LAX → HNL Flight Reliability

Right now

Origin · LAXNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 07:53 UTC

Los Angeles airport profile →

Destination · HNLNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 07:53 UTC

Honolulu airport profile →

Route reliability

July 2023 – July 2026

Route Reliability Score

71/ 100Good

Better than 65% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)

Calculated from 17,049 flights. How this is calculated

On-time arrivals

78.8%

13,345 of 16,925

Cancellation rate

0.57%

98 cancelled

Median arrival delay

-5 min

Average 5.4 min

Severe delays

6.2%

60+ minutes late

Delay when late

67 min

Average, when 15+ min late

Flights analyzed

17,049

6 carriers

LAX → HNL arrives on time 78.8% of the time; the return trip, HNL → LAX, arrives on time 83.4% of the time, a 4.5-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.

LAX → HNL spends 25.9 minutes on the ground on a 2,556-mile trip: 17.9 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at LAX and 8.0 minutes from touchdown to gate at HNL.

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 96% of 4,467 comparable routes.

81.0% on time on the best day (Tuesday) against 77.1% on the worst (Thursday).

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.

Why LAX → HNL flights are cancelled

July 2023 – July 2026

LAX → HNL cancelled 98 of 17,049 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 174. The reason filed most often was the airline, 87.8% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 198 scheduled flights.

Share of cancellations

Airline87.8%

Weather10.2%

Air traffic2.0%

Security0.0%

Of 98 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.

What each reason means

The airline1 in 198

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

86 cancellations, 87.8% of the total.

Extreme weather1 in 1,705

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

10 cancellations, 10.2% of the total.

The air traffic system1 in 8,525

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

2 cancellations, 2.0% 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.

98 coded cancellations were recorded on LAX → HNL; the section appears from 50.

When it goes wrong

July 2023 – July 2026

One arrival in ten is worse than

36 min late

against a median of 5 min early

Arrived an hour or more late6.2%

Typical delay when late67 min

Cancelled0.57%

Landed somewhere else0.15%

Percentiles over 17,049 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.

Will your connection be tight enough?

Layovers at HNL after arriving from LAX.

Connection buffer and chance of missing by layover length, LAX → HNL arrivals
Connection time	Chance of missing	Reads as
30 min	39%	Likely to miss
45 min	20%	High risk
60 min	12%	Some risk
90 min	6.0%	Some risk
120 min	3.9%	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 0.57% of the time and diverts 0.15% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.

Chance of missing is the share of 16,925 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 36 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 17,049 operations.

Any other layover length: connection checker.

Best time to fly

LAX → HNL flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 84.8% of the time, against 69.3% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 15.5 percentage points.

By day and hour

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

Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 8.0 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 1.2 points.

On-time arrival rate for LAX to HNL by weekday and scheduled departure hour, local time. Each button reads out one slot.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
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

55–59
60–64
65–69
70–74
75–79
80–84
85–89

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 before 7 AM and after 7 PM (585 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 LAX to HNL. A dash means fewer than 120 flights, which are not scored.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
7 AM–8 AM	83.1% on time376 flights	87.8% on time369 flights	86.4% on time379 flights	84.9% on time377 flights	88.6% on time378 flights	85.8% on time370 flights	87.3% on time367 flights
8 AM–9 AM	83.7% on time462 flights	84.1% on time460 flights	81.8% on time457 flights	82.8% on time466 flights	81.6% on time465 flights	84.3% on time472 flights	87.0% on time463 flights
9 AM–10 AM	77.1% on time145 flights	82.9% on time143 flights	84.5% on time142 flights	81.3% on time140 flights	78.8% on time140 flights	78.8% on time137 flights	74.6% on time143 flights
10 AM–11 AM	64.3% on time146 flights	64.8% on time147 flights	61.8% on time145 flights	59.0% on time148 flights	56.8% on time148 flights	67.4% on time138 flights	62.1% on time149 flights
11 AM–12 PM	47 flights, too few to score	43 flights, too few to score	45 flights, too few to score	48 flights, too few to score	48 flights, too few to score	60 flights, too few to score	51 flights, too few to score
12 PM–1 PM	22 flights, too few to score	23 flights, too few to score	25 flights, too few to score	25 flights, too few to score	24 flights, too few to score	26 flights, too few to score	24 flights, too few to score
1 PM–2 PM	82.8% on time245 flights	81.1% on time218 flights	83.4% on time241 flights	74.6% on time225 flights	80.7% on time244 flights	80.9% on time228 flights	80.3% on time249 flights
2 PM–3 PM	65 flights, too few to score	65 flights, too few to score	63 flights, too few to score	63 flights, too few to score	62 flights, too few to score	63 flights, too few to score	59 flights, too few to score
3 PM–4 PM	110 flights, too few to score	81.1% on time132 flights	106 flights, too few to score	78.6% on time132 flights	113 flights, too few to score	81.0% on time127 flights	112 flights, too few to score
4 PM–5 PM	112 flights, too few to score	110 flights, too few to score	115 flights, too few to score	98 flights, too few to score	113 flights, too few to score	116 flights, too few to score	113 flights, too few to score
5 PM–6 PM	82.2% on time366 flights	80.6% on time364 flights	79.6% on time363 flights	78.1% on time337 flights	77.2% on time366 flights	76.8% on time360 flights	78.3% on time364 flights
6 PM–7 PM	72.5% on time267 flights	77.5% on time263 flights	74.8% on time266 flights	75.1% on time262 flights	72.0% on time268 flights	78.2% on time268 flights	76.8% on time268 flights

