Route profile
MSP→BOS
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Minneapolis to Boston, 1,124 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 56% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 6,267 flights. How this is calculated
MSP → BOS arrives on time 77.4% of the time; the return trip, BOS → MSP, arrives on time 82.5% of the time, a 5.1-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
MSP → BOS spends 26.9 minutes on the ground on a 1,124-mile trip: 16.9 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MSP 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
The airline matters unusually much on this route, a wider carrier-to-carrier gap than 90% of 2,692 comparable routes.
Delta Air Lines arrived on time 79.0% of the time, against 60.8% for JetBlue, flying the exact same route.
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 2,692 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where MSP to BOS differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MSP to BOS is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 8 PM: 75.7% arrive on time, 10.6 points ahead of the 65.1% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 8.3 points.
MSP to BOS struggles most at 12 PM: 70.7% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 7.1 points behind the 77.8% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 8.7 points.
MSP to BOS holds up on Saturdays better than routes of similar length do: 84.7% on time to their 76.9%, a 7.8 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 5.6 points.
In September, MSP to BOS runs 7.7 points below routes of similar length, 73.8% on time to 81.5%. Against all other routes the gap is 8.6 points.
November is kinder to MSP to BOS than to routes of similar length: 87.8% on time against 82.6%, 5.2 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 4.4 points.
MSP to BOS against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 8 PM departures | 75.7% | routes of similar length | 65.1% | +10.6 pts | 892 here, 118,967 there |
| Hour: 12 PM departures | 70.7% | routes of similar length | 77.8% | −7.1 pts | 222 here, 150,978 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 84.7% | routes of similar length | 76.9% | +7.8 pts | 793 here, 337,888 there |
| Month: September | 73.8% | routes of similar length | 81.5% | −7.7 pts | 596 here, 187,654 there |
| Month: November | 87.8% | routes of similar length | 82.6% | +5.2 pts | 474 here, 202,417 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 1,124 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.
Why MSP → BOS flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
MSP → BOS cancelled 50 of 6,267 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 125. The reason filed most often was the airline, 48.0% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 261 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 50 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
24 cancellations, 48.0% of the total.
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
18 cancellations, 36.0% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
8 cancellations, 16.0% of the total.
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. With only one or two carriers on the route, the split mostly reflects how they file. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
50 coded cancellations were recorded on MSP → BOS; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
45 min late
against a median of 8 min early
Percentiles over 6,267 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at BOS after arriving from MSP.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 36% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 22% | High risk |
| 60 min | 15% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 7.3% | 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 0.80% of the time and diverts 0.19% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 6,205 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 45 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 6,267 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MSP → BOS flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 91.0% of the time, against 70.1% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 20.9 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 92.2% on time from 353 flights
- 7 AM: 89.8% on time from 709 flights
- 8 AM to 9 AM: too few flights to score
- 10 AM: 83.0% on time from 1,122 flights
- 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 70.7% on time from 223 flights
- 1 PM: 75.5% on time from 711 flights
- 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 71.3% on time from 1,119 flights
- 4 PM to 5 PM: too few flights to score
- 6 PM: 65.8% on time from 412 flights
- 7 PM: 69.8% on time from 493 flights
- 8 PM: 75.7% on time from 901 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why MSP → BOS 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