Route profile
IAD→BNA
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Washington to Nashville, 542 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 64% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,027 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
IAD → BNA arrives on time 81.1% of the time; the return trip, BNA → IAD, arrives on time 80.9% of the time.
IAD → BNA spends 31.4 minutes on the ground on a 542-mile trip: 21.2 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at IAD and 10.2 minutes from touchdown to gate at BNA.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where IAD to BNA differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
IAD to BNA is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 12 PM: 88.6% arrive on time, 7 points ahead of the 81.6% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 9.2 points.
IAD to BNA holds up on Fridays better than routes of similar length do: 82.7% on time to their 77.0%, a 5.7 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 6.5 points.
February is kinder to IAD to BNA than to routes of similar length: 87.8% on time against 82.1%, 5.7 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 6.4 points.
United Airlines does better on IAD to BNA than on its routes of similar length: 81.8% on time here, 78.4% there, 3.4 points apart.
IAD to BNA against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 12 PM departures | 88.6% | routes of similar length | 81.6% | +7.0 pts | 577 here, 90,570 there |
| Weekday: Friday | 82.7% | routes of similar length | 77.0% | +5.7 pts | 415 here, 251,355 there |
| Month: February | 87.8% | routes of similar length | 82.1% | +5.7 pts | 189 here, 118,705 there |
| Airline: United Airlines | 81.8% | routes of similar length | 78.4% | +3.4 pts | 2,759 here, 125,923 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 542 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
39 min late
against a median of 7 min early
Percentiles over 3,027 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at BNA after arriving from IAD.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 34% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 18% | High risk |
| 60 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 7.2% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 5.1% | 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 0.56% of the time and diverts 0.26% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,002 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 39 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,027 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
IAD → BNA flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 91.2% of the time, against 71.1% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 20.1 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 91.2% on time from 977 flights
- 9 AM to 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 88.6% on time from 586 flights
- 1 PM: 76.6% on time from 128 flights
- 2 PM to 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 71.8% on time from 1,085 flights
- 6 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why IAD → BNA 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
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for IAD → BNA. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on IAD → BNA, at 42.0%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 91.2% of the time and 3–6 PM departures 71.1%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 2,781 | 81.8% | 0.58% | -7 min | 6.9% |
| Allegiant Air | 200 | 70.9% | 0.50% | -3 min | 14.1% |
United Airlines flew 93.3% of the 2,981 flights listed.
United Airlines arrived on time 10.9 percentage points more often than Allegiant Air on this route.
Other ways to fly Washington to Nashville
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DCA→BNA Washington to Nashville | 12,844 | 78.9% | 2.51% | -7 min | 59 |
| IAD→BNA this route Washington to Nashville | 3,027 | 81.1% | 0.56% | -7 min | 71 |
IAD → BNA is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 81.1% on time, against 78.9% for DCA → BNA.
Flying to BNA from the Washington area? Compare IAD, DCA, BWI for BNA, with the same test for what counts as a real difference.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Monday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 5.7 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 82.3%
- Feb: 87.8%
- Mar: 83.9%
- Apr: 85.8%
- May: 74.7%
- Jun: 76.0%
- Jul: 72.0%
- Aug: 80.8%
- Sep: 87.3%
- Oct: 84.8%
- Nov: 83.4%
- Dec: 84.0%
July is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 15.8 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 81.9% against 80.4% in the 12 months before — improving by 1.5 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,027 IAD → BNA 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