Route profile
LAX→JFK
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Los Angeles to New York, 2,475 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 43% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 31,153 flights. How this is calculated
LAX → JFK arrives on time 79.8% of the time; the return trip, JFK → LAX, arrives on time 79.8% of the time.
LAX → JFK spends 29.7 minutes on the ground on a 2,475-mile trip: 18.4 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at LAX and 11.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at JFK.
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 90% of 4,467 comparable routes.
81.6% on time on the best day (Tuesday) against 76.7% 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.
Why LAX → JFK flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
LAX → JFK cancelled 397 of 31,153 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 78. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 53.1% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 148 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 397 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.
211 cancellations, 53.1% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
116 cancellations, 29.2% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
70 cancellations, 17.6% 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.
397 coded cancellations were recorded on LAX → JFK; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
47 min late
against a median of 10 min early
Percentiles over 31,153 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at JFK after arriving from LAX.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 33% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 20% | High risk |
| 60 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 8.2% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 5.6% | 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 1.27% of the time and diverts 0.61% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 30,566 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 47 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 31,153 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
LAX → JFK flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 87.4% of the time, against 71.6% for 12–3 PM departures, a gap of 15.8 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 5.9 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 1.5 points.
| Hour | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
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On-time rate, % · stronger color, fewer on time
- 64–67
- 68–71
- 72–75
- 76–79
- 80–83
- 84–87
- 88–91
- 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 6 AM (473 flights) are not drawn: no slot in those hours has enough flights to score.
View as tableHide table
| Hour | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 AM–7 AM | 88.3% on time454 flights | 88.5% on time438 flights | 89.7% on time434 flights | 91.5% on time453 flights | 89.7% on time445 flights | 90.3% on time424 flights | 86.8% on time449 flights |
| 7 AM–8 AM | 86.8% on time432 flights | 86.9% on time440 flights | 88.1% on time423 flights | 89.5% on time429 flights | 89.9% on time444 flights | 87.4% on time405 flights | 88.3% on time435 flights |
| 8 AM–9 AM | 81.8% on time236 flights | 84.0% on time224 flights | 81.8% on time227 flights | 85.2% on time234 flights | 79.4% on time221 flights | 78.1% on time197 flights | 81.5% on time226 flights |
| 9 AM–10 AM | 79.0% on time259 flights | 81.4% on time255 flights | 79.0% on time254 flights | 78.7% on time258 flights | 76.9% on time255 flights | 79.5% on time209 flights | 72.5% on time264 flights |
| 10 AM–11 AM | 79.9% on time314 flights | 78.8% on time318 flights | 74.4% on time319 flights | 74.8% on time315 flights | 84.7% on time321 flights | 75.2% on time170 flights | 73.6% on time309 flights |
| 11 AM–12 PM | 71.7% on time365 flights | 79.1% on time372 flights | 73.1% on time362 flights | 74.0% on time374 flights | 73.6% on time373 flights | 73.0% on time293 flights | 71.8% on time372 flights |
| 12 PM–1 PM | 75.1% on time364 flights | 72.0% on time362 flights | 72.0% on time356 flights | 70.8% on time355 flights | 70.1% on time364 flights | 68.1% on time266 flights | 69.7% on time355 flights |
| 1 PM–2 PM | 71.4% on time290 flights | 69.6% on time285 flights | 70.3% on time288 flights | 66.3% on time280 flights | 75.5% on time287 flights | 66.7% on time159 flights | 66.7% on time291 flights |
| 2 PM–3 PM | 75.5% on time203 flights | 80.7% on time183 flights | 76.7% on time196 flights | 73.6% on time209 flights | 79.0% on time213 flights | 69.5% on time147 flights | 68.3% on time203 flights |
| 3 PM–4 PM | 81.0% on time311 flights | 82.3% on time324 flights | 77.1% on time314 flights | 76.9% on time299 flights | 82.5% on time308 flights | 76.6% on time268 flights | 70.4% on time304 flights |
| 4 PM–5 PM | 80.5% on time202 flights | 78.9% on time148 flights | 84.6% on time156 flights | 78.0% on time201 flights | 83.9% on time199 flights | 83 flights, too few to score | 70.6% on time203 flights |
| 5 PM–6 PM | 1 flight, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 1 flight, too few to score | 1 flight, too few to score | 1 flight, too few to score | 5 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score |
| 6 PM–7 PM | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score |
| 7 PM–8 PM | 0 flights, too few to score | 1 flight, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score |
| 8 PM–9 PM | 76.0% on time128 flights | 86.3% on time125 flights | 80.5% on time123 flights | 76.1% on time134 flights | 80.3% on time136 flights | 84.8% on time126 flights | 79.1% on time137 flights |
| 9 PM–10 PM | 82.4% on time268 flights | 84.3% on time241 flights | 84.7% on time249 flights | 78.0% on time256 flights | 84.8% on time259 flights | 85.8% on time246 flights | 80.6% on time274 flights |
| 10 PM–11 PM | 84.0% on time396 flights | 82.2% on time350 flights | 80.5% on time349 flights | 81.4% on time396 flights | 82.8% on time399 flights | 84.6% on time322 flights | 78.8% on time376 flights |
| 11 PM–12 AM | 77.3% on time356 flights | 86.2% on time343 flights | 81.6% on time332 flights | 81.1% on time354 flights | 79.5% on time379 flights | 80.0% on time275 flights | 79.1% on time364 flights |
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM: 75.8% on time from 168 flights
- 1 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 90.0% on time from 305 flights
- 6 AM: 89.3% on time from 3,097 flights
- 7 AM: 88.1% on time from 3,008 flights
- 8 AM: 81.8% on time from 1,565 flights
- 9 AM: 78.1% on time from 1,754 flights
- 10 AM: 77.5% on time from 2,066 flights
- 11 AM: 73.8% on time from 2,511 flights
- 12 PM: 71.2% on time from 2,422 flights
- 1 PM: 69.7% on time from 1,880 flights
- 2 PM: 74.9% on time from 1,354 flights
- 3 PM: 78.2% on time from 2,128 flights
- 4 PM: 79.2% on time from 1,192 flights
- 5 PM to 7 PM: too few flights to score
- 8 PM: 80.4% on time from 909 flights
- 9 PM: 82.9% on time from 1,793 flights
- 10 PM: 82.0% on time from 2,588 flights
- 11 PM: 80.7% on time from 2,403 flights
Why LAX → JFK 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
screening or terminal security incidents
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for LAX → JFK. 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 JFK, where the flight lands. Its figure counts departures from JFK, so it says more about how that airport copes than about this route. Bad weather cancels 3.5 times the normal rate at JFK against 1.3 times at LAX. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: LAX 1.0% against 0.8%, JFK 6.0% against 1.7%. Flights that did leave JFK in bad weather arrived on time 64.1% of the time, against 79.7% in normal hours.
Bad weather and normal hours at the airports
Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026| Departures from | LAX | JFK |
|---|---|---|
| Cancelled in bad weather | 1.0% | 6.0% |
| Cancelled in normal hours | 0.8% | 1.7% |
| Arrived on time, bad weather | 78.9% | 64.1% |
| Arrived on time, normal hours | 81.4% | 79.7% |
| Departures in bad weather | 60,639 | 46,497 |
Of the carriers on this route, American Airlines (0.8% cancelled against 1.1% for the other carriers at LAX) cancelled the fewest departures from LAX in bad weather and Frontier Airlines (3.1% cancelled against 1.0% for the other carriers at LAX) the most.
This route’s airlines in bad weather at LAX
All departures from LAX| Airline | Bad-weather departures | Cancelled | Other carriers |
|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 9,554 | 0.8%below the others | 1.1% |
| Delta Air Lines | 11,619 | 0.9%about level | 1.0% |
| JetBlue | 2,801 | 1.0%about level | 1.0% |
| Frontier Airlines | 1,064 | 3.1%above the others | 1.0% |
These are airport figures, not route figures: every scheduled departure from LAX and JFK, 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), JFK, 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.
| Carrier | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Severe |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JetBlue | 10,519 | 79.5% | 1.54% | -11 min | 8.4% |
| Delta Air Lines | 10,288 | 79.6% | 1.03% | -9 min | 7.5% |
| American Airlines | 10,083 | 80.5% | 1.27% | -12 min | 8.8% |
| Frontier Airlines | 263 | 73.5% | 0.38% | -8 min | 10.4% |
JetBlue flew 33.8% of the 31,153 flights listed. JetBlue cancelled 1.54% of its flights here against 0.38% for Frontier Airlines.
American Airlines arrived on time 7.0 percentage points more often than Frontier Airlines on this route.
Other ways to fly Los Angeles to New York
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LAX→JFK this route Los Angeles to New York | 31,153 | 79.8% | 1.27% | -10 min | 63 |
| LAX→EWR Los Angeles to Newark | 16,286 | 79.6% | 1.90% | -10 min | 62 |
Flying to JFK from the Los Angeles area? Compare LAX, SNA, BUR, ONT for JFK, 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.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA118 American Airlines | 6:00 AM | 1,122 | 89.6% |
| AA2 American Airlines | 7:00 AM | 1,121 | 84.2% |
| AA4 American Airlines | 3:20 PM | 1,113 | 77.4% |
| AA274 American Airlines | 12:30 PM | 1,106 | 67.5% |
| AA32 American Airlines | 6:00 AM | 1,106 | 80.6% |
| AA28 American Airlines | 10:52 PM | 1,096 | 80.7% |
| AA10 American Airlines | 9:30 PM | 1,095 | 89.5% |
| B61524 JetBlue | 3:10 PM | 1,043 | 78.1% |
| AA238 American Airlines | 6:00 AM | 1,030 | 78.5% |
| B6524 JetBlue | 4:10 PM | 1,016 | 76.9% |
AA118 (6:00 AM) arrived on time 89.6% of the time, 22.1 points more often than AA274 (12:30 PM) at 67.5%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 4.9 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 81.6%
- Feb: 83.4%
- Mar: 79.2%
- Apr: 84.0%
- May: 80.0%
- Jun: 73.7%
- Jul: 69.0%
- Aug: 78.9%
- Sep: 82.9%
- Oct: 84.1%
- Nov: 85.8%
- Dec: 79.6%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 16.8 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 63.1% from 868 flights
- August 2023: 74.5% from 875 flights
- September 2023: 73.7% from 840 flights
- October 2023: 81.8% from 878 flights
- November 2023: 83.3% from 827 flights
- December 2023: 75.1% from 820 flights
- January 2024: 81.0% from 752 flights
- February 2024: 86.6% from 722 flights
- March 2024: 79.0% from 787 flights
- April 2024: 80.8% from 784 flights
- May 2024: 80.0% from 828 flights
- June 2024: 75.7% from 820 flights
- July 2024: 72.5% from 887 flights
- August 2024: 78.2% from 876 flights
- September 2024: 90.8% from 855 flights
- October 2024: 87.5% from 887 flights
- November 2024: 94.3% from 844 flights
- December 2024: 85.4% from 873 flights
- January 2025: 88.9% from 775 flights
- February 2025: 88.6% from 715 flights
- March 2025: 85.6% from 838 flights
- April 2025: 84.9% from 850 flights
- May 2025: 76.1% from 875 flights
- June 2025: 69.5% from 871 flights
- July 2025: 71.3% from 922 flights
- August 2025: 83.6% from 911 flights
- September 2025: 83.8% from 857 flights
- October 2025: 83.0% from 897 flights
- November 2025: 79.7% from 860 flights
- December 2025: 78.1% from 894 flights
- January 2026: 74.8% from 825 flights
- February 2026: 74.4% from 727 flights
- March 2026: 73.1% from 848 flights
- April 2026: 86.1% from 855 flights
- May 2026: 83.9% from 870 flights
- June 2026: 76.2% from 821 flights
- July 2026: 68.9% from 919 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 78.9% against 83.2% in the 12 months before — declining by 4.3 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 31,153 LAX → JFK 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