Route profile
LAX→MSY
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Los Angeles to New Orleans, 1,670 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 80% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 5,002 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
LAX → MSY arrives on time 82.5% of the time; the return trip, MSY → LAX, arrives on time 81.3% of the time.
LAX → MSY spends 21.9 minutes on the ground on a 1,670-mile trip: 16.2 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at LAX and 5.8 minutes from touchdown to gate at MSY.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where LAX to MSY differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
LAX to MSY is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 7 PM: 77.2% arrive on time, 11.2 points ahead of the 66.0% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 9.4 points.
LAX to MSY holds up on Tuesdays better than routes of similar length do: 88.0% on time to their 80.5%, a 7.5 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 6.4 points.
September is kinder to LAX to MSY than to routes of similar length: 91.8% on time against 81.9%, 9.9 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 9.4 points.
Spirit Airlines does better on LAX to MSY than on its routes of similar length: 84.9% on time here, 75.5% there, 9.4 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 9.7 points.
LAX to MSY against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 7 PM departures | 77.2% | routes of similar length | 66.0% | +11.2 pts | 162 here, 59,464 there |
| Weekday: Tuesday | 88.0% | routes of similar length | 80.5% | +7.5 pts | 652 here, 203,050 there |
| Month: September | 91.8% | routes of similar length | 81.9% | +9.9 pts | 380 here, 117,978 there |
| Airline: Spirit Airlines | 84.9% | routes of similar length | 75.5% | +9.4 pts | 927 here, 42,038 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 1,670 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
29 min late
against a median of 6 min early
Percentiles over 5,002 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at MSY after arriving from LAX.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 35% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 17% | High risk |
| 60 min | 9.6% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.9% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.9% | 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 0.88% of the time and diverts 0.34% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 4,941 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 29 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 5,002 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
LAX → MSY flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 89.0% of the time, against 78.3% for 12–3 PM departures, a gap of 10.7 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 93.1% on time from 218 flights
- 7 AM: 90.5% on time from 926 flights
- 8 AM: 81.8% on time from 334 flights
- 9 AM: 79.7% on time from 370 flights
- 10 AM: 82.8% on time from 328 flights
- 11 AM: 77.0% on time from 226 flights
- 12 PM: 82.4% on time from 498 flights
- 1 PM: 70.8% on time from 323 flights
- 2 PM to 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 80.7% on time from 203 flights
- 6 PM: 78.6% on time from 1,022 flights
- 7 PM: 77.2% on time from 165 flights
- 8 PM to 10 PM: too few flights to score
- 11 PM: 88.0% on time from 144 flights
Why LAX → MSY 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 → MSY. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
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 | 2,903 | 84.2% | 0.86% | -8 min | 5.4% |
| Southwest Airlines | 1,138 | 76.6% | 0.53% | 1 min | 3.5% |
| Spirit Airlines | 941 | 84.9% | 1.38% | -9 min | 5.3% |
Delta Air Lines flew 58.3% of the 4,982 flights listed.
Spirit Airlines arrived on time 8.3 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.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 10.6 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 82.6%
- Feb: 82.1%
- Mar: 78.9%
- Apr: 83.1%
- May: 82.6%
- Jun: 75.5%
- Jul: 77.3%
- Aug: 84.6%
- Sep: 91.8%
- Oct: 84.9%
- Nov: 83.1%
- Dec: 84.2%
June is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 16.3 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 77.9% from 133 flights
- August 2023: 77.7% from 131 flights
- September 2023: 93.2% from 133 flights
- October 2023: 81.8% from 137 flights
- November 2023: 87.4% from 127 flights
- December 2023: 89.1% from 138 flights
- January 2024: 80.5% from 128 flights
- February 2024: 79.7% from 124 flights
- March 2024: 81.6% from 141 flights
- April 2024: 79.4% from 137 flights
- May 2024: 84.7% from 151 flights
- June 2024: 75.9% from 141 flights
- July 2024: 81.6% from 138 flights
- August 2024: 87.0% from 131 flights
- September 2024: 93.6% from 129 flights
- October 2024: 89.0% from 146 flights
- November 2024: 89.6% from 135 flights
- December 2024: 85.3% from 144 flights
- January 2025: 89.1% from 133 flights
- February 2025: 85.7% from 162 flights
- March 2025: 84.3% from 180 flights
- April 2025: 87.3% from 173 flights
- May 2025: 87.1% from 164 flights
- June 2025: 77.7% from 143 flights
- July 2025: 78.5% from 144 flights
- August 2025: too few flights to score (117)
- September 2025: 88.5% from 122 flights
- October 2025: 84.0% from 176 flights
- November 2025: 72.9% from 141 flights
- December 2025: 78.5% from 146 flights
- January 2026: too few flights to score (110)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (109)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (115)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (112)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (107)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (101)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (103)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 78.2% against 86.1% in the 12 months before — declining by 7.9 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 5,002 LAX → MSY 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