DCA → LGA Flight Reliability

Right now

Origin · DCANo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 08:52 UTC

Washington airport profile →

Destination · LGANo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 08:51 UTC

New York airport profile →

Route reliability

July 2023 – July 2026

Route Reliability Score

40/ 100Weak

Better than 5% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)

Calculated from 14,236 flights. How this is calculated

On-time arrivals

74.0%

10,046 of 13,579

Cancellation rate

4.52%

644 cancelled

Median arrival delay

-6 min

Average 12.1 min

Severe delays

10.6%

60+ minutes late

Delay when late

77 min

Average, when 15+ min late

Flights analyzed

14,236

2 carriers

DCA → LGA arrives on time 74.0% of the time; the return trip, LGA → DCA, arrives on time 76.7% of the time, a 2.7-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.

DCA → LGA spends 34.2 minutes on the ground on a 214-mile trip: 25.7 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DCA and 8.6 minutes from touchdown to gate at LGA.

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026

What stands out

Which day you fly matters unusually much here, a wider weekday spread than 94% of 4,467 comparable routes.

85.6% on time on a typical Saturday, against 70.6% on a Sunday.

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 4,467 in the comparison.

Why DCA → LGA flights are cancelled

July 2023 – July 2026

DCA → LGA cancelled 644 of 14,236 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 22. The reason filed most often was the air traffic system, 41.3% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 54 scheduled flights.

Share of cancellations

Air traffic41.3%

Weather38.4%

Airline20.2%

Security0.2%

Of 644 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.

What each reason means

The air traffic system1 in 54

Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.

266 cancellations, 41.3% of the total.

Extreme weather1 in 58

Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.

247 cancellations, 38.4% of the total.

The airline1 in 110

Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.

130 cancellations, 20.2% of the total.

Security1 in 14,236

A terminal evacuation, a security breach, screening equipment failure, or screening queues over 29 minutes.

1 cancellation, 0.2% 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.

644 coded cancellations were recorded on DCA → LGA; the section appears from 50.

When it goes wrong

July 2023 – July 2026

One arrival in ten is worse than

63 min late

against a median of 6 min early

Arrived an hour or more late10.6%

Typical delay when late77 min

Cancelled4.52%

Landed somewhere else0.09%

DCA → LGA has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 6 min early, but the worst tenth are 69 minutes worse than that. If the trip has something unmissable at the end of it, the median is the wrong number to plan against.

Percentiles over 14,236 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.

Will your connection be tight enough?

Layovers at LGA after arriving from DCA.

Connection buffer and chance of missing by layover length, DCA → LGA arrivals
Connection time	Chance of missing	Reads as
30 min	39%	Likely to miss
45 min	25%	High risk
60 min	18%	High risk
90 min	11%	Some risk
120 min	6.7%	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 4.52% of the time and diverts 0.09% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.

Chance of missing is the share of 13,579 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 63 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 14,236 operations.

Any other layover length: connection checker.

Best time to fly

DCA → LGA flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 84.9% of the time, against 60.7% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 24.2 percentage points.

By day and hour

On-time arrival rate for each weekday and scheduled departure hour, in local time at the departure airport (DCA).

Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 10.9 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 4.0 points.

On-time arrival rate for DCA to LGA by weekday and scheduled departure hour, local time. Each button reads out one slot.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
6 AM–7 AM
7 AM–8 AM
8 AM–9 AM
9 AM–10 AM
10 AM–11 AM
11 AM–12 PM
12 PM–1 PM
1 PM–2 PM
2 PM–3 PM
3 PM–4 PM
4 PM–5 PM
5 PM–6 PM
6 PM–7 PM
7 PM–8 PM
8 PM–9 PM
9 PM–10 PM
10 PM–11 PM

On-time rate, % · stronger color, fewer on time

50–59
60–69
70–79
80–89
90–99

Fewer than 120 flights, not scored

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · On time is arrival within 15 minutes of schedule. Cells round to whole percentages; the table shows one decimal.

