DFW → BOS Flight Reliability

Right now

Origin · DFWNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 07:53 UTC

Dallas–Fort Worth airport profile →

Destination · BOSNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 07:54 UTC

Boston airport profile →

Route reliability

July 2023 – July 2026

Route Reliability Score

42/ 100Weak

Better than 6% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)

Calculated from 12,020 flights. How this is calculated

On-time arrivals

70.0%

8,220 of 11,736

Cancellation rate

2.09%

251 cancelled

Median arrival delay

-3 min

Average 15.9 min

Severe delays

12.1%

60+ minutes late

Delay when late

78 min

Average, when 15+ min late

Flights analyzed

12,020

4 carriers

DFW → BOS arrives on time 70.0% of the time; the return trip, BOS → DFW, arrives on time 76.1% of the time, a 6.0-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.

DFW → BOS spends 27.8 minutes on the ground on a 1,562-mile trip: 19.7 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DFW and 8.1 minutes from touchdown to gate at BOS.

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

What stands out

The airline matters unusually much on this route, a wider carrier-to-carrier gap than 96% of 2,692 comparable routes.

Delta Air Lines arrived on time 78.3% of the time, against 57.1% for JetBlue, flying the exact same route.

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 2,692 in the comparison.

Why DFW → BOS flights are cancelled

July 2023 – July 2026

DFW → BOS cancelled 251 of 12,020 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 48. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 77.7% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 62 scheduled flights.

Share of cancellations

Weather77.7%

Airline17.1%

Air traffic5.2%

Security0.0%

Of 251 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.

What each reason means

Extreme weather1 in 62

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

195 cancellations, 77.7% of the total.

The airline1 in 280

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

43 cancellations, 17.1% of the total.

The air traffic system1 in 925

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

13 cancellations, 5.2% of the total.

Security—

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.

251 coded cancellations were recorded on DFW → BOS; the section appears from 50.

When it goes wrong

July 2023 – July 2026

One arrival in ten is worse than

72 min late

against a median of 3 min early

Arrived an hour or more late12.1%

Typical delay when late78 min

Cancelled2.09%

Landed somewhere else0.27%

DFW → BOS has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 3 min early, but the worst tenth are 75 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 12,020 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.

Will your connection be tight enough?

Layovers at BOS after arriving from DFW.

Connection buffer and chance of missing by layover length, DFW → BOS arrivals
Connection time	Chance of missing	Reads as
30 min	45%	Likely to miss
45 min	29%	High risk
60 min	21%	High risk
90 min	12%	Some risk
120 min	7.3%	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 2.09% of the time and diverts 0.27% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.

Chance of missing is the share of 11,736 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 72 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 12,020 operations.

Any other layover length: connection checker.

Best time to fly

DFW → BOS flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 85.1% of the time, against 58.3% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 26.8 percentage points.

By day and hour

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

Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 10.7 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 1.9 points.

On-time arrival rate for DFW to BOS by weekday and scheduled departure hour, local time. Each button reads out one slot.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
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

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 7 AM and after 8 PM (513 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 DFW to BOS. A dash means fewer than 120 flights, which are not scored.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
7 AM–8 AM	86.4% on time273 flights	87.7% on time238 flights	84.8% on time240 flights	92.2% on time272 flights	86.4% on time277 flights	82.3% on time270 flights	89.7% on time260 flights
8 AM–9 AM	76.2% on time132 flights	79.2% on time121 flights	80.7% on time120 flights	83.1% on time137 flights	77.5% on time122 flights	102 flights, too few to score	83.7% on time125 flights
9 AM–10 AM	53 flights, too few to score	50 flights, too few to score	55 flights, too few to score	53 flights, too few to score	53 flights, too few to score	47 flights, too few to score	71 flights, too few to score
10 AM–11 AM	74.3% on time139 flights	71.6% on time159 flights	77.2% on time150 flights	75.2% on time142 flights	71.0% on time157 flights	118 flights, too few to score	74.3% on time142 flights
11 AM–12 PM	67.5% on time122 flights	108 flights, too few to score	107 flights, too few to score	77.0% on time127 flights	68.7% on time131 flights	77 flights, too few to score	77.8% on time125 flights
12 PM–1 PM	68.9% on time219 flights	70.8% on time211 flights	67.8% on time213 flights	65.7% on time215 flights	61.5% on time213 flights	70.1% on time191 flights	67.3% on time216 flights
1 PM–2 PM	18 flights, too few to score	24 flights, too few to score	24 flights, too few to score	14 flights, too few to score	13 flights, too few to score	47 flights, too few to score	15 flights, too few to score
2 PM–3 PM	69 flights, too few to score	61 flights, too few to score	56 flights, too few to score	48 flights, too few to score	68 flights, too few to score	47 flights, too few to score	51 flights, too few to score
3 PM–4 PM	102 flights, too few to score	104 flights, too few to score	104 flights, too few to score	110 flights, too few to score	100 flights, too few to score	96 flights, too few to score	102 flights, too few to score
4 PM–5 PM	77 flights, too few to score	62 flights, too few to score	63 flights, too few to score	76 flights, too few to score	78 flights, too few to score	87 flights, too few to score	78 flights, too few to score
5 PM–6 PM	62.3% on time187 flights	62.5% on time156 flights	66.9% on time161 flights	55.3% on time188 flights	65.2% on time186 flights	65.0% on time169 flights	55.9% on time198 flights
6 PM–7 PM	65.4% on time191 flights	66.3% on time179 flights	63.0% on time177 flights	60.4% on time187 flights	66.5% on time187 flights	62.2% on time121 flights	53.6% on time174 flights
7 PM–8 PM	64.5% on time128 flights	115 flights, too few to score	66.4% on time121 flights	66.4% on time128 flights	64.6% on time133 flights	69.5% on time135 flights	52.7% on time139 flights

