Route profile
BWI→ALB
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Baltimore to Albany, 289 miles.
Right now
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
FlyerIntel does not currently have live operational data for this airport.
Route reliability
July 2023 – July 2026
Better than 54% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 5,175 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
BWI → ALB arrives on time 75.9% of the time; the return trip, ALB → BWI, arrives on time 86.8% of the time, a 10.9-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
BWI → ALB spends 17.6 minutes on the ground on a 289-mile trip: 14.1 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at BWI and 3.6 minutes from touchdown to gate at ALB.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
On-time performance swings unusually widely by time of day here, wider than 95% of 4,023 comparable routes.
90.7% on time for 5–9 AM departures, against 57.1% for 9 PM–5 AM.
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 4,023 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where BWI to ALB differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
BWI to ALB struggles most at 10 PM: 50.7% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 19.7 points behind the 70.4% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 21 points.
BWI to ALB is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 11 AM: 88.6% arrive on time, 4.2 points ahead of the 84.4% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 7.6 points.
Saturday is the day BWI to ALB slips furthest against routes of similar length, 71.0% on time where they average 82.0%, 11 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 8.1 points.
In July, BWI to ALB runs 10.7 points below routes of similar length, 61.0% on time to 71.7%. Against all other routes the gap is 8.7 points.
Southwest Airlines’ flights on BWI to ALB arrive on time 75.9% of the time, 4.3 points below the 80.2% it manages on its routes of similar length.
BWI to ALB against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 10 PM departures | 50.7% | routes of similar length | 70.4% | −19.7 pts | 456 here, 23,382 there |
| Hour: 11 AM departures | 88.6% | routes of similar length | 84.4% | +4.2 pts | 325 here, 41,603 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 71.0% | routes of similar length | 82.0% | −11.0 pts | 637 here, 91,737 there |
| Month: July | 61.0% | routes of similar length | 71.7% | −10.7 pts | 554 here, 85,179 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 75.9% | routes of similar length | 80.2% | −4.3 pts | 5,109 here, 259,179 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 289 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 BWI → ALB flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
BWI → ALB cancelled 59 of 5,175 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 88. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 67.8% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 129 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 59 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.
40 cancellations, 67.8% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
11 cancellations, 18.6% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
8 cancellations, 13.6% 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.
59 coded cancellations were recorded on BWI → ALB; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
37 min late
against a median of 2 min early
Percentiles over 5,175 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at ALB after arriving from BWI.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 45% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 23% | High risk |
| 60 min | 13% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.8% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.0% | 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 1.14% of the time and diverts 0.14% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 5,109 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 37 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 5,175 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
BWI → ALB flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 90.7% of the time, against 57.1% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 33.6 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 91.6% on time from 348 flights
- 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 89.6% on time from 250 flights
- 9 AM: 85.6% on time from 252 flights
- 10 AM: 87.7% on time from 534 flights
- 11 AM: 88.6% on time from 326 flights
- 12 PM: 85.1% on time from 210 flights
- 1 PM: 80.7% on time from 347 flights
- 2 PM: 76.7% on time from 261 flights
- 3 PM: 74.6% on time from 348 flights
- 4 PM: 65.1% on time from 283 flights
- 5 PM: 71.6% on time from 419 flights
- 6 PM: 67.7% on time from 264 flights
- 7 PM: 65.2% on time from 139 flights
- 8 PM: 74.0% on time from 181 flights
- 9 PM: 63.4% on time from 471 flights
- 10 PM: 50.7% on time from 470 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why BWI → ALB 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 BWI → ALB. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on BWI → ALB, at 47.7%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 90.7% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 57.1%.
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 | 5,175 | 75.9% | 1.14% | -2 min | 5.9% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 10.4 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 77.1%
- Feb: 81.2%
- Mar: 79.5%
- Apr: 80.1%
- May: 75.5%
- Jun: 72.3%
- Jul: 61.0%
- Aug: 68.8%
- Sep: 80.2%
- Oct: 81.2%
- Nov: 84.1%
- Dec: 75.4%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 23.1 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 56.4% from 136 flights
- August 2023: 59.6% from 145 flights
- September 2023: 78.4% from 136 flights
- October 2023: 80.1% from 146 flights
- November 2023: 83.8% from 142 flights
- December 2023: 73.8% from 149 flights
- January 2024: 63.6% from 145 flights
- February 2024: 81.3% from 134 flights
- March 2024: 70.4% from 145 flights
- April 2024: 70.5% from 139 flights
- May 2024: 67.8% from 143 flights
- June 2024: 68.1% from 135 flights
- July 2024: 54.7% from 141 flights
- August 2024: 61.9% from 148 flights
- September 2024: 76.6% from 145 flights
- October 2024: 82.1% from 146 flights
- November 2024: too few flights to score (119)
- December 2024: 78.2% from 125 flights
- January 2025: 81.5% from 122 flights
- February 2025: too few flights to score (114)
- March 2025: 87.8% from 125 flights
- April 2025: 82.9% from 123 flights
- May 2025: 78.1% from 129 flights
- June 2025: 69.9% from 138 flights
- July 2025: 64.0% from 145 flights
- August 2025: 84.5% from 148 flights
- September 2025: 85.6% from 146 flights
- October 2025: 81.3% from 150 flights
- November 2025: 85.8% from 145 flights
- December 2025: 74.7% from 152 flights
- January 2026: 88.6% from 129 flights
- February 2026: 82.5% from 130 flights
- March 2026: 81.3% from 153 flights
- April 2026: 86.7% from 150 flights
- May 2026: 80.5% from 154 flights
- June 2026: 78.4% from 149 flights
- July 2026: 68.5% from 154 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 81.4% against 76.6% in the 12 months before — improving by 4.8 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 5,175 BWI → ALB 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