Route profile
IAH→SLC
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Houston to Salt Lake City, 1,195 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 6,055 flights. How this is calculated
IAH → SLC arrives on time 81.7% of the time; the return trip, SLC → IAH, arrives on time 83.5% of the time.
IAH → SLC spends 26.0 minutes on the ground on a 1,195-mile trip: 18.9 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at IAH and 7.1 minutes from touchdown to gate at SLC.
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 92% of 4,467 comparable routes.
83.4% on time on the best day (Thursday) against 78.7% on the worst (Sunday).
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 SLC differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
IAH to SLC is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 6 PM: 81.3% arrive on time, 13.6 points ahead of the 67.7% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 12.7 points.
IAH to SLC struggles most at 7 AM: 85.7% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 2.5 points behind the 88.2% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 2.1 points.
IAH to SLC holds up on Thursdays better than routes of similar length do: 83.4% on time to their 75.8%, a 7.6 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 6.6 points.
March is kinder to IAH to SLC than to routes of similar length: 84.4% on time against 75.6%, 8.8 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 6.5 points.
Delta Air Lines does better on IAH to SLC than on its routes of similar length: 83.2% on time here, 80.7% there, 2.5 points apart.
IAH to SLC against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 6 PM departures | 81.3% | routes of similar length | 67.7% | +13.6 pts | 262 here, 127,044 there |
| Hour: 7 AM departures | 85.7% | routes of similar length | 88.2% | −2.5 pts | 1,050 here, 168,993 there |
| Weekday: Thursday | 83.4% | routes of similar length | 75.8% | +7.6 pts | 883 here, 291,047 there |
| Month: March | 84.4% | routes of similar length | 75.6% | +8.8 pts | 620 here, 175,599 there |
| Airline: Delta Air Lines | 83.2% | routes of similar length | 80.7% | +2.5 pts | 3,141 here, 350,746 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 1,195 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
41 min late
against a median of 8 min early
Percentiles over 6,055 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SLC after arriving from IAH.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 32% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 18% | High risk |
| 60 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 7.1% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.9% | 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 0.76% 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 5,998 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 41 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 6,055 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
IAH → SLC flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 86.2% of the time, against 75.0% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 11.2 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 85.7% on time from 1,060 flights
- 8 AM: too few flights to score
- 9 AM: 86.3% on time from 941 flights
- 10 AM: too few flights to score
- 11 AM: 84.0% on time from 780 flights
- 12 PM: 83.7% on time from 709 flights
- 1 PM to 3 PM: too few flights to score
- 4 PM: 79.1% on time from 197 flights
- 5 PM: 80.6% on time from 144 flights
- 6 PM: 81.3% on time from 265 flights
- 7 PM: 77.8% on time from 870 flights
- 8 PM: 70.0% on time from 832 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why IAH → SLC runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
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 → SLC. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 3,162 | 83.2% | 0.47% | -10 min | 6.8% |
| United Airlines | 2,588 | 80.1% | 1.12% | -5 min | 7.2% |
| SkyWest Airlines | 305 | 79.5% | 0.66% | -8 min | 11.2% |
Delta Air Lines flew 52.2% of the 6,055 flights listed.
Delta Air Lines arrived on time 3.7 percentage points more often than SkyWest 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
Thursday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 4.7 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 81.2%
- Feb: 87.0%
- Mar: 84.4%
- Apr: 81.6%
- May: 72.7%
- Jun: 76.4%
- Jul: 76.2%
- Aug: 82.6%
- Sep: 84.3%
- Oct: 85.2%
- Nov: 85.9%
- Dec: 82.8%
May is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 14.3 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 81.9% from 183 flights
- August 2023: 86.3% from 184 flights
- September 2023: 77.3% from 164 flights
- October 2023: 82.8% from 145 flights
- November 2023: too few flights to score (109)
- December 2023: 88.3% from 145 flights
- January 2024: 72.2% from 186 flights
- February 2024: 89.3% from 177 flights
- March 2024: 82.7% from 210 flights
- April 2024: 81.3% from 150 flights
- May 2024: 61.9% from 151 flights
- June 2024: 76.8% from 152 flights
- July 2024: 60.3% from 152 flights
- August 2024: 83.5% from 160 flights
- September 2024: 84.9% from 173 flights
- October 2024: 90.6% from 170 flights
- November 2024: 86.8% from 136 flights
- December 2024: 80.0% from 172 flights
- January 2025: 79.7% from 178 flights
- February 2025: 81.6% from 174 flights
- March 2025: 89.3% from 206 flights
- April 2025: 81.7% from 176 flights
- May 2025: 77.2% from 149 flights
- June 2025: 75.0% from 150 flights
- July 2025: 77.8% from 154 flights
- August 2025: 77.4% from 160 flights
- September 2025: 90.7% from 161 flights
- October 2025: 81.4% from 146 flights
- November 2025: 79.6% from 137 flights
- December 2025: 81.0% from 185 flights
- January 2026: 91.1% from 193 flights
- February 2026: 90.2% from 175 flights
- March 2026: 81.1% from 211 flights
- April 2026: 81.8% from 144 flights
- May 2026: 79.1% from 149 flights
- June 2026: 77.5% from 142 flights
- July 2026: 82.8% from 146 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 83.0% against 82.5% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 6,055 IAH → SLC 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