Route profile
MIA→HOU
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Miami to Houston, 955 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 33% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 1,660 flights. How this is calculated
MIA → HOU arrives on time 74.3% of the time; the return trip, HOU → MIA, arrives on time 69.6% of the time, a 4.7-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
MIA → HOU spends 23.9 minutes on the ground on a 955-mile trip: 17.9 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MIA and 6.0 minutes from touchdown to gate at HOU.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
On-time performance swings unusually widely by time of day here, wider than 91% of 4,023 comparable routes.
90.8% on time for 5–9 AM departures, against 59.7% for 6–9 PM.
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 4,023 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where MIA to HOU differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MIA to HOU struggles most at 7 PM: 54.6% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 12.2 points behind the 66.8% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 13.2 points.
Saturday is the day MIA to HOU slips furthest against routes of similar length, 69.3% on time where they average 77.9%, 8.6 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 9.8 points.
June is kinder to MIA to HOU than to routes of similar length: 82.7% on time against 71.7%, 11 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 10 points.
In March, MIA to HOU runs 7.2 points below routes of similar length, 69.2% on time to 76.4%. Against all other routes the gap is 8.7 points.
MIA to HOU against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 7 PM departures | 54.6% | routes of similar length | 66.8% | −12.2 pts | 227 here, 198,452 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 69.3% | routes of similar length | 77.9% | −8.6 pts | 257 here, 407,478 there |
| Month: June | 82.7% | routes of similar length | 71.7% | +11.0 pts | 150 here, 248,370 there |
| Month: March | 69.2% | routes of similar length | 76.4% | −7.2 pts | 143 here, 266,860 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 955 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
54 min late
against a median of 3 min early
Percentiles over 1,660 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at HOU after arriving from MIA.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 43% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 25% | High risk |
| 60 min | 17% | High risk |
| 90 min | 8.4% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 5.7% | 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 1.08% of the time and diverts 0.60% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 1,632 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 54 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 1,660 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MIA → HOU flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 90.8% of the time, against 59.7% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 31.1 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 92.7% on time from 374 flights
- 6 AM: 87.3% on time from 151 flights
- 7 AM to 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 66.7% on time from 121 flights
- 1 PM to 5 PM: too few flights to score
- 6 PM: 64.3% on time from 275 flights
- 7 PM: 54.6% on time from 229 flights
- 8 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why MIA → HOU 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 MIA → HOU. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on MIA → HOU, at 59.8%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 90.8% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 59.7%.
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 | 1,660 | 74.3% | 1.08% | -3 min | 8.6% |
Other ways to fly Miami to Houston
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MIA→IAH Miami to Houston | 10,858 | 73.7% | 1.75% | -5 min | 51 |
| MIA→HOU this route Miami to Houston | 1,660 | 74.3% | 1.08% | -3 min | 59 |
MIA → HOU is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 74.3% on time, against 73.7% for MIA → IAH.
Flying to HOU from the Miami area? Compare MIA, FLL for HOU, with the same test for what counts as a real difference.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 13.7 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 72.2% against 77.6% in the 12 months before — declining by 5.4 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 1,660 MIA → HOU 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