Route profile
BUF→CLT
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Buffalo to Charlotte, 546 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 25% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,658 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
BUF → CLT arrives on time 77.0% of the time; the return trip, CLT → BUF, arrives on time 71.8% of the time, a 5.2-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
BUF → CLT spends 28.5 minutes on the ground on a 546-mile trip: 14.9 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at BUF and 13.6 minutes from touchdown to gate at CLT.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route has stayed remarkably steady year over year, a smaller swing than 97% of 5,368 comparable routes.
78.8% on time over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), against 78.6% in the 12 months before (2024-08 to 2025-07), virtually unchanged.
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 5,368 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where BUF to CLT differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
BUF to CLT struggles most at 6 AM: 85.0% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 6.4 points behind the 91.4% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 5.8 points.
Thursday is the day BUF to CLT slips furthest against routes of similar length, 72.9% on time where they average 77.7%, 4.8 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 3.9 points.
In August, BUF to CLT runs 11.1 points below routes of similar length, 66.2% on time to 77.3%. Against all other routes the gap is 10.3 points.
April is kinder to BUF to CLT than to routes of similar length: 87.7% on time against 80.7%, 7 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 7.8 points.
American Airlines does better on BUF to CLT than on its routes of similar length: 77.2% on time here, 75.1% there, 2.1 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 2.1 points.
BUF to CLT against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 6 AM departures | 85.0% | routes of similar length | 91.4% | −6.4 pts | 835 here, 121,624 there |
| Weekday: Thursday | 72.9% | routes of similar length | 77.7% | −4.8 pts | 516 here, 256,182 there |
| Month: August | 66.2% | routes of similar length | 77.3% | −11.1 pts | 337 here, 143,653 there |
| Month: April | 87.7% | routes of similar length | 80.7% | +7.0 pts | 269 here, 139,809 there |
| Airline: American Airlines | 77.2% | routes of similar length | 75.1% | +2.1 pts | 3,504 here, 240,496 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 546 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 BUF → CLT flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
BUF → CLT cancelled 62 of 3,658 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 59. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 85.5% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 69 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 62 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.
53 cancellations, 85.5% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
9 cancellations, 14.5% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
0 cancellations, 0.0% 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.
62 coded cancellations were recorded on BUF → CLT; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
52 min late
against a median of 4 min early
Percentiles over 3,658 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at CLT after arriving from BUF.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 41% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 22% | High risk |
| 60 min | 15% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 8.4% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 5.5% | 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 1.69% of the time and diverts 0.08% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,593 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 52 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,658 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
BUF → CLT flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 85.5% of the time, against 63.5% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 22.0 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 85.0% on time from 849 flights
- 7 AM: 86.1% on time from 160 flights
- 8 AM to 9 AM: too few flights to score
- 10 AM: 85.3% on time from 320 flights
- 11 AM: 83.4% on time from 440 flights
- 12 PM: 82.4% on time from 129 flights
- 1 PM: 74.2% on time from 426 flights
- 2 PM to 5 PM: too few flights to score
- 6 PM: 64.2% on time from 266 flights
- 7 PM: 64.7% on time from 666 flights
- 8 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why BUF → CLT 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 BUF → CLT. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on BUF → CLT, at 49.4%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 85.5% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 63.5%.
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 | 3,563 | 77.2% | 1.57% | -4 min | 8.6% |
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA1204 American Airlines | 6:00 AM | 629 | 87.5% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 6.9 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 72.6%
- Feb: 76.0%
- Mar: 78.8%
- Apr: 87.7%
- May: 75.0%
- Jun: 77.8%
- Jul: 66.4%
- Aug: 66.2%
- Sep: 84.7%
- Oct: 84.7%
- Nov: 85.5%
- Dec: 74.0%
August is historically the weakest month and April the strongest, a spread of 21.5 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: too few flights to score (91)
- August 2023: too few flights to score (93)
- September 2023: too few flights to score (86)
- October 2023: too few flights to score (90)
- November 2023: too few flights to score (86)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (85)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (92)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (87)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (93)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (90)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (99)
- June 2024: 75.6% from 128 flights
- July 2024: 57.1% from 136 flights
- August 2024: 61.6% from 129 flights
- September 2024: too few flights to score (117)
- October 2024: 90.2% from 123 flights
- November 2024: too few flights to score (88)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (89)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (84)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- April 2025: too few flights to score (90)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- June 2025: too few flights to score (116)
- July 2025: 76.1% from 122 flights
- August 2025: 72.5% from 122 flights
- September 2025: too few flights to score (99)
- October 2025: 81.0% from 121 flights
- November 2025: too few flights to score (88)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (90)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (93)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (87)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (97)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (91)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (93)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (89)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (95)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 78.8% against 78.6% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,658 BUF → CLT 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