By departure window

5–9 AM85.1%

9 AM–12 PM74.2%

12–3 PM65.7%

3–6 PM58.3%

6–9 PM62.3%

9 PM–5 AM—

By departure hour

12 AM

3 AM

6 AM

9 AM

12 PM

3 PM

6 PM

9 PM

Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.

Why DFW → BOS runs late

July 2023 – July 2026

Late-arriving aircraft41.1%

the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late

The airline30.9%

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

Air traffic control19.9%

airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control

Weather8.0%

weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically

Security<0.1%

screening or terminal security incidents

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

Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on DFW → BOS, at 41.1%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 85.1% of the time and 3–6 PM departures 58.3%.

How this route holds up in bad weather

July 2023 – July 2026

The harder-hit end is the one the flight leaves from, where a cancellation keeps it from departing at all. Bad weather cancels 7.0 times the normal rate at DFW against 3.9 times at BOS. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: DFW 10.4% against 1.5%, BOS 5.3% against 1.4%. Flights that did leave DFW in bad weather arrived on time 56.4% of the time, against 74.4% in normal hours.

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026

Departures from DFW and BOS in hours of bad weather and in normal hours
Departures from	DFW	BOS
Cancelled in bad weather	10.4%	5.3%
Cancelled in normal hours	1.5%	1.4%
Arrived on time, bad weather	56.4%	65.1%
Arrived on time, normal hours	74.4%	79.7%
Departures in bad weather	72,822	60,840

Delta Air Lines (4.2% cancelled against 10.4% for the other carriers at DFW) and Spirit Airlines (5.4% cancelled against 9.9% for the other carriers at DFW) cancelled fewer departures from DFW in bad weather than the other carriers there did in the same months. None of the route’s other carriers was clearly worse. One more carrier flies this route but has too few bad-weather departures from DFW to compare.

This route’s airlines in bad weather at DFW

All departures from DFW

Cancellation rates in bad weather at DFW for the airlines that fly DFW to BOS, against the other carriers at DFW in the same months
Airline	Bad-weather departures	Cancelled	Other carriers
Delta Air Lines	2,949	4.2%below the others	10.4%
Spirit Airlines	1,826	5.4%below the others	9.9%
American Airlines	38,491	10.0%about level	10.9%

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

Weather source and limits. In full: DFW (airlines), BOS, 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
American Airlines	7,726	68.5%	2.39%	-1 min	12.1%
Delta Air Lines	2,886	78.3%	1.52%	-9 min	9.3%
JetBlue	942	57.1%	1.70%	4 min	21.0%
Spirit Airlines	349	68.8%	0.57%	-1 min	12.4%

American Airlines flew 64.9% of the 11,903 flights listed. American Airlines cancelled 2.39% of its flights here against 0.57% for Spirit Airlines.

Delta Air Lines arrived on time 21.2 percentage points more often than JetBlue 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
AA2306 American Airlines	5:04 PM	887	58.5%

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

Mon68.9%

Tue71.1%

Wed70.8%

Thu69.9%

Fri69.2%

Sat73.9%

Sun67.2%

Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 6.7 percentage points.

By month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 19.1 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 67.1% against 72.8% in the 12 months before — declining by 5.7 percentage points.

Data and methodology

Calculated by FlyerIntel from 12,020 DFW → BOS 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

DFW airport BOS airport Return direction BOS → DFW

DFW→BOS

Right now

Route reliability

What stands out

Why DFW → BOS 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 DFW → BOS 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 DFW

Airlines on this route

Flights on this route

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

By month

Reliability over time

Data and methodology