No slot is named best or worst: too few reach 500 flights. Departures before 6 AM (6 flights) are not drawn: no slot in those hours has enough flights to score.

View as tableHide table

On-time arrival rate (%) with flights beneath, by scheduled departure hour and weekday for DCA to LGA. A dash means fewer than 120 flights, which are not scored.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
6 AM–7 AM	88.4% on time239 flights	92.6% on time241 flights	91.5% on time240 flights	88.4% on time236 flights	85.2% on time233 flights	24 flights, too few to score	23 flights, too few to score
7 AM–8 AM	108 flights, too few to score	108 flights, too few to score	106 flights, too few to score	109 flights, too few to score	112 flights, too few to score	107 flights, too few to score	30 flights, too few to score
8 AM–9 AM	81.9% on time219 flights	74.2% on time219 flights	78.3% on time219 flights	78.5% on time217 flights	76.9% on time216 flights	109 flights, too few to score	88.6% on time185 flights
9 AM–10 AM	14 flights, too few to score	16 flights, too few to score	14 flights, too few to score	17 flights, too few to score	16 flights, too few to score	67 flights, too few to score	28 flights, too few to score
10 AM–11 AM	82.2% on time151 flights	77.7% on time150 flights	85.8% on time150 flights	82.8% on time149 flights	77.1% on time149 flights	98 flights, too few to score	83.1% on time134 flights
11 AM–12 PM	81.2% on time262 flights	85.7% on time261 flights	83.3% on time260 flights	82.1% on time259 flights	80.2% on time258 flights	91.1% on time159 flights	82.3% on time230 flights
12 PM–1 PM	57 flights, too few to score	58 flights, too few to score	59 flights, too few to score	56 flights, too few to score	57 flights, too few to score	39 flights, too few to score	74 flights, too few to score
1 PM–2 PM	61.1% on time142 flights	63.8% on time144 flights	61.6% on time142 flights	59.6% on time144 flights	58.6% on time138 flights	43 flights, too few to score	58.5% on time134 flights
2 PM–3 PM	68.4% on time165 flights	73.4% on time167 flights	75.6% on time167 flights	69.8% on time165 flights	69.9% on time169 flights	82.7% on time174 flights	78.1% on time159 flights
3 PM–4 PM	66 flights, too few to score	63 flights, too few to score	63 flights, too few to score	63 flights, too few to score	68 flights, too few to score	96 flights, too few to score	76 flights, too few to score
4 PM–5 PM	10 flights, too few to score	9 flights, too few to score	9 flights, too few to score	9 flights, too few to score	9 flights, too few to score	23 flights, too few to score	13 flights, too few to score
5 PM–6 PM	53.8% on time217 flights	57.1% on time219 flights	52.7% on time223 flights	50.0% on time225 flights	53.8% on time229 flights	84.7% on time185 flights	49.7% on time212 flights
6 PM–7 PM	118 flights, too few to score	115 flights, too few to score	110 flights, too few to score	102 flights, too few to score	104 flights, too few to score	65 flights, too few to score	112 flights, too few to score
7 PM–8 PM	64.0% on time157 flights	64.8% on time158 flights	56.3% on time158 flights	54.9% on time153 flights	65.7% on time154 flights	21 flights, too few to score	54.7% on time158 flights
8 PM–9 PM	104 flights, too few to score	104 flights, too few to score	104 flights, too few to score	102 flights, too few to score	104 flights, too few to score	18 flights, too few to score	106 flights, too few to score
9 PM–10 PM	14 flights, too few to score	13 flights, too few to score	12 flights, too few to score	13 flights, too few to score	14 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score	14 flights, too few to score
10 PM–11 PM	81.7% on time191 flights	83.4% on time191 flights	75.1% on time192 flights	72.9% on time188 flights	77.4% on time189 flights	1 flight, too few to score	70.5% on time189 flights

By departure window

5–9 AM84.9%

9 AM–12 PM83.0%

12–3 PM68.9%

3–6 PM62.3%

6–9 PM60.7%

9 PM–5 AM76.0%

By departure hour

12 AM

3 AM

6 AM

9 AM

12 PM

3 PM

6 PM

9 PM

Why DCA → LGA runs late

July 2023 – July 2026

Air traffic control40.1%

airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control

Late-arriving aircraft35.5%

the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late

The airline20.7%

crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control

Weather3.6%

weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically

Security0.1%

screening or terminal security incidents

Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for DCA → LGA. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.

