LGA → IAH Flight Reliability

Right now

Origin · LGANo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 08:51 UTC

New York airport profile →

Destination · IAHNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 08:53 UTC

Houston airport profile →

Route reliability

July 2023 – July 2026

Route Reliability Score

56/ 100Fair

Better than 27% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)

Calculated from 12,405 flights. How this is calculated

On-time arrivals

78.7%

9,485 of 12,051

Cancellation rate

2.31%

286 cancelled

Median arrival delay

-11 min

Average 5.8 min

Severe delays

9.1%

60+ minutes late

Delay when late

89 min

Average, when 15+ min late

Flights analyzed

12,405

4 carriers

LGA → IAH arrives on time 78.7% of the time; the return trip, IAH → LGA, arrives on time 75.4% of the time, a 3.4-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.

LGA → IAH spends 33.8 minutes on the ground on a 1,416-mile trip: 23.5 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at LGA and 10.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at IAH.

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026

Why LGA → IAH flights are cancelled

July 2023 – July 2026

LGA → IAH cancelled 286 of 12,405 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 43. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 53.8% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 81 scheduled flights.

Share of cancellations

Weather53.8%

Airline29.7%

Air traffic16.4%

Security0.0%

Of 286 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.

What each reason means

Extreme weather1 in 81

Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.

154 cancellations, 53.8% of the total.

The airline1 in 146

Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.

85 cancellations, 29.7% of the total.

The air traffic system1 in 264

Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.

47 cancellations, 16.4% of the total.

Security—

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.

286 coded cancellations were recorded on LGA → IAH; the section appears from 50.

When it goes wrong

July 2023 – July 2026

One arrival in ten is worse than

53 min late

against a median of 11 min early

Arrived an hour or more late9.1%

Typical delay when late89 min

Cancelled2.31%

Landed somewhere else0.55%

LGA → IAH has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 11 min early, but the worst tenth are 64 minutes worse than that. If the trip has something unmissable at the end of it, the median is the wrong number to plan against.

Percentiles over 12,405 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.

Will your connection be tight enough?

Layovers at IAH after arriving from LGA.

Connection buffer and chance of missing by layover length, LGA → IAH arrivals
Connection time	Chance of missing	Reads as
30 min	33%	Likely to miss
45 min	21%	High risk
60 min	15%	Some risk
90 min	8.9%	Some risk
120 min	6.1%	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 2.31% of the time and diverts 0.55% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.

Chance of missing is the share of 12,051 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 53 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 12,405 operations.

Any other layover length: connection checker.

Best time to fly

LGA → IAH flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 91.1% of the time, against 64.2% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 26.9 percentage points.

By day and hour

On-time arrival rate for each weekday and scheduled departure hour, in local time at the departure airport (LGA).

Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 10.5 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 1.5 points.

On-time arrival rate for LGA to IAH by weekday and scheduled departure hour, local time. Each button reads out one slot.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
6 AM–7 AM
7 AM–8 AM
8 AM–9 AM
9 AM–10 AM
10 AM–11 AM
11 AM–12 PM
12 PM–1 PM
1 PM–2 PM
2 PM–3 PM
3 PM–4 PM

On-time rate, % · stronger color, fewer on time

50–59
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 before 6 AM and after 4 PM (2,801 flights) are not drawn: no slot in those hours has enough flights to score.

View as tableHide table

On-time arrival rate (%) with flights beneath, by scheduled departure hour and weekday for LGA to IAH. A dash means fewer than 120 flights, which are not scored.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
6 AM–7 AM	90.8% on time296 flights	89.2% on time296 flights	92.3% on time292 flights	91.8% on time290 flights	92.3% on time288 flights	92.7% on time153 flights	90.5% on time229 flights
7 AM–8 AM	89.6% on time144 flights	93.6% on time144 flights	94.3% on time143 flights	91.5% on time143 flights	92.2% on time142 flights	89.6% on time146 flights	97 flights, too few to score
8 AM–9 AM	52 flights, too few to score	52 flights, too few to score	63 flights, too few to score	53 flights, too few to score	53 flights, too few to score	118 flights, too few to score	39 flights, too few to score
9 AM–10 AM	85.2% on time135 flights	85.1% on time124 flights	88.1% on time134 flights	89.3% on time125 flights	91.1% on time135 flights	85.6% on time148 flights	116 flights, too few to score
10 AM–11 AM	78.9% on time223 flights	83.4% on time227 flights	83.5% on time229 flights	81.2% on time224 flights	77.8% on time224 flights	98 flights, too few to score	79.4% on time165 flights
11 AM–12 PM	28 flights, too few to score	27 flights, too few to score	12 flights, too few to score	28 flights, too few to score	30 flights, too few to score	32 flights, too few to score	32 flights, too few to score
12 PM–1 PM	83.0% on time153 flights	89.7% on time158 flights	84.2% on time153 flights	84.9% on time156 flights	83.3% on time149 flights	67 flights, too few to score	81.2% on time159 flights
1 PM–2 PM	79.7% on time158 flights	78.4% on time157 flights	68.6% on time157 flights	77.6% on time155 flights	74.0% on time157 flights	64 flights, too few to score	75.7% on time149 flights
2 PM–3 PM	71.1% on time150 flights	72.7% on time147 flights	76.6% on time147 flights	72.7% on time146 flights	75.9% on time146 flights	85 flights, too few to score	73.6% on time146 flights
3 PM–4 PM	60.6% on time145 flights	65.7% on time142 flights	58.2% on time141 flights	66.9% on time138 flights	64.9% on time140 flights	80 flights, too few to score	64.6% on time130 flights

