Route profile
MCI→LAX
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Kansas City to Los Angeles, 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 75% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 4,055 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
MCI → LAX arrives on time 80.6% of the time; the return trip, LAX → MCI, arrives on time 83.5% of the time, a 2.9-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
MCI → LAX spends 23.7 minutes on the ground on a 1,363-mile trip: 13.4 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MCI and 10.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at LAX.
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 94% of 3,357 comparable routes.
86.5% on time in its best month (March) against 76.3% in its worst (July).
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 MCI to LAX differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MCI to LAX is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 3 PM: 86.4% arrive on time, 15.5 points ahead of the 70.9% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 13.7 points.
MCI to LAX holds up on Thursdays better than routes of similar length do: 83.8% on time to their 76.5%, a 7.3 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 7 points.
March is kinder to MCI to LAX than to routes of similar length: 86.5% on time against 77.6%, 8.9 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 8.6 points.
Delta Air Lines does better on MCI to LAX than on its routes of similar length: 89.9% on time here, 82.4% there, 7.5 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 8.4 points.
Southwest Airlines’ flights on MCI to LAX arrive on time 72.1% of the time, 3.5 points below the 75.6% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 5.3 points.
MCI to LAX against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 3 PM departures | 86.4% | routes of similar length | 70.9% | +15.5 pts | 861 here, 84,721 there |
| Weekday: Thursday | 83.8% | routes of similar length | 76.5% | +7.3 pts | 618 here, 254,337 there |
| Month: March | 86.5% | routes of similar length | 77.6% | +8.9 pts | 304 here, 146,964 there |
| Airline: Delta Air Lines | 89.9% | routes of similar length | 82.4% | +7.5 pts | 1,497 here, 300,606 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 72.1% | routes of similar length | 75.6% | −3.5 pts | 1,715 here, 408,932 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
35 min late
against a median of 7 min early
Percentiles over 4,055 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at LAX after arriving from MCI.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 34% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 19% | High risk |
| 60 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.3% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.3% | 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 0.74% of the time and diverts 0.02% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 4,024 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 35 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 4,055 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MCI → LAX flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 91.7% of the time, against 63.3% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 28.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 91.4% on time from 164 flights
- 6 AM: 89.5% on time from 314 flights
- 7 AM: 92.9% on time from 612 flights
- 8 AM to 1 PM: too few flights to score
- 2 PM: 85.5% on time from 165 flights
- 3 PM: 86.4% on time from 868 flights
- 4 PM: 80.4% on time from 516 flights
- 5 PM to 6 PM: too few flights to score
- 7 PM: 70.6% on time from 196 flights
- 8 PM: 66.0% on time from 359 flights
- 9 PM: 65.9% on time from 338 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why MCI → LAX 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 MCI → LAX. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on MCI → LAX, at 52.1%: 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 9 PM–5 AM departures 63.3%.
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 | 1,720 | 72.1% | 0.29% | -1 min | 7.2% |
| Delta Air Lines | 1,511 | 89.9% | 0.86% | -13 min | 3.2% |
| Spirit Airlines | 708 | 79.6% | 1.69% | -9 min | 6.0% |
Southwest Airlines flew 43.7% of the 3,939 flights listed. Spirit Airlines cancelled 1.69% of its flights here against 0.29% for Southwest Airlines.
Delta Air Lines arrived on time 17.8 percentage points more often than Southwest Airlines on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Thursday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 7.8 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 86.2%
- Feb: 79.4%
- Mar: 86.5%
- Apr: 80.3%
- May: 78.7%
- Jun: 77.0%
- Jul: 76.3%
- Aug: 76.5%
- Sep: 81.9%
- Oct: 84.3%
- Nov: 84.8%
- Dec: 81.3%
July is historically the weakest month and March the strongest, a spread of 10.2 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 63.1% from 142 flights
- August 2023: 68.0% from 147 flights
- September 2023: 77.3% from 151 flights
- October 2023: 84.4% from 148 flights
- November 2023: 85.0% from 133 flights
- December 2023: 83.9% 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 (113)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (113)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- 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 (105)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (98)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (95)
- 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 (109)
- June 2025: 81.5% from 120 flights
- July 2025: 81.5% from 121 flights
- August 2025: too few flights to score (114)
- 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 (79)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (66)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (77)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (105)
- April 2026: 81.1% from 127 flights
- May 2026: 80.9% from 135 flights
- June 2026: 82.0% from 150 flights
- July 2026: 84.7% from 144 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 82.4% against 84.3% in the 12 months before — declining by 1.9 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 4,055 MCI → LAX 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