Route profile
IAH→IAD
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Houston to Washington, 1,190 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 53% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 5,510 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
IAH → IAD arrives on time 77.6% of the time; the return trip, IAD → IAH, arrives on time 81.0% of the time, a 3.4-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
IAH → IAD spends 29.7 minutes on the ground on a 1,190-mile trip: 22.1 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at IAH and 7.7 minutes from touchdown to gate at IAD.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Every day of the week performs about the same on this route, steadier than 97% of 4,467 comparable routes.
79.6% on time on the best day (Tuesday) against 75.9% on the worst (Saturday).
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.
What sets this route apart
Where IAH to IAD differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
IAH to IAD struggles most at 11 AM: 60.8% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 18.8 points behind the 79.6% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 20.2 points.
IAH to IAD is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 8 PM: 76.3% arrive on time, 11.4 points ahead of the 64.9% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 8.9 points.
December is kinder to IAH to IAD than to routes of similar length: 82.7% on time against 77.3%, 5.4 points better.
In July, IAH to IAD runs 5.3 points below routes of similar length, 63.3% on time to 68.6%. Against all other routes the gap is 6.4 points.
United Airlines’ flights on IAH to IAD arrive on time 77.6% of the time, 3.8 points below the 81.4% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 2.3 points.
IAH to IAD against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 11 AM departures | 60.8% | routes of similar length | 79.6% | −18.8 pts | 120 here, 122,347 there |
| Hour: 8 PM departures | 76.3% | routes of similar length | 64.9% | +11.4 pts | 160 here, 93,547 there |
| Month: December | 82.7% | routes of similar length | 77.3% | +5.4 pts | 399 here, 171,685 there |
| Month: July | 63.3% | routes of similar length | 68.6% | −5.3 pts | 616 here, 218,286 there |
| Airline: United Airlines | 77.6% | routes of similar length | 81.4% | −3.8 pts | 5,462 here, 259,954 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 1,190 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
43 min late
against a median of 3 min early
Percentiles over 5,510 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at IAD after arriving from IAH.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 42% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 21% | High risk |
| 60 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 7.0% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.3% | 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 0.76% of the time and diverts 0.11% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 5,462 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 43 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 5,510 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
IAH → IAD flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 92.1% of the time, against 72.9% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 19.2 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 92.1% on time from 1,121 flights
- 8 AM to 10 AM: too few flights to score
- 11 AM: 60.8% on time from 122 flights
- 12 PM: 73.1% on time from 1,006 flights
- 1 PM to 3 PM: too few flights to score
- 4 PM: 75.5% on time from 949 flights
- 5 PM: 75.3% on time from 186 flights
- 6 PM: 73.8% on time from 1,098 flights
- 7 PM: 70.3% on time from 595 flights
- 8 PM: 76.3% on time from 160 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why IAH → IAD 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 IAH → IAD. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on IAH → IAD, at 34.8%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 92.1% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 72.9%.
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 | 5,510 | 77.6% | 0.76% | -3 min | 7.2% |
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| UA1549 United Airlines | 7:20 AM | 622 | 92.7% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Saturday the least, a gap of 3.7 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 78.3%
- Feb: 82.5%
- Mar: 77.5%
- Apr: 82.3%
- May: 75.0%
- Jun: 69.1%
- Jul: 63.3%
- Aug: 77.0%
- Sep: 82.7%
- Oct: 86.5%
- Nov: 81.7%
- Dec: 82.7%
July is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 23.2 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 67.7% from 155 flights
- August 2023: 85.7% from 155 flights
- September 2023: 65.8% from 150 flights
- October 2023: 86.9% from 153 flights
- November 2023: too few flights to score (118)
- December 2023: 86.1% from 122 flights
- January 2024: 67.0% from 121 flights
- February 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- March 2024: 79.4% from 126 flights
- April 2024: 72.5% from 120 flights
- May 2024: 60.0% from 155 flights
- June 2024: 71.4% from 150 flights
- July 2024: 57.4% from 155 flights
- August 2024: 72.2% from 155 flights
- September 2024: 86.6% from 150 flights
- October 2024: 87.8% from 156 flights
- November 2024: 85.2% from 149 flights
- December 2024: 76.6% from 137 flights
- January 2025: 78.0% from 130 flights
- February 2025: too few flights to score (116)
- March 2025: 81.0% from 153 flights
- April 2025: 83.4% from 181 flights
- May 2025: 77.7% from 186 flights
- June 2025: 63.4% from 175 flights
- July 2025: 57.8% from 155 flights
- August 2025: 73.6% from 174 flights
- September 2025: 92.7% from 193 flights
- October 2025: 85.0% from 180 flights
- November 2025: 81.1% from 148 flights
- December 2025: 85.7% from 140 flights
- January 2026: 88.8% from 129 flights
- February 2026: too few flights to score (111)
- March 2026: 72.0% from 145 flights
- April 2026: 89.0% from 146 flights
- May 2026: 86.1% from 166 flights
- June 2026: 72.6% from 180 flights
- July 2026: 69.8% from 159 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 81.4% against 77.7% in the 12 months before — improving by 3.7 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 5,510 IAH → IAD 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