Route profile
DCA→LAX
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Washington to Los Angeles, 2,311 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 49% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 4,496 flights. How this is calculated
DCA → LAX arrives on time 78.3% of the time; the return trip, LAX → DCA, arrives on time 80.1% of the time.
DCA → LAX spends 33.3 minutes on the ground on a 2,311-mile trip: 23.4 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DCA and 10.0 minutes from touchdown to gate at LAX.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Unlike most, it barely matters what time you fly this route, a steadier spread than 100% of 4,023 comparable routes.
79.3% on time for 5–9 AM departures, against 77.5% for 9 AM–12 PM, a narrow gap either way.
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 DCA to LAX differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DCA to LAX is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 5 PM: 78.4% arrive on time, 5.8 points ahead of the 72.6% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 8.6 points.
DCA to LAX struggles most at 8 AM: 78.9% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 4.8 points behind the 83.7% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 7 points.
Wednesday is the day DCA to LAX slips furthest against routes of similar length, 75.8% on time where they average 80.7%, 4.9 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 5 points.
In May, DCA to LAX runs 4.9 points below routes of similar length, 72.9% on time to 77.8%.
Delta Air Lines’ flights on DCA to LAX arrive on time 78.0% of the time, 3.4 points below the 81.4% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 3.5 points.
DCA to LAX against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 5 PM departures | 78.4% | routes of similar length | 72.6% | +5.8 pts | 1,689 here, 61,883 there |
| Hour: 8 AM departures | 78.9% | routes of similar length | 83.7% | −4.8 pts | 1,161 here, 105,897 there |
| Weekday: Wednesday | 75.8% | routes of similar length | 80.7% | −4.9 pts | 631 here, 158,589 there |
| Month: May | 72.9% | routes of similar length | 77.8% | −4.9 pts | 362 here, 98,674 there |
| Airline: Delta Air Lines | 78.0% | routes of similar length | 81.4% | −3.4 pts | 1,101 here, 232,271 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 2,311 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 DCA → LAX flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
DCA → LAX cancelled 53 of 4,496 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 85. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 49.1% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 173 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 53 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.
26 cancellations, 49.1% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
24 cancellations, 45.3% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
3 cancellations, 5.7% 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.
53 coded cancellations were recorded on DCA → LAX; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
42 min late
against a median of 8 min early
Percentiles over 4,496 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at LAX after arriving from DCA.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 36% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 21% | High risk |
| 60 min | 13% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 7.0% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.4% | 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 1.18% of the time and diverts 0.73% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 4,410 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 42 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 4,496 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Why DCA → LAX 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 DCA → LAX. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 2,252 | 78.8% | 0.89% | -9 min | 6.3% |
| Alaska Airlines | 1,123 | 77.5% | 1.34% | -6 min | 6.0% |
| Delta Air Lines | 1,121 | 78.0% | 1.61% | -8 min | 9.7% |
American Airlines flew 50.1% of the 4,496 flights listed.
Carriers on this route performed within a couple of percentage points of each other.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| AS5 Alaska Airlines | 9:59 AM | 1,123 | 77.5% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Wednesday the least, a gap of 5.1 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 75.6%
- Feb: 78.4%
- Mar: 81.5%
- Apr: 80.6%
- May: 72.9%
- Jun: 70.1%
- Jul: 70.0%
- Aug: 77.6%
- Sep: 82.4%
- Oct: 84.4%
- Nov: 84.9%
- Dec: 83.1%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 14.9 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 77.9% from 124 flights
- August 2023: 76.0% from 124 flights
- September 2023: 87.4% from 120 flights
- October 2023: 83.9% from 124 flights
- November 2023: too few flights to score (118)
- December 2023: 90.2% from 124 flights
- January 2024: 77.7% from 124 flights
- February 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- March 2024: 77.9% from 124 flights
- April 2024: 82.5% from 120 flights
- May 2024: 63.4% from 124 flights
- June 2024: 82.6% from 120 flights
- July 2024: 70.1% from 124 flights
- August 2024: 78.0% from 124 flights
- September 2024: too few flights to score (119)
- October 2024: 91.9% from 124 flights
- November 2024: too few flights to score (118)
- December 2024: 87.0% from 123 flights
- January 2025: 76.1% from 124 flights
- February 2025: too few flights to score (112)
- March 2025: 82.8% from 124 flights
- April 2025: 80.0% from 120 flights
- May 2025: 73.2% from 124 flights
- June 2025: 64.7% from 120 flights
- July 2025: 56.6% from 124 flights
- August 2025: 78.7% from 124 flights
- September 2025: 71.7% from 120 flights
- October 2025: 77.4% from 124 flights
- November 2025: too few flights to score (118)
- December 2025: 71.7% from 123 flights
- January 2026: 73.0% from 124 flights
- February 2026: too few flights to score (112)
- March 2026: 83.9% from 124 flights
- April 2026: 79.1% from 120 flights
- May 2026: 82.8% from 124 flights
- June 2026: 63.2% from 120 flights
- July 2026: 75.9% from 121 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 75.9% against 78.0% in the 12 months before — declining by 2.1 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 4,496 DCA → 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