Route profile
BOS→PHX
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Boston to Phoenix, 2,300 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 51% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 6,475 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
BOS → PHX arrives on time 78.0% of the time; the return trip, PHX → BOS, arrives on time 77.9% of the time.
BOS → PHX spends 29.8 minutes on the ground on a 2,300-mile trip: 21.7 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at BOS and 8.1 minutes from touchdown to gate at PHX.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where BOS to PHX differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
BOS to PHX is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 1 PM: 82.0% arrive on time, 6.4 points ahead of the 75.6% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 4.9 points.
BOS to PHX struggles most at 5 PM: 67.0% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 5.8 points behind the 72.8% on routes of similar length at the same hour.
March is kinder to BOS to PHX than to routes of similar length: 86.4% on time against 79.3%, 7.1 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 8.5 points.
In October, BOS to PHX runs 5.1 points below routes of similar length, 78.4% on time to 83.5%. Against all other routes the gap is 4.6 points.
Delta Air Lines’ flights on BOS to PHX arrive on time 73.3% of the time, 8 points below the 81.3% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 8.2 points.
BOS to PHX against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 1 PM departures | 82.0% | routes of similar length | 75.6% | +6.4 pts | 305 here, 56,301 there |
| Hour: 5 PM departures | 67.0% | routes of similar length | 72.8% | −5.8 pts | 873 here, 63,970 there |
| Month: March | 86.4% | routes of similar length | 79.3% | +7.1 pts | 603 here, 91,926 there |
| Month: October | 78.4% | routes of similar length | 83.5% | −5.1 pts | 501 here, 95,238 there |
| Airline: Delta Air Lines | 73.3% | routes of similar length | 81.3% | −8.0 pts | 1,219 here, 241,335 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 2,300 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 → PHX flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
BOS → PHX cancelled 57 of 6,475 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 114. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 64.9% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 175 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 57 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.
37 cancellations, 64.9% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
15 cancellations, 26.3% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
5 cancellations, 8.8% 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.
57 coded cancellations were recorded on BOS → PHX; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
44 min late
against a median of 9 min early
Percentiles over 6,475 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at PHX after arriving from BOS.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 36% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 21% | High risk |
| 60 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 7.6% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.7% | 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 0.88% of the time and diverts 0.36% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 6,395 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 44 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 6,475 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
BOS → PHX flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 86.4% of the time, against 66.0% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 20.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 89.2% on time from 1,084 flights
- 7 AM: 81.3% on time from 268 flights
- 8 AM: 78.9% on time from 499 flights
- 9 AM: 86.5% on time from 774 flights
- 10 AM to 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 81.9% on time from 812 flights
- 1 PM: 82.0% on time from 306 flights
- 2 PM to 3 PM: too few flights to score
- 4 PM: 73.4% on time from 612 flights
- 5 PM: 67.0% on time from 891 flights
- 6 PM: 67.8% on time from 868 flights
- 7 PM: 68.3% on time from 129 flights
- 8 PM: 50.4% on time from 121 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why BOS → PHX 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 → PHX. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on BOS → PHX, at 38.4%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 9 AM–12 PM departures arrived on time 86.4% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 66.0%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 4,044 | 82.1% | 0.72% | -11 min | 6.2% |
| Delta Air Lines | 1,242 | 73.3% | 1.13% | -4 min | 7.4% |
| JetBlue | 1,162 | 68.8% | 1.03% | -4 min | 12.8% |
American Airlines flew 62.7% of the 6,448 flights listed.
American Airlines arrived on time 13.3 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.
AA2315 (6:00 AM) arrived on time 90.7% of the time, 22.9 points more often than DL514 (6:50 PM) at 67.8%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 7.1 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 80.9%
- Feb: 76.4%
- Mar: 86.4%
- Apr: 79.2%
- May: 74.7%
- Jun: 72.0%
- Jul: 70.3%
- Aug: 73.3%
- Sep: 79.0%
- Oct: 78.4%
- Nov: 83.3%
- Dec: 80.6%
July is historically the weakest month and March the strongest, a spread of 16.1 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 64.3% from 158 flights
- August 2023: 67.8% from 181 flights
- September 2023: 71.2% from 156 flights
- October 2023: 71.7% from 152 flights
- November 2023: 87.6% from 169 flights
- December 2023: 87.8% from 189 flights
- January 2024: 83.9% from 181 flights
- February 2024: 91.9% from 172 flights
- March 2024: 86.1% from 194 flights
- April 2024: 80.7% from 177 flights
- May 2024: 74.7% from 186 flights
- June 2024: 58.9% from 158 flights
- July 2024: 71.5% from 159 flights
- August 2024: 71.8% from 172 flights
- September 2024: 88.6% from 167 flights
- October 2024: 88.6% from 184 flights
- November 2024: 82.6% from 191 flights
- December 2024: 83.5% from 209 flights
- January 2025: 82.7% from 198 flights
- February 2025: 65.0% from 184 flights
- March 2025: 86.8% from 212 flights
- April 2025: 76.3% from 187 flights
- May 2025: 76.4% from 183 flights
- June 2025: 75.1% from 179 flights
- July 2025: 68.4% from 160 flights
- August 2025: 82.2% from 137 flights
- September 2025: 76.0% from 132 flights
- October 2025: 73.3% from 166 flights
- November 2025: 79.5% from 158 flights
- December 2025: 69.7% from 179 flights
- January 2026: 75.0% from 169 flights
- February 2026: 72.5% from 165 flights
- March 2026: 86.3% from 198 flights
- April 2026: 80.6% from 211 flights
- May 2026: 73.1% from 201 flights
- June 2026: 82.4% from 148 flights
- July 2026: 77.4% from 153 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 77.3% against 79.1% in the 12 months before — declining by 1.8 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 6,475 BOS → PHX 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