How this route holds up in bad weather

July 2023 – July 2026

Bad weather raises cancellations by a similar amount at both ends of DCA to LGA: 4.2 times the normal rate at DCA and 4.1 times at LGA. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: DCA 9.3% against 2.2%, LGA 9.0% against 2.2%. Flights that did leave LGA in bad weather arrived on time 63.6% of the time, against 80.9% in normal hours.

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026

Departures from DCA and LGA in hours of bad weather and in normal hours
Departures from	DCA	LGA
Cancelled in bad weather	9.3%	9.0%
Cancelled in normal hours	2.2%	2.2%
Arrived on time, bad weather	63.5%	63.6%
Arrived on time, normal hours	78.3%	80.9%
Departures in bad weather	41,449	56,339

Of the carriers on this route, American Airlines (6.4% cancelled against 9.5% for the other carriers at DCA) cancelled the fewest departures from DCA in bad weather and Republic Airways (10.7% cancelled against 9.0% for the other carriers at DCA) the most.

This route’s airlines in bad weather at DCA

All departures from DCA

Cancellation rates in bad weather at DCA for the airlines that fly DCA to LGA, against the other carriers at DCA in the same months
Airline	Bad-weather departures	Cancelled	Other carriers
American Airlines	8,236	6.4%below the others	9.5%
Republic Airways	7,801	10.7%above the others	9.0%

These are airport figures, not route figures: every scheduled departure from DCA and LGA, to any destination, in hours the weather report called bad. The airline rows count each carrier’s departures from DCA on every route.

Weather source and limits. In full: DCA (airlines), LGA, What Weather Costs Each Airport, Who Cancels More When the Weather Turns, Airports That Change Places When Weather Turns.

Airlines on this route

Carriers with at least 200 flights, by the airline that operated each one.

Airlines on this route
Carrier	Flights	On time	Cancelled	Median delay	Severe
Republic Airways	11,697	74.5%	4.86%	-6 min	10.0%
American Airlines	2,448	70.9%	2.94%	-5 min	13.9%

Republic Airways flew 82.7% of the 14,145 flights listed. Republic Airways cancelled 4.86% of its flights here against 2.94% for American Airlines.

Republic Airways arrived on time 3.6 percentage points more often than American Airlines on this route.

Flights on this route

Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.

Flights on this route
Flight	Scheduled	Operations	On time
YX5763 Republic Airways	5:00 PM	751	58.5%
YX5768 Republic Airways	8:40 PM	686	60.9%
YX5747 Republic Airways	1:40 PM	644	72.8%

YX5747 (1:40 PM) arrived on time 72.8% of the time, 14.3 points more often than YX5763 (5:00 PM) at 58.5%.

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

Mon74.5%

Tue75.4%

Wed73.2%

Thu71.7%

Fri71.3%

Sat85.6%

Sun70.6%

Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 15.0 percentage points.

By month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

May is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 13.6 percentage points.

Reliability over time

July 2023 – July 2026

24

25

26

Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 66.6% against 75.4% in the 12 months before — declining by 8.8 percentage points.

Data and methodology

Calculated by FlyerIntel from 14,236 DCA → LGA 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

Analysis last recomputed September 26, 2026

DCA airport LGA airport Return direction LGA → DCA

DCA→LGA

Right now

Route reliability

What stands out

Why DCA → LGA flights are cancelled

Share of cancellations

What each reason means

When it goes wrong

Will your connection be tight enough?

Best time to fly

By day and hour

By departure window

By departure hour

Why DCA → LGA runs late

How this route holds up in bad weather

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

This route’s airlines in bad weather at DCA

Airlines on this route

Flights on this route

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

By month

Reliability over time

Data and methodology