IAH → LGA Flight Reliability

Right now

Origin · IAHNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 07:53 UTC

Houston airport profile →

Destination · LGANo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 07:51 UTC

New York airport profile →

Route reliability

July 2023 – July 2026

Route Reliability Score

50/ 100Fair

Better than 15% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)

Calculated from 12,397 flights. How this is calculated

On-time arrivals

75.4%

9,043 of 12,001

Cancellation rate

2.25%

279 cancelled

Median arrival delay

-6 min

Average 10.5 min

Severe delays

10.5%

60+ minutes late

Delay when late

79 min

Average, when 15+ min late

Flights analyzed

12,397

4 carriers

IAH → LGA arrives on time 75.4% of the time; the return trip, LGA → IAH, arrives on time 78.7% of the time, a 3.4-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.

IAH → LGA spends 27.0 minutes on the ground on a 1,416-mile trip: 19.5 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at IAH and 7.6 minutes from touchdown to gate at LGA.

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

Why IAH → LGA flights are cancelled

July 2023 – July 2026

IAH → LGA cancelled 279 of 12,397 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 44. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 55.2% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 81 scheduled flights.

Share of cancellations

Weather55.2%

Airline29.4%

Air traffic15.4%

Security0.0%

Of 279 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.

What each reason means

Extreme weather1 in 81

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

154 cancellations, 55.2% of the total.

The airline1 in 151

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

82 cancellations, 29.4% of the total.

The air traffic system1 in 288

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

43 cancellations, 15.4% 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.

279 coded cancellations were recorded on IAH → LGA; the section appears from 50.

When it goes wrong

July 2023 – July 2026

One arrival in ten is worse than

63 min late

against a median of 6 min early

Arrived an hour or more late10.5%

Typical delay when late79 min

Cancelled2.25%

Landed somewhere else0.94%

IAH → LGA has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 6 min early, but the worst tenth are 69 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 12,397 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.

Will your connection be tight enough?

Layovers at LGA after arriving from IAH.

Connection buffer and chance of missing by layover length, IAH → LGA arrivals
Connection time	Chance of missing	Reads as
30 min	38%	Likely to miss
45 min	24%	High risk
60 min	17%	High risk
90 min	10%	Some risk
120 min	6.8%	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 2.25% of the time and diverts 0.94% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.

Chance of missing is the share of 12,001 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 63 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 12,397 operations.

Any other layover length: connection checker.

Best time to fly

IAH → LGA flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 88.7% of the time, against 68.2% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 20.5 percentage points.

By day and hour

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

Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 8.5 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 3.0 points.

On-time arrival rate for IAH to LGA by weekday and scheduled departure hour, local time. Each button reads out one slot.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
6 AM–7 AM
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

On-time rate, % · stronger color, fewer on time

60–64
65–69
70–74
75–79
80–84
85–89
90–94

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 after 7 PM (252 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 IAH to LGA. A dash means fewer than 120 flights, which are not scored.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
6 AM–7 AM	85.4% on time126 flights	91.9% on time129 flights	88.2% on time122 flights	87.2% on time126 flights	90.8% on time122 flights	67 flights, too few to score	72 flights, too few to score
7 AM–8 AM	84.9% on time193 flights	91.5% on time194 flights	91.6% on time195 flights	87.0% on time194 flights	90.3% on time189 flights	119 flights, too few to score	85.9% on time145 flights
8 AM–9 AM	89.0% on time149 flights	90.2% on time147 flights	92.9% on time146 flights	90.1% on time145 flights	85.1% on time144 flights	88.4% on time125 flights	85.9% on time144 flights
9 AM–10 AM	97 flights, too few to score	95 flights, too few to score	98 flights, too few to score	95 flights, too few to score	93 flights, too few to score	5 flights, too few to score	97 flights, too few to score
10 AM–11 AM	77.5% on time161 flights	78.3% on time162 flights	83.9% on time160 flights	80.3% on time161 flights	79.4% on time161 flights	10 flights, too few to score	80.1% on time139 flights
11 AM–12 PM	88 flights, too few to score	87 flights, too few to score	85 flights, too few to score	86 flights, too few to score	92 flights, too few to score	69 flights, too few to score	77 flights, too few to score
12 PM–1 PM	115 flights, too few to score	114 flights, too few to score	113 flights, too few to score	109 flights, too few to score	94 flights, too few to score	100 flights, too few to score	103 flights, too few to score
1 PM–2 PM	33 flights, too few to score	23 flights, too few to score	33 flights, too few to score	23 flights, too few to score	33 flights, too few to score	56 flights, too few to score	23 flights, too few to score
2 PM–3 PM	61.2% on time238 flights	68.7% on time239 flights	71.7% on time238 flights	68.1% on time235 flights	61.1% on time236 flights	84 flights, too few to score	64.6% on time234 flights
3 PM–4 PM	33 flights, too few to score	33 flights, too few to score	32 flights, too few to score	33 flights, too few to score	35 flights, too few to score	44 flights, too few to score	31 flights, too few to score
4 PM–5 PM	67.9% on time166 flights	72.2% on time166 flights	73.0% on time166 flights	60.1% on time166 flights	65.2% on time161 flights	79.9% on time186 flights	66.4% on time164 flights
5 PM–6 PM	70.1% on time165 flights	74.2% on time164 flights	72.0% on time163 flights	67.1% on time158 flights	68.0% on time161 flights	99 flights, too few to score	62.3% on time164 flights
6 PM–7 PM	64.9% on time319 flights	72.1% on time317 flights	68.4% on time316 flights	69.0% on time316 flights	63.5% on time316 flights	79.8% on time167 flights	63.4% on time317 flights

