Route profile
MKE→BOS
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Milwaukee to Boston, 860 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 26% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 2,516 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
MKE → BOS arrives on time 76.3% of the time; the return trip, BOS → MKE, arrives on time 83.7% of the time, a 7.3-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
MKE → BOS spends 26.0 minutes on the ground on an 860-mile trip: 16.0 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MKE and 10.0 minutes from touchdown to gate at BOS.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Reliability here swings unusually widely by season, a wider month-to-month spread than 96% of 3,357 comparable routes.
90.3% on time in a typical March, against 63.4% in September.
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 MKE to BOS differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MKE to BOS is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 6 PM: 80.8% arrive on time, 13.2 points ahead of the 67.6% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 12.2 points.
MKE to BOS struggles most at 4 PM: 56.9% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 11.6 points behind the 68.5% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 13.8 points.
Thursday is the day MKE to BOS slips furthest against routes of similar length, 70.9% on time where they average 76.4%, 5.5 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 5.9 points.
In September, MKE to BOS runs 18.9 points below routes of similar length, 63.4% on time to 82.3%. Against all other routes the gap is 19 points.
March is kinder to MKE to BOS than to routes of similar length: 90.3% on time against 77.1%, 13.2 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 12.4 points.
MKE to BOS against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 6 PM departures | 80.8% | routes of similar length | 67.6% | +13.2 pts | 287 here, 170,040 there |
| Hour: 4 PM departures | 56.9% | routes of similar length | 68.5% | −11.6 pts | 283 here, 145,679 there |
| Weekday: Thursday | 70.9% | routes of similar length | 76.4% | −5.5 pts | 374 here, 392,963 there |
| Month: September | 63.4% | routes of similar length | 82.3% | −18.9 pts | 232 here, 208,063 there |
| Month: March | 90.3% | routes of similar length | 77.1% | +13.2 pts | 186 here, 223,571 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 860 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
60 min late
against a median of 10 min early
MKE → BOS has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 10 min early, but the worst tenth are 70 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 2,516 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at BOS after arriving from MKE.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 33% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 23% | High risk |
| 60 min | 17% | High risk |
| 90 min | 9.8% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 5.2% | 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 1.87% of the time and diverts 0.20% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 2,464 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 60 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 2,516 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MKE → BOS flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 85.7% of the time, against 63.7% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 22.0 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 82.6% on time from 129 flights
- 8 AM: too few flights to score
- 9 AM: 85.4% on time from 198 flights
- 10 AM: 88.1% on time from 161 flights
- 11 AM: 75.8% on time from 554 flights
- 12 PM to 3 PM: too few flights to score
- 4 PM: 56.9% on time from 288 flights
- 5 PM: 71.8% on time from 267 flights
- 6 PM: 80.8% on time from 300 flights
- 7 PM: 74.5% on time from 330 flights
- 8 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why MKE → BOS runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for MKE → BOS. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republic Airways | 1,669 | 79.2% | 2.46% | -11 min | 8.4% |
| JetBlue | 701 | 68.8% | 0.43% | -9 min | 14.7% |
Republic Airways flew 70.4% of the 2,370 flights listed. Republic Airways cancelled 2.46% of its flights here against 0.43% for JetBlue.
Republic Airways arrived on time 10.4 percentage points more often than JetBlue on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| B62230 JetBlue | 9:55 AM | 655 | 70.3% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 10.7 percentage points.
By month
- Jan to Feb: no data
- Mar: 90.3%
- Apr: 81.3%
- May: 70.3%
- Jun: 77.3%
- Jul: 67.2%
- Aug: 75.1%
- Sep: 63.4%
- Oct: 74.3%
- Nov: 85.0%
- Dec: 85.4%
September is historically the weakest month and March the strongest, a spread of 26.9 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 74.9% in the 12 months before — declining by 2.7 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 2,516 MKE → BOS 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