Route profile
HOU→PHX
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Houston to Phoenix, 1,020 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 71% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 6,469 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
HOU → PHX arrives on time 78.9% of the time; the return trip, PHX → HOU, arrives on time 77.1% of the time.
HOU → PHX spends 18.4 minutes on the ground on a 1,020-mile trip: 12.3 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at HOU and 6.1 minutes from touchdown to gate at PHX.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where HOU to PHX differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
HOU to PHX is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 4 PM: 77.4% arrive on time, 9.6 points ahead of the 67.8% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 6.7 points.
HOU to PHX struggles most at 7 PM: 60.6% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 5.4 points behind the 66.0% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 7.2 points.
August is kinder to HOU to PHX than to routes of similar length: 86.0% on time against 74.2%, 11.8 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 9.5 points.
In June, HOU to PHX runs 4.3 points below routes of similar length, 67.3% on time to 71.6%. Against all other routes the gap is 5.4 points.
Southwest Airlines does better on HOU to PHX than on its routes of similar length: 78.9% on time here, 75.5% there, 3.4 points apart.
HOU to PHX against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 4 PM departures | 77.4% | routes of similar length | 67.8% | +9.6 pts | 359 here, 148,795 there |
| Hour: 7 PM departures | 60.6% | routes of similar length | 66.0% | −5.4 pts | 401 here, 181,831 there |
| Month: August | 86.0% | routes of similar length | 74.2% | +11.8 pts | 456 here, 228,509 there |
| Month: June | 67.3% | routes of similar length | 71.6% | −4.3 pts | 514 here, 229,996 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 78.9% | routes of similar length | 75.5% | +3.4 pts | 6,420 here, 666,868 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 1,020 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
36 min late
against a median of 4 min early
Percentiles over 6,469 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at PHX after arriving from HOU.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 39% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 20% | High risk |
| 60 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.5% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 2.9% | 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 0.68% 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 6,420 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 36 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 6,469 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
HOU → PHX flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 93.1% of the time, against 65.8% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 27.3 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 95.4% on time from 288 flights
- 6 AM: 95.8% on time from 579 flights
- 7 AM: 95.8% on time from 285 flights
- 8 AM: 88.6% on time from 663 flights
- 9 AM: 89.2% on time from 278 flights
- 10 AM: too few flights to score
- 11 AM: 78.2% on time from 290 flights
- 12 PM: 81.2% on time from 397 flights
- 1 PM: 78.5% on time from 320 flights
- 2 PM: 74.9% on time from 380 flights
- 3 PM: 71.0% on time from 291 flights
- 4 PM: 77.4% on time from 361 flights
- 5 PM: 67.8% on time from 342 flights
- 6 PM: 71.4% on time from 354 flights
- 7 PM: 60.6% on time from 407 flights
- 8 PM: 74.1% on time from 374 flights
- 9 PM: 67.4% on time from 386 flights
- 10 PM: 64.3% on time from 408 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why HOU → PHX 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 → PHX. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on HOU → PHX, at 49.9%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 93.1% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 65.8%.
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 | 6,469 | 78.9% | 0.68% | -4 min | 5.5% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 6.8 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 80.2%
- Feb: 87.7%
- Mar: 82.0%
- Apr: 75.9%
- May: 71.6%
- Jun: 67.3%
- Jul: 71.3%
- Aug: 86.0%
- Sep: 83.1%
- Oct: 81.1%
- Nov: 80.9%
- Dec: 83.9%
June is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 20.4 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 77.0% from 148 flights
- August 2023: 85.2% from 136 flights
- September 2023: 76.3% from 169 flights
- October 2023: 80.3% from 186 flights
- November 2023: 79.9% from 174 flights
- December 2023: 83.4% from 181 flights
- January 2024: 70.6% from 164 flights
- February 2024: 83.9% from 149 flights
- March 2024: 79.4% from 171 flights
- April 2024: 74.1% from 171 flights
- May 2024: 65.1% from 177 flights
- June 2024: 73.4% from 193 flights
- July 2024: 65.1% from 199 flights
- August 2024: 90.2% from 164 flights
- September 2024: 94.2% from 154 flights
- October 2024: 90.6% from 191 flights
- November 2024: 91.4% from 188 flights
- December 2024: 81.9% from 193 flights
- January 2025: 83.0% from 166 flights
- February 2025: 88.5% from 156 flights
- March 2025: 84.1% from 196 flights
- April 2025: 80.3% from 193 flights
- May 2025: 74.9% from 196 flights
- June 2025: 71.5% from 176 flights
- July 2025: 75.6% from 180 flights
- August 2025: 82.2% from 159 flights
- September 2025: 79.2% from 150 flights
- October 2025: 72.4% from 192 flights
- November 2025: 71.2% from 188 flights
- December 2025: 86.2% from 197 flights
- January 2026: 86.8% from 168 flights
- February 2026: 90.5% from 158 flights
- March 2026: 82.1% from 196 flights
- April 2026: 73.1% from 193 flights
- May 2026: 74.0% from 197 flights
- June 2026: 54.7% from 150 flights
- July 2026: 68.2% from 150 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 76.9% against 83.6% in the 12 months before — declining by 6.7 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 6,469 HOU → PHX 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