Route profile
LAX→MCI
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Los Angeles to Kansas City, 1,363 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 85% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 4,058 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
LAX → MCI arrives on time 83.5% of the time; the return trip, MCI → LAX, arrives on time 80.6% of the time, a 2.9-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
LAX → MCI spends 20.7 minutes on the ground on a 1,363-mile trip: 14.5 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at LAX and 6.1 minutes from touchdown to gate at MCI.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route holds up about the same all year, a steadier seasonal pattern than 91% of 3,357 comparable routes.
89.2% on time in its best month (January) against 78.2% in its worst (June).
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 3,357 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where LAX to MCI differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
LAX to MCI is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 2 PM: 82.8% arrive on time, 9.7 points ahead of the 73.1% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 8.2 points.
LAX to MCI holds up on Saturdays better than routes of similar length do: 86.5% on time to their 78.4%, a 8.1 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 7.4 points.
January is kinder to LAX to MCI than to routes of similar length: 89.2% on time against 78.6%, 10.6 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 10.1 points.
Spirit Airlines does better on LAX to MCI than on its routes of similar length: 85.1% on time here, 74.4% there, 10.7 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 9.9 points.
LAX to MCI against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 2 PM departures | 82.8% | routes of similar length | 73.1% | +9.7 pts | 285 here, 98,874 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 86.5% | routes of similar length | 78.4% | +8.1 pts | 535 here, 225,082 there |
| Month: January | 89.2% | routes of similar length | 78.6% | +10.6 pts | 204 here, 127,589 there |
| Airline: Spirit Airlines | 85.1% | routes of similar length | 74.4% | +10.7 pts | 699 here, 75,179 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 1,363 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
30 min late
against a median of 7 min early
Percentiles over 4,058 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at MCI after arriving from LAX.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 33% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 16% | High risk |
| 60 min | 9.8% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.0% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.0% | 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 0.64% of the time and diverts 0.27% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 4,021 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 30 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 4,058 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
LAX → MCI flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 91.7% of the time, against 67.9% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 23.8 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 95.4% on time from 152 flights
- 6 AM: 92.6% on time from 297 flights
- 7 AM: 93.6% on time from 220 flights
- 8 AM: 88.6% on time from 417 flights
- 9 AM: 90.5% on time from 849 flights
- 10 AM: 85.1% on time from 253 flights
- 11 AM to 12 PM: too few flights to score
- 1 PM: 80.1% on time from 197 flights
- 2 PM: 82.8% on time from 288 flights
- 3 PM to 5 PM: too few flights to score
- 6 PM: 76.0% on time from 685 flights
- 7 PM: 69.6% on time from 160 flights
- 8 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why LAX → MCI 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
screening or terminal security incidents
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for LAX → MCI. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on LAX → MCI, at 44.5%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 91.7% of the time and 3–6 PM departures 67.9%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 1,722 | 79.1% | 0.46% | -3 min | 5.5% |
| Delta Air Lines | 1,512 | 87.1% | 0.79% | -11 min | 5.0% |
| Spirit Airlines | 708 | 85.1% | 0.85% | -7 min | 5.2% |
Southwest Airlines flew 43.7% of the 3,942 flights listed.
Delta Air Lines arrived on time 8.0 percentage points more often than Southwest Airlines on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| DL1517 Delta Air Lines | 9:30 AM | 794 | 90.3% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 7.0 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 89.2%
- Feb: 87.1%
- Mar: 80.3%
- Apr: 85.0%
- May: 84.5%
- Jun: 78.2%
- Jul: 80.1%
- Aug: 84.1%
- Sep: 88.9%
- Oct: 84.8%
- Nov: 84.5%
- Dec: 80.8%
June is historically the weakest month and January the strongest, a spread of 11.0 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 81.4% from 142 flights
- August 2023: 79.7% from 149 flights
- September 2023: 88.1% from 151 flights
- October 2023: 81.3% from 140 flights
- November 2023: 84.8% from 132 flights
- December 2023: 81.7% from 143 flights
- January 2024: too few flights to score (84)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (78)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (114)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (113)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (115)
- June 2024: too few flights to score (114)
- July 2024: too few flights to score (117)
- August 2024: too few flights to score (111)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (107)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (106)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (98)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (94)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (61)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (55)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (87)
- April 2025: too few flights to score (74)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (110)
- June 2025: too few flights to score (119)
- July 2025: 87.2% from 121 flights
- August 2025: too few flights to score (113)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (113)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (104)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (99)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (78)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (66)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (76)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (105)
- April 2026: 85.8% from 127 flights
- May 2026: 86.2% from 135 flights
- June 2026: 74.2% from 151 flights
- July 2026: 77.6% from 156 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 82.7% against 86.6% in the 12 months before — declining by 3.9 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 4,058 LAX → MCI 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