Route profile
IAH→PHX
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Houston to Phoenix, 1,009 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 46% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 8,552 flights. How this is calculated
IAH → PHX arrives on time 78.9% of the time; the return trip, PHX → IAH, arrives on time 83.0% of the time, a 4.1-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
IAH → PHX spends 29.7 minutes on the ground on a 1,009-mile trip: 20.9 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at IAH and 8.9 minutes from touchdown to gate at PHX.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
The airline matters unusually much on this route, a wider carrier-to-carrier gap than 98% of 2,692 comparable routes.
Envoy Air arrived on time 86.5% of the time, against 62.1% for Frontier Airlines, flying the exact same route.
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 2,692 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where IAH to PHX differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
IAH to PHX struggles most at 10 PM: 48.8% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 15.9 points behind the 64.7% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 22.9 points.
IAH to PHX is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 5 PM: 82.5% arrive on time, 15.1 points ahead of the 67.4% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 12.7 points.
December is kinder to IAH to PHX than to routes of similar length: 86.0% on time against 77.5%, 8.5 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 7.3 points.
Frontier Airlines’ flights on IAH to PHX arrive on time 62.1% of the time, 11 points below the 73.1% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 9.2 points.
American Airlines does better on IAH to PHX than on its routes of similar length: 81.7% on time here, 73.9% there, 7.8 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 6.6 points.
IAH to PHX against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 10 PM departures | 48.8% | routes of similar length | 64.7% | −15.9 pts | 172 here, 32,265 there |
| Hour: 5 PM departures | 82.5% | routes of similar length | 67.4% | +15.1 pts | 137 here, 180,604 there |
| Month: December | 86.0% | routes of similar length | 77.5% | +8.5 pts | 735 here, 246,621 there |
| Airline: Frontier Airlines | 62.1% | routes of similar length | 73.1% | −11.0 pts | 870 here, 148,006 there |
| Airline: American Airlines | 81.7% | routes of similar length | 73.9% | +7.8 pts | 1,318 here, 559,601 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 1,009 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.
Why IAH → PHX flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
IAH → PHX cancelled 82 of 8,552 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 104. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 56.1% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 186 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 82 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
46 cancellations, 56.1% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
23 cancellations, 28.0% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
13 cancellations, 15.9% of the total.
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.
82 coded cancellations were recorded on IAH → PHX; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
46 min late
against a median of 6 min early
Percentiles over 8,552 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at PHX after arriving from IAH.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 37% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 20% | High risk |
| 60 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 7.9% | 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 0.96% of the time and diverts 0.18% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 8,455 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 46 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 8,552 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
IAH → PHX flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 87.5% of the time, against 60.3% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 27.2 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 94.1% on time from 458 flights
- 8 AM: 84.7% on time from 929 flights
- 9 AM: 82.5% on time from 230 flights
- 10 AM: 83.2% on time from 969 flights
- 11 AM: 71.8% on time from 184 flights
- 12 PM: 81.7% on time from 474 flights
- 1 PM: 75.7% on time from 143 flights
- 2 PM: 81.9% on time from 2,106 flights
- 3 PM: too few flights to score
- 4 PM: 73.9% on time from 481 flights
- 5 PM: 82.5% on time from 138 flights
- 6 PM: 71.8% on time from 654 flights
- 7 PM: 63.4% on time from 289 flights
- 8 PM: 74.2% on time from 892 flights
- 9 PM: 69.6% on time from 219 flights
- 10 PM: 48.8% on time from 175 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why IAH → 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
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for IAH → PHX. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on IAH → PHX, at 44.4%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 87.5% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 60.3%.
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 | 5,089 | 80.2% | 0.77% | -6 min | 7.1% |
| American Airlines | 1,336 | 81.7% | 1.20% | -9 min | 8.4% |
| SkyWest Airlines | 883 | 80.8% | 1.13% | -3 min | 6.7% |
| Frontier Airlines | 882 | 62.1% | 1.13% | 3 min | 14.7% |
| Envoy Air | 354 | 86.5% | 1.98% | -11 min | 6.1% |
United Airlines flew 59.6% of the 8,544 flights listed. Envoy Air cancelled 1.98% of its flights here against 0.77% for United Airlines.
Envoy Air arrived on time 24.4 percentage points more often than Frontier Airlines on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 8.5 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 82.7%
- Feb: 86.9%
- Mar: 79.7%
- Apr: 82.4%
- May: 72.5%
- Jun: 64.2%
- Jul: 70.0%
- Aug: 79.1%
- Sep: 81.0%
- Oct: 81.3%
- Nov: 81.6%
- Dec: 86.0%
June is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 22.7 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 74.8% from 164 flights
- August 2023: 89.7% from 166 flights
- September 2023: 77.8% from 168 flights
- October 2023: 81.7% from 191 flights
- November 2023: 88.3% from 223 flights
- December 2023: 90.8% from 218 flights
- January 2024: 79.0% from 210 flights
- February 2024: 82.7% from 197 flights
- March 2024: 77.7% from 235 flights
- April 2024: 77.2% from 224 flights
- May 2024: 65.2% from 214 flights
- June 2024: 64.9% from 204 flights
- July 2024: 58.1% from 206 flights
- August 2024: 76.4% from 194 flights
- September 2024: 82.3% from 192 flights
- October 2024: 87.9% from 225 flights
- November 2024: 87.3% from 229 flights
- December 2024: 80.2% from 249 flights
- January 2025: 81.4% from 228 flights
- February 2025: 86.3% from 257 flights
- March 2025: 82.2% from 343 flights
- April 2025: 84.5% from 338 flights
- May 2025: 75.6% from 285 flights
- June 2025: 59.5% from 217 flights
- July 2025: 70.3% from 215 flights
- August 2025: 72.8% from 197 flights
- September 2025: 82.4% from 191 flights
- October 2025: 75.1% from 254 flights
- November 2025: 71.0% from 266 flights
- December 2025: 87.4% from 270 flights
- January 2026: 86.8% from 254 flights
- February 2026: 90.9% from 242 flights
- March 2026: 78.4% from 302 flights
- April 2026: 84.1% from 248 flights
- May 2026: 75.0% from 256 flights
- June 2026: 67.9% from 235 flights
- July 2026: 75.8% from 245 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 79.0% against 79.9% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 8,552 IAH → 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