Route profile
HOU→LAX
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Houston to Los Angeles, 1,390 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 70% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,726 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
HOU → LAX arrives on time 77.2% of the time; the return trip, LAX → HOU, arrives on time 76.3% of the time.
HOU → LAX spends 21.5 minutes on the ground on a 1,390-mile trip: 12.3 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at HOU and 9.2 minutes from touchdown to gate at LAX.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where HOU to LAX differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
HOU to LAX is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 8 PM: 81.4% arrive on time, 16.1 points ahead of the 65.3% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 14 points.
HOU to LAX struggles most at 2 PM: 58.7% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 14.6 points behind the 73.3% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 15.9 points.
Sunday is the day HOU to LAX slips furthest against routes of similar length, 70.6% on time where they average 75.1%, 4.5 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 4.2 points.
In June, HOU to LAX runs 9.9 points below routes of similar length, 62.1% on time to 72.0%. Against all other routes the gap is 10.6 points.
HOU to LAX against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 8 PM departures | 81.4% | routes of similar length | 65.3% | +16.1 pts | 253 here, 63,137 there |
| Hour: 2 PM departures | 58.7% | routes of similar length | 73.3% | −14.6 pts | 143 here, 99,036 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 70.6% | routes of similar length | 75.1% | −4.5 pts | 528 here, 261,427 there |
| Month: June | 62.1% | routes of similar length | 72.0% | −9.9 pts | 327 here, 149,162 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 1,390 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
38 min late
against a median of 3 min early
Percentiles over 3,726 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at LAX after arriving from HOU.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 42% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 22% | High risk |
| 60 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.2% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 2.3% | 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 0.46% of the time and diverts 0.08% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,706 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 38 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,726 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
HOU → LAX flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 93.4% of the time, against 64.2% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 29.2 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 95.5% on time from 380 flights
- 6 AM: 94.4% on time from 231 flights
- 7 AM: 90.4% on time from 219 flights
- 8 AM: 92.2% on time from 271 flights
- 9 AM: 88.4% on time from 190 flights
- 10 AM to 12 PM: too few flights to score
- 1 PM: 78.2% on time from 174 flights
- 2 PM: 58.7% on time from 143 flights
- 3 PM: 75.1% on time from 190 flights
- 4 PM: 72.1% on time from 202 flights
- 5 PM: 67.7% on time from 189 flights
- 6 PM to 7 PM: too few flights to score
- 8 PM: 81.4% on time from 255 flights
- 9 PM: 70.1% on time from 384 flights
- 10 PM: 58.7% on time from 416 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why HOU → LAX 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 HOU → LAX. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on HOU → LAX, at 48.1%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 93.4% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 64.2%.
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 | 3,726 | 77.2% | 0.46% | -3 min | 5.3% |
Other ways to fly Houston to Los Angeles
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IAH→LAX Houston to Los Angeles | 16,491 | 82.8% | 1.01% | -8 min | 74 |
| HOU→LAX this route Houston to Los Angeles | 3,726 | 77.2% | 0.46% | -3 min | 73 |
Flying to LAX from the Houston area? Compare HOU, IAH for LAX, with the same test for what counts as a real difference.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Friday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 9.1 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 82.4%
- Feb: 84.3%
- Mar: 81.5%
- Apr: 78.9%
- May: 71.3%
- Jun: 62.1%
- Jul: 66.6%
- Aug: 79.2%
- Sep: 78.8%
- Oct: 79.9%
- Nov: 85.9%
- Dec: 83.1%
June is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 23.8 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 74.2% against 82.4% in the 12 months before — declining by 8.2 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,726 HOU → 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