By departure window

5–9 AM84.8%

9 AM–12 PM72.7%

12–3 PM79.8%

3–6 PM79.0%

6–9 PM69.3%

9 PM–5 AM—

By departure hour

12 AM

3 AM

6 AM

9 AM

12 PM

3 PM

6 PM

9 PM

Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.

Why LAX → HNL runs late

July 2023 – July 2026

The airline54.0%

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

Late-arriving aircraft34.8%

the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late

Air traffic control10.4%

airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control

Weather0.5%

weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically

Security0.2%

screening or terminal security incidents

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

How this route holds up in bad weather

July 2023 – July 2026

The harder-hit end is HNL, where the flight lands. Its figure counts departures from HNL, so it says more about how that airport copes than about this route. Bad weather cancels 2.7 times the normal rate at HNL against 1.3 times at LAX. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: LAX 1.0% against 0.8%, HNL 2.3% against 0.8%. Flights that did leave HNL in bad weather arrived on time 75.5% of the time, against 85.7% in normal hours.

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026

Departures from LAX and HNL in hours of bad weather and in normal hours
Departures from	LAX	HNL
Cancelled in bad weather	1.0%	2.3%
Cancelled in normal hours	0.8%	0.8%
Arrived on time, bad weather	78.9%	75.5%
Arrived on time, normal hours	81.4%	85.7%
Departures in bad weather	60,639	4,177

Southwest Airlines (0.6% cancelled against 1.1% for the other carriers at LAX) and American Airlines (0.8% cancelled against 1.1% for the other carriers at LAX) cancelled fewer departures from LAX in bad weather than the other carriers there did in the same months. None of the route’s other carriers was clearly worse.

This route’s airlines in bad weather at LAX

All departures from LAX

Cancellation rates in bad weather at LAX for the airlines that fly LAX to HNL, against the other carriers at LAX in the same months
Airline	Bad-weather departures	Cancelled	Other carriers
Southwest Airlines	8,724	0.6%below the others	1.1%
American Airlines	9,554	0.8%below the others	1.1%
Hawaiian Airlines	686	0.7%about level	1.0%
Delta Air Lines	11,619	0.9%about level	1.0%
Alaska Airlines	2,917	1.1%about level	1.0%
United Airlines	8,785	1.2%about level	1.0%

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

Weather source and limits. In full: LAX (airlines), HNL, 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	3,993	83.1%	0.43%	-7 min	6.0%
American Airlines	3,563	80.2%	0.06%	-9 min	5.9%
Delta Air Lines	3,381	80.2%	0.35%	-5 min	6.4%
Hawaiian Airlines	3,050	68.2%	1.54%	4 min	8.2%
Alaska Airlines	1,542	75.8%	1.23%	-3 min	5.9%
Southwest Airlines	1,520	85.3%	0.07%	-11 min	2.9%

United Airlines flew 23.4% of the 17,049 flights listed. Hawaiian Airlines cancelled 1.54% of its flights here against 0.06% for American Airlines.

Southwest Airlines arrived on time 17.1 percentage points more often than Hawaiian Airlines on this route.

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
AA31 American Airlines	8:00 AM	1,127	85.4%
DL480 Delta Air Lines	8:30 AM	1,127	83.5%
UA1170 United Airlines	5:10 PM	1,127	81.6%
UA1158 United Airlines	8:35 AM	1,126	85.3%
AA297 American Airlines	6:40 PM	1,117	77.8%
AA143 American Airlines	3:17 PM	1,074	81.4%
DL465 Delta Air Lines	1:55 PM	1,034	76.3%
DL443 Delta Air Lines	5:55 PM	968	79.3%
UA1431 United Airlines	1:15 PM	922	83.7%

AA31 (8:00 AM) arrived on time 85.4% of the time, 9.1 points more often than DL465 (1:55 PM) at 76.3%.

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

Mon78.8%

Tue81.0%

Wed79.5%

Thu77.1%

Fri77.6%

Sat79.1%

Sun78.9%

Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 3.9 percentage points.

By month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 13.7 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 76.7% against 82.5% in the 12 months before — declining by 5.8 percentage points.

Data and methodology

Calculated by FlyerIntel from 17,049 LAX → HNL 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

LAX airport HNL airport Return direction HNL → LAX

LAX→HNL

Right now

Route reliability

What stands out

Why LAX → HNL 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 LAX → HNL 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 LAX

Airlines on this route

Flights on this route

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

By month

Reliability over time

Data and methodology