Route profile
LAX→PHL
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Los Angeles to Philadelphia, 2,402 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 59% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 7,754 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
LAX → PHL arrives on time 80.0% of the time; the return trip, PHL → LAX, arrives on time 78.2% of the time.
LAX → PHL spends 26.0 minutes on the ground on a 2,402-mile trip: 17.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at LAX and 8.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at PHL.
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 93% of 4,467 comparable routes.
82.1% on time on the best day (Tuesday) against 77.5% 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.
What sets this route apart
Where LAX to PHL differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
LAX to PHL struggles most at 10 AM: 71.2% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 6.9 points behind the 78.1% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 11.5 points.
LAX to PHL is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 12 AM: 87.8% arrive on time, 5.7 points ahead of the 82.1% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 6.3 points.
January is kinder to LAX to PHL than to routes of similar length: 85.1% on time against 80.1%, 5 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 6 points.
Spirit Airlines does better on LAX to PHL than on its routes of similar length: 82.3% on time here, 75.9% there, 6.4 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 7.1 points.
LAX to PHL against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 10 AM departures | 71.2% | routes of similar length | 78.1% | −6.9 pts | 548 here, 52,274 there |
| Hour: 12 AM departures | 87.8% | routes of similar length | 82.1% | +5.7 pts | 385 here, 3,743 there |
| Month: January | 85.1% | routes of similar length | 80.1% | +5.0 pts | 524 here, 76,749 there |
| Airline: Spirit Airlines | 82.3% | routes of similar length | 75.9% | +6.4 pts | 677 here, 25,551 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 2,402 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.
Why LAX → PHL flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
LAX → PHL cancelled 87 of 7,754 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 89. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 80.5% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 111 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 87 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.
70 cancellations, 80.5% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
17 cancellations, 19.5% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
0 cancellations, 0.0% 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. With only one or two carriers on the route, the split mostly reflects how they file. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
87 coded cancellations were recorded on LAX → PHL; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
36 min late
against a median of 8 min early
Percentiles over 7,754 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at PHL after arriving from LAX.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 35% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 19% | High risk |
| 60 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.3% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.1% | 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 1.12% of the time and diverts 0.25% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 7,648 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 7,754 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
LAX → PHL flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 88.3% of the time, against 73.5% for 9 AM–12 PM departures, a gap of 14.8 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM: 87.8% on time from 391 flights
- 1 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 89.2% on time from 946 flights
- 7 AM: 89.8% on time from 387 flights
- 8 AM: 84.2% on time from 482 flights
- 9 AM: 74.6% on time from 817 flights
- 10 AM: 71.2% on time from 555 flights
- 11 AM: 74.2% on time from 569 flights
- 12 PM: 76.0% on time from 287 flights
- 1 PM: too few flights to score
- 2 PM: 71.6% on time from 319 flights
- 3 PM: 75.9% on time from 821 flights
- 4 PM: 74.1% on time from 149 flights
- 5 PM to 8 PM: too few flights to score
- 9 PM: 82.7% on time from 133 flights
- 10 PM: 77.4% on time from 736 flights
- 11 PM: 83.3% on time from 914 flights
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why LAX → PHL 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
screening or terminal security incidents
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for LAX → PHL. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on LAX → PHL, at 45.3%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 88.3% of the time and 9 AM–12 PM departures 73.5%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 6,953 | 80.4% | 1.12% | -8 min | 6.3% |
| Spirit Airlines | 682 | 82.3% | 0.59% | -7 min | 3.4% |
American Airlines flew 91.1% of the 7,635 flights listed.
Carriers on this route performed within a couple of percentage points of each other.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 4.6 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 85.1%
- Feb: 85.5%
- Mar: 81.2%
- Apr: 82.5%
- May: 79.0%
- Jun: 75.4%
- Jul: 70.8%
- Aug: 77.6%
- Sep: 83.1%
- Oct: 84.2%
- Nov: 82.0%
- Dec: 82.0%
July is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 14.7 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 76.3% from 244 flights
- August 2023: 81.8% from 248 flights
- September 2023: 84.3% from 240 flights
- October 2023: 90.9% from 220 flights
- November 2023: 84.4% from 180 flights
- December 2023: 75.5% from 164 flights
- January 2024: 86.5% from 202 flights
- February 2024: 85.2% from 191 flights
- March 2024: 74.1% from 186 flights
- April 2024: 84.1% from 207 flights
- May 2024: 75.0% from 216 flights
- June 2024: 72.2% from 235 flights
- July 2024: 75.6% from 246 flights
- August 2024: 74.7% from 254 flights
- September 2024: 84.0% from 213 flights
- October 2024: 79.7% from 217 flights
- November 2024: 87.3% from 205 flights
- December 2024: 87.1% from 210 flights
- January 2025: 91.6% from 182 flights
- February 2025: 89.0% from 158 flights
- March 2025: 88.5% from 185 flights
- April 2025: 77.1% from 201 flights
- May 2025: 77.5% from 221 flights
- June 2025: 73.9% from 267 flights
- July 2025: 64.4% from 264 flights
- August 2025: 76.5% from 252 flights
- September 2025: 80.8% from 209 flights
- October 2025: 82.2% from 243 flights
- November 2025: 72.7% from 166 flights
- December 2025: 81.9% from 173 flights
- January 2026: 75.2% from 155 flights
- February 2026: 82.0% from 139 flights
- March 2026: 81.0% from 155 flights
- April 2026: 86.3% from 198 flights
- May 2026: 84.3% from 224 flights
- June 2026: 80.3% from 234 flights
- July 2026: 67.2% from 250 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 79.0% against 80.3% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 7,754 LAX → PHL 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