By departure window

5–9 AM88.7%

9 AM–12 PM78.2%

12–3 PM69.1%

3–6 PM69.6%

6–9 PM68.2%

By departure hour

12 AM

3 AM

6 AM

9 AM

12 PM

3 PM

6 PM

9 PM

Why IAH → LGA runs late

July 2023 – July 2026

Air traffic control36.3%

airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control

The airline29.4%

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

Late-arriving aircraft28.7%

the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late

Weather5.6%

weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically

Security0.1%

screening or terminal security incidents

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

How this route holds up in bad weather

July 2023 – July 2026

Bad weather raises cancellations by a similar amount at both ends of IAH to LGA: 3.4 times the normal rate at IAH and 4.1 times at LGA. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: IAH 4.1% against 1.2%, LGA 9.0% against 2.2%. Flights that did leave LGA in bad weather arrived on time 63.6% of the time, against 80.9% in normal hours.

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026

Departures from IAH and LGA in hours of bad weather and in normal hours
Departures from	IAH	LGA
Cancelled in bad weather	4.1%	9.0%
Cancelled in normal hours	1.2%	2.2%
Arrived on time, bad weather	63.8%	63.6%
Arrived on time, normal hours	78.6%	80.9%
Departures in bad weather	28,922	56,339

Of the carriers on this route, United Airlines (3.4% cancelled against 5.2% for the other carriers at IAH) cancelled the fewest departures from IAH in bad weather and SkyWest Airlines (8.0% cancelled against 4.0% for the other carriers at IAH) the most.

This route’s airlines in bad weather at IAH

All departures from IAH

Cancellation rates in bad weather at IAH for the airlines that fly IAH to LGA, against the other carriers at IAH in the same months
Airline	Bad-weather departures	Cancelled	Other carriers
United Airlines	17,078	3.4%below the others	5.2%
Delta Air Lines	2,231	2.9%below the others	4.3%
Spirit Airlines	2,056	4.3%about level	4.4%
SkyWest Airlines	3,151	8.0%above the others	4.0%

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

Weather source and limits. In full: IAH (airlines), LGA, 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
United Airlines	6,323	73.7%	1.79%	-5 min	11.4%
Delta Air Lines	4,097	78.4%	2.51%	-10 min	9.3%
Spirit Airlines	1,170	70.7%	3.25%	-6 min	12.8%
SkyWest Airlines	650	79.9%	2.46%	-3 min	5.9%

United Airlines flew 51.7% of the 12,240 flights listed. Spirit Airlines cancelled 3.25% of its flights here against 1.79% for United Airlines.

SkyWest Airlines arrived on time 9.2 percentage points more often than Spirit Airlines on this route.

Other ways to fly Houston to New York

Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.

Other ways to fly Houston to New York
Route	Flights	On time	Cancelled	Median delay	Score
IAH→LGA this route Houston to New York	12,397	75.4%	2.25%	-6 min	50
IAH→EWR Houston to Newark	11,534	75.3%	2.16%	-6 min	52

Flying to LGA from the Houston area? Compare IAH, HOU for LGA, with the same test for what counts as a real difference.

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
DL1417 Delta Air Lines	7:00 AM	762	88.3%

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

Mon73.0%

Tue78.0%

Wed78.3%

Thu74.1%

Fri73.4%

Sat80.9%

Sun71.6%

Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 9.3 percentage points.

By month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

July is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 20.8 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 72.5% against 76.8% in the 12 months before — declining by 4.3 percentage points.

Data and methodology

Calculated by FlyerIntel from 12,397 IAH → LGA 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

IAH airport LGA airport Return direction LGA → IAH

IAH→LGA

Right now

Route reliability

Why IAH → LGA 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 IAH → LGA 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 IAH

Airlines on this route

Other ways to fly Houston to New York

Flights on this route

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

By month

Reliability over time

Data and methodology