Route profile
LAX→PHX
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Los Angeles to Phoenix, 370 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 78% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 22,560 flights. How this is calculated
LAX → PHX arrives on time 81.5% of the time; the return trip, PHX → LAX, arrives on time 83.0% of the time.
LAX → PHX spends 25.5 minutes on the ground on a 370-mile trip: 18.2 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at LAX and 7.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at PHX.
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 97% of 3,357 comparable routes.
86.0% on time in its best month (September) against 77.3% 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.
Why LAX → PHX flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
LAX → PHX cancelled 112 of 22,560 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 201. The reason filed most often was the airline, 49.1% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 410 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 112 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
55 cancellations, 49.1% of the total.
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
29 cancellations, 25.9% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
28 cancellations, 25.0% 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. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
112 coded cancellations were recorded on LAX → PHX; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
34 min late
against a median of 6 min early
Percentiles over 22,560 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at PHX after arriving from LAX.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 35% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 18% | High risk |
| 60 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.5% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.2% | 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 0.50% of the time and diverts 0.08% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 22,429 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 34 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 22,560 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
LAX → PHX flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 90.6% of the time, against 74.8% for 3–6 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 6.3 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 3.6 points.
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On-time rate, % · stronger color, fewer on time
- 60–69
- 70–79
- 80–89
- 90–99
- 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 after 10 PM (572 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 AM–6 AM | 115 flights, too few to score | 48 flights, too few to score | 45 flights, too few to score | 115 flights, too few to score | 117 flights, too few to score | 96.8% on time126 flights | 119 flights, too few to score |
| 6 AM–7 AM | 96.4% on time197 flights | 93.3% on time240 flights | 93.7% on time239 flights | 92.7% on time192 flights | 93.8% on time193 flights | 93.9% on time179 flights | 94.2% on time173 flights |
| 7 AM–8 AM | 84.3% on time127 flights | 85.8% on time121 flights | 117 flights, too few to score | 85.0% on time129 flights | 81.0% on time125 flights | 110 flights, too few to score | 84.5% on time143 flights |
| 8 AM–9 AM | 87.6% on time340 flights | 91.6% on time274 flights | 92.3% on time287 flights | 88.2% on time332 flights | 87.3% on time340 flights | 87.9% on time233 flights | 85.4% on time283 flights |
| 9 AM–10 AM | 108 flights, too few to score | 88.5% on time156 flights | 86.9% on time161 flights | 106 flights, too few to score | 109 flights, too few to score | 87.8% on time149 flights | 86.4% on time125 flights |
| 10 AM–11 AM | 87.4% on time232 flights | 87.9% on time242 flights | 90.9% on time246 flights | 82.2% on time230 flights | 79.5% on time230 flights | 84.6% on time229 flights | 82.6% on time249 flights |
| 11 AM–12 PM | 78.5% on time131 flights | 107 flights, too few to score | 106 flights, too few to score | 86.5% on time133 flights | 78.5% on time131 flights | 88.8% on time125 flights | 105 flights, too few to score |
| 12 PM–1 PM | 77.8% on time164 flights | 88.2% on time170 flights | 79.9% on time174 flights | 79.4% on time160 flights | 72.8% on time158 flights | 81.2% on time138 flights | 78.4% on time153 flights |
| 1 PM–2 PM | 76.7% on time281 flights | 87.0% on time255 flights | 85.7% on time253 flights | 76.2% on time290 flights | 77.0% on time289 flights | 71.4% on time232 flights | 78.3% on time267 flights |
| 2 PM–3 PM | 76.7% on time151 flights | 84.0% on time145 flights | 82.1% on time145 flights | 79.2% on time144 flights | 77.5% on time154 flights | 83.4% on time151 flights | 78.8% on time147 flights |
| 3 PM–4 PM | 75 flights, too few to score | 95 flights, too few to score | 99 flights, too few to score | 79 flights, too few to score | 77 flights, too few to score | 98 flights, too few to score | 114 flights, too few to score |
| 4 PM–5 PM | 72.3% on time270 flights | 81.4% on time253 flights | 77.5% on time258 flights | 68.9% on time265 flights | 66.4% on time267 flights | 82.2% on time270 flights | 68.9% on time251 flights |
| 5 PM–6 PM | 74.5% on time252 flights | 86.2% on time244 flights | 79.1% on time255 flights | 72.3% on time255 flights | 67.7% on time254 flights | 77.4% on time155 flights | 73.7% on time237 flights |
| 6 PM–7 PM | 87 flights, too few to score | 80.5% on time129 flights | 117 flights, too few to score | 88 flights, too few to score | 91 flights, too few to score | 77.6% on time143 flights | 59.5% on time133 flights |
| 7 PM–8 PM | 75.9% on time378 flights | 84.4% on time302 flights | 82.8% on time317 flights | 68.0% on time366 flights | 69.1% on time355 flights | 87.0% on time299 flights | 75.0% on time319 flights |
| 8 PM–9 PM | 80.0% on time166 flights | 88.2% on time155 flights | 88.4% on time148 flights | 78.0% on time163 flights | 79.2% on time148 flights | 118 flights, too few to score | 73.7% on time177 flights |
| 9 PM–10 PM | 75.3% on time185 flights | 84.3% on time160 flights | 88.2% on time169 flights | 74.5% on time200 flights | 70.6% on time194 flights | 74 flights, too few to score | 69.6% on time194 flights |
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 96.3% on time from 685 flights
- 6 AM: 94.0% on time from 1,413 flights
- 7 AM: 85.6% on time from 872 flights
- 8 AM: 88.5% on time from 2,089 flights
- 9 AM: 86.5% on time from 914 flights
- 10 AM: 85.1% on time from 1,658 flights
- 11 AM: 85.0% on time from 838 flights
- 12 PM: 79.7% on time from 1,117 flights
- 1 PM: 78.9% on time from 1,867 flights
- 2 PM: 80.2% on time from 1,037 flights
- 3 PM: 75.0% on time from 637 flights
- 4 PM: 73.9% on time from 1,834 flights
- 5 PM: 75.7% on time from 1,652 flights
- 6 PM: 73.5% on time from 788 flights
- 7 PM: 77.0% on time from 2,336 flights
- 8 PM: 81.3% on time from 1,075 flights
- 9 PM: 77.0% on time from 1,176 flights
- 10 PM: 76.7% on time from 505 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why LAX → PHX 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 → PHX. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on LAX → PHX, at 51.9%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 90.6% of the time and 3–6 PM departures 74.8%.