By departure window

5–9 AM91.1%

9 AM–12 PM82.7%

12–3 PM78.4%

3–6 PM64.2%

6–9 PM65.5%

By departure hour

12 AM

3 AM

6 AM

9 AM

12 PM

3 PM

6 PM

9 PM

Why LGA → IAH runs late

July 2023 – July 2026

The airline33.6%

crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control

Late-arriving aircraft31.5%

the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late

Air traffic control26.9%

airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control

Weather7.9%

weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically

Security0.1%

screening or terminal security incidents

Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for LGA → IAH. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.

How this route holds up in bad weather

July 2023 – July 2026

Bad weather raises cancellations by a similar amount at both ends of LGA to IAH: 4.1 times the normal rate at LGA and 3.4 times at IAH. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: LGA 9.0% against 2.2%, IAH 4.1% against 1.2%. Flights that did leave LGA in bad weather arrived on time 63.6% of the time, against 80.9% in normal hours.

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026

Departures from LGA and IAH in hours of bad weather and in normal hours
Departures from	LGA	IAH
Cancelled in bad weather	9.0%	4.1%
Cancelled in normal hours	2.2%	1.2%
Arrived on time, bad weather	63.6%	63.8%
Arrived on time, normal hours	80.9%	78.6%
Departures in bad weather	56,339	28,922

Of the carriers on this route, United Airlines (5.2% cancelled against 9.5% for the other carriers at LGA) cancelled the fewest departures from LGA in bad weather and SkyWest Airlines (9.0% cancelled against 6.7% for the other carriers at LGA) the most.

This route’s airlines in bad weather at LGA

All departures from LGA

Cancellation rates in bad weather at LGA for the airlines that fly LGA to IAH, against the other carriers at LGA in the same months
Airline	Bad-weather departures	Cancelled	Other carriers
United Airlines	3,159	5.2%below the others	9.5%
Delta Air Lines	10,841	6.5%below the others	9.9%
Spirit Airlines	2,577	8.9%about level	8.4%
SkyWest Airlines	954	9.0%above the others	6.7%

These are airport figures, not route figures: every scheduled departure from LGA and IAH, to any destination, in hours the weather report called bad. The airline rows count each carrier’s departures from LGA on every route.

Weather source and limits. In full: LGA (airlines), IAH, 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.

Airlines on this route
Carrier	Flights	On time	Cancelled	Median delay	Severe
United Airlines	6,324	80.6%	1.96%	-11 min	7.8%
Delta Air Lines	4,097	76.7%	2.47%	-12 min	10.8%
Spirit Airlines	1,178	77.9%	2.89%	-12 min	8.5%
SkyWest Airlines	649	72.4%	2.93%	-3 min	12.9%

United Airlines flew 51.6% of the 12,248 flights listed.

United Airlines arrived on time 8.2 percentage points more often than SkyWest Airlines on this route.

Other ways to fly New York to Houston

Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.

Other ways to fly New York to Houston
Route	Flights	On time	Cancelled	Median delay	Score
LGA→IAH this route New York to Houston	12,405	78.7%	2.31%	-11 min	56
EWR→IAH Newark to Houston	11,537	77.7%	2.15%	-8 min	57

Flying to IAH from the New York area? Compare LGA, EWR, JFK for IAH, 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.

Flights on this route
Flight	Scheduled	Operations	On time
DL2099 Delta Air Lines	10:10 AM	719	78.4%
DL2109 Delta Air Lines	6:59 PM	683	63.4%

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

Mon78.3%

Tue79.8%

Wed77.9%

Thu78.3%

Fri79.3%

Sat81.9%

Sun76.4%

Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 5.5 percentage points.

By month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 16.4 percentage points.

Reliability over time

July 2023 – July 2026

24

25

26

Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 76.7% against 79.9% in the 12 months before — declining by 3.2 percentage points.

Data and methodology

Calculated by FlyerIntel from 12,405 LGA → IAH 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

Analysis last recomputed September 26, 2026

LGA airport IAH airport Return direction IAH → LGA

LGA→IAH

Right now

Route reliability

Why LGA → IAH flights are cancelled

Share of cancellations

What each reason means

When it goes wrong

Will your connection be tight enough?

Best time to fly

By day and hour

By departure window

By departure hour

Why LGA → IAH runs late

How this route holds up in bad weather

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

This route’s airlines in bad weather at LGA

Airlines on this route

Other ways to fly New York to Houston

Flights on this route

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

By month

Reliability over time

Data and methodology