Route profile
MEM→IAH
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Memphis to Houston, 468 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 50% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 2,319 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
MEM → IAH arrives on time 79.7% of the time; the return trip, IAH → MEM, arrives on time 75.7% of the time, a 4.0-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
MEM → IAH spends 29.8 minutes on the ground on a 468-mile trip: 18.7 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MEM and 11.2 minutes from touchdown to gate at IAH.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route has stayed remarkably steady year over year, a smaller swing than 98% of 5,368 comparable routes.
80.1% on time over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), against 80.0% in the 12 months before (2024-08 to 2025-07), virtually unchanged.
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 5,368 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where MEM to IAH differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MEM to IAH struggles most at 6 AM: 81.9% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 10 points behind the 91.9% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 8.9 points.
July is kinder to MEM to IAH than to routes of similar length: 78.2% on time against 69.6%, 8.6 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 8.5 points.
In November, MEM to IAH runs 7.4 points below routes of similar length, 76.5% on time to 83.9%. Against all other routes the gap is 6.9 points.
United Airlines does better on MEM to IAH than on its routes of similar length: 83.2% on time here, 78.0% there, 5.2 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 3.3 points.
SkyWest Airlines’ flights on MEM to IAH arrive on time 76.3% of the time, 2.7 points below the 79.0% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 5 points.
MEM to IAH against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 6 AM departures | 81.9% | routes of similar length | 91.9% | −10.0 pts | 678 here, 107,192 there |
| Month: July | 78.2% | routes of similar length | 69.6% | +8.6 pts | 248 here, 176,513 there |
| Month: November | 76.5% | routes of similar length | 83.9% | −7.4 pts | 166 here, 129,440 there |
| Airline: United Airlines | 83.2% | routes of similar length | 78.0% | +5.2 pts | 1,104 here, 127,165 there |
| Airline: SkyWest Airlines | 76.3% | routes of similar length | 79.0% | −2.7 pts | 1,175 here, 93,186 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 468 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
40 min late
against a median of 7 min early
Percentiles over 2,319 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at IAH after arriving from MEM.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 36% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 19% | High risk |
| 60 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 7.1% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.3% | 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 1.47% of the time and diverts 0.26% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 2,279 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 40 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 2,319 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MEM → IAH flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 83.3% of the time, against 70.2% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 13.1 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 81.9% on time from 697 flights
- 7 AM: 85.5% on time from 417 flights
- 8 AM to 10 AM: too few flights to score
- 11 AM: 81.5% on time from 481 flights
- 12 PM to 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 71.0% on time from 488 flights
- 4 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why MEM → IAH runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
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 MEM → IAH. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SkyWest Airlines | 1,194 | 76.3% | 1.34% | -5 min | 9.4% |
| United Airlines | 1,125 | 83.2% | 1.60% | -8 min | 4.7% |
SkyWest Airlines flew 51.5% of the 2,319 flights listed.
United Airlines arrived on time 6.9 percentage points more often than SkyWest Airlines on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 11.0 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 79.0%
- Feb: 81.6%
- Mar: 82.4%
- Apr: 82.0%
- May: 79.1%
- Jun: 70.6%
- Jul: 78.2%
- Aug: 82.9%
- Sep: 87.0%
- Oct: 81.3%
- Nov: 76.5%
- Dec: 76.4%
June is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 16.4 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 80.1% against 80.0% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 2,319 MEM → 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
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