147,396 there |
| Month: February | 70.5% | routes of similar length | 81.5% | −11.0 pts | 220 here, 124,193 there |
| Month: June | 82.1% | routes of similar length | 71.7% | +10.4 pts | 195 here, 144,244 there |
| Airline: JetBlue | 75.2% | routes of similar length | 71.1% | +4.1 pts | 1,422 here, 63,247 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 1,368 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
46 min late
against a median of 9 min early
Percentiles over 2,770 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at MSY after arriving from BOS.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 35% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 21% | High risk |
| 60 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 7.9% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 5.2% | 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 1.52% of the time and diverts 0.40% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 2,717 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 46 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 2,770 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
BOS → MSY flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 82.2% of the time, against 63.0% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 19.2 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 84.5% on time from 273 flights
- 7 AM: 77.5% on time from 276 flights
- 8 AM: 82.2% on time from 392 flights
- 9 AM: too few flights to score
- 10 AM: 78.2% on time from 144 flights
- 11 AM: 79.5% on time from 1,011 flights
- 12 PM to 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 64.2% on time from 152 flights
- 4 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why BOS → MSY runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
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 → MSY. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JetBlue | 1,450 | 75.2% | 1.66% | -8 min | 8.8% |
| Delta Air Lines | 1,139 | 82.3% | 1.32% | -9 min | 6.5% |
JetBlue flew 56.0% of the 2,589 flights listed.
Delta Air Lines arrived on time 7.1 percentage points more often than JetBlue on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Monday the least, a gap of 8.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 72.8%
- Feb: 70.5%
- Mar: 85.5%
- Apr: 82.5%
- May: 77.9%
- Jun: 82.1%
- Jul: 71.7%
- Aug: 76.6%
- Sep: 81.7%
- Oct: 78.3%
- Nov: 85.9%
- Dec: 70.8%
February is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 15.4 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: too few flights to score (62)
- August 2023: too few flights to score (62)
- September 2023: too few flights to score (60)
- October 2023: too few flights to score (62)
- November 2023: too few flights to score (68)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (62)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (62)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (58)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (62)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (60)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (88)
- June 2024: too few flights to score (72)
- July 2024: too few flights to score (62)
- August 2024: too few flights to score (62)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (60)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (86)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (108)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (117)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (82)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (100)
- March 2025: 89.3% from 122 flights
- April 2025: too few flights to score (112)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (98)
- June 2025: too few flights to score (66)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (62)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (54)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (60)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (97)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (80)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (74)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (64)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (70)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (79)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (78)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (77)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (60)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (62)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 76.6% against 77.8% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 2,770 BOS → MSY 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