How this route holds up in bad weather
July 2023 – July 2026
The harder-hit end is PHX, where the flight lands. Its figure counts departures from PHX, so it says more about how that airport copes than about this route. Bad weather cancels 3.9 times the normal rate at PHX against 1.3 times at LAX. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: LAX 1.0% against 0.8%, PHX 2.5% against 0.6%. Flights that did leave PHX in bad weather arrived on time 53.7% of the time, against 80.6% in normal hours.
Bad weather and normal hours at the airports
Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026| Departures from | LAX | PHX |
|---|---|---|
| Cancelled in bad weather | 1.0% | 2.5% |
| Cancelled in normal hours | 0.8% | 0.6% |
| Arrived on time, bad weather | 78.9% | 53.7% |
| Arrived on time, normal hours | 81.4% | 80.6% |
| Departures in bad weather | 60,639 | 6,215 |
Of the carriers on this route, Southwest Airlines (0.6% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 8,724 | 0.6%below the others | 1.1% |
| American Airlines | 9,554 | 0.8%below the others | 1.1% |
| SkyWest Airlines | 11,169 | 1.0%about level | 1.0% |
| United Airlines | 8,785 | 1.2%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 PHX, 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), PHX, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SkyWest Airlines | 6,792 | 86.4% | 0.32% | -7 min | 3.6% |
| Southwest Airlines | 6,482 | 78.0% | 0.62% | -4 min | 5.3% |
| American Airlines | 6,036 | 79.9% | 0.23% | -5 min | 7.9% |
| United Airlines | 1,743 | 85.8% | 1.03% | -8 min | 3.8% |
| Frontier Airlines | 1,174 | 71.6% | 1.45% | -4 min | 11.4% |
SkyWest Airlines flew 30.6% of the 22,227 flights listed. Frontier Airlines cancelled 1.45% of its flights here against 0.23% for American Airlines.
SkyWest Airlines arrived on time 14.8 percentage points more often than Frontier Airlines on this route.
Other ways to fly Los Angeles to Phoenix
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LAX→PHX this route Los Angeles to Phoenix | 22,560 | 81.5% | 0.50% | -6 min | 76 |
| SNA→PHX Santa Ana to Phoenix | 13,639 | 83.2% | 0.80% | -6 min | 75 |
Flying to PHX from the Los Angeles area? Compare LAX, SNA, BUR, ONT for PHX, 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.
OO3894 (2:00 PM) arrived on time 86.3% of the time, 4.0 points more often than OO4077 (5:00 PM) at 82.3%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 9.8 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 84.0%
- Feb: 82.9%
- Mar: 77.7%
- Apr: 81.9%
- May: 78.6%
- Jun: 77.3%
- Jul: 78.2%
- Aug: 82.4%
- Sep: 86.0%
- Oct: 82.2%
- Nov: 83.1%
- Dec: 84.9%
June is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 8.7 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 83.2% from 559 flights
- August 2023: 81.1% from 589 flights
- September 2023: 85.6% from 533 flights
- October 2023: 80.8% from 552 flights
- November 2023: 88.0% from 541 flights
- December 2023: 85.5% from 554 flights
- January 2024: 78.3% from 517 flights
- February 2024: 79.0% from 483 flights
- March 2024: 70.5% from 536 flights
- April 2024: 75.4% from 518 flights
- May 2024: 68.1% from 576 flights
- June 2024: 71.2% from 597 flights
- July 2024: 72.0% from 625 flights
- August 2024: 82.2% from 652 flights
- September 2024: 88.8% from 642 flights
- October 2024: 84.8% from 697 flights
- November 2024: 86.2% from 661 flights
- December 2024: 87.0% from 655 flights
- January 2025: 90.1% from 618 flights
- February 2025: 88.3% from 584 flights
- March 2025: 82.9% from 684 flights
- April 2025: 85.3% from 678 flights
- May 2025: 85.0% from 667 flights
- June 2025: 82.6% from 604 flights
- July 2025: 80.8% from 609 flights
- August 2025: 83.9% from 616 flights
- September 2025: 83.2% from 586 flights
- October 2025: 80.8% from 667 flights
- November 2025: 75.6% from 664 flights
- December 2025: 82.3% from 668 flights
- January 2026: 82.7% from 634 flights
- February 2026: 80.6% from 599 flights
- March 2026: 78.0% from 680 flights
- April 2026: 83.7% from 638 flights
- May 2026: 81.2% from 643 flights
- June 2026: 78.1% from 604 flights
- July 2026: 77.3% from 630 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 80.6% against 85.3% in the 12 months before — declining by 4.7 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 22,560 LAX → PHX 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