Route profile
CLE→LAX
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Cleveland to Los Angeles, 2,052 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 96% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 2,279 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
CLE → LAX arrives on time 86.8% of the time; the return trip, LAX → CLE, arrives on time 88.8% of the time, a 2.1-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
CLE → LAX spends 26.0 minutes on the ground on a 2,052-mile trip: 14.7 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at CLE and 11.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at LAX.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route stays close to typical even on its worst days, a smaller gap than 94% of 4,598 comparable routes.
A typical arrival is 9 min early, and the worst tenth are only 29 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 CLE to LAX differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
CLE to LAX is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 3 PM: 89.2% arrive on time, 15.1 points ahead of the 74.1% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 16.5 points.
CLE to LAX holds up on Mondays better than routes of similar length do: 90.9% on time to their 78.1%, a 12.8 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 13.7 points.
March is kinder to CLE to LAX than to routes of similar length: 91.8% on time against 78.8%, 13 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 13.9 points.
United Airlines does better on CLE to LAX than on its routes of similar length: 90.2% on time here, 81.6% there, 8.6 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 10.3 points.
CLE to LAX against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 3 PM departures | 89.2% | routes of similar length | 74.1% | +15.1 pts | 472 here, 43,691 there |
| Weekday: Monday | 90.9% | routes of similar length | 78.1% | +12.8 pts | 350 here, 157,266 there |
| Month: March | 91.8% | routes of similar length | 78.8% | +13.0 pts | 158 here, 86,190 there |
| Airline: United Airlines | 90.2% | routes of similar length | 81.6% | +8.6 pts | 1,897 here, 188,487 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 2,052 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
20 min late
against a median of 9 min early
Percentiles over 2,279 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at LAX after arriving from CLE.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 28% | High risk |
| 45 min | 13% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 7.3% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 3.0% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 1.9% | 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 0.57% of the time and diverts 0.18% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 2,262 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 20 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 2,279 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
CLE → LAX flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 89.8% of the time, against 77.9% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 11.9 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 87.2% on time from 134 flights
- 7 AM: 90.7% on time from 866 flights
- 8 AM to 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 89.2% on time from 473 flights
- 4 PM to 5 PM: too few flights to score
- 6 PM: 76.5% on time from 232 flights
- 7 PM: 79.8% on time from 214 flights
- 8 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why CLE → LAX runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s 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 CLE → LAX. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on CLE → LAX, at 35.2%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 89.8% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 77.9%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 1,906 | 90.2% | 0.31% | -11 min | 2.1% |
| Spirit Airlines | 258 | 72.9% | 2.33% | -3 min | 7.2% |
United Airlines flew 88.1% of the 2,164 flights listed. Spirit Airlines cancelled 2.33% of its flights here against 0.31% for United Airlines.
United Airlines arrived on time 17.3 percentage points more often than Spirit Airlines on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| UA679 United Airlines | 3:42 PM | 653 | 89.6% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Monday is historically the most reliable day and Saturday the least, a gap of 7.2 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 86.9%
- Feb: no data
- Mar: 91.8%
- Apr: 84.8%
- May: 89.0%
- Jun: 76.5%
- Jul: 82.8%
- Aug: 87.4%
- Sep: 92.6%
- Oct: 92.1%
- Nov: 90.5%
- Dec: 87.7%
June is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 16.1 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 84.4% against 89.7% in the 12 months before — declining by 5.3 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 2,279 CLE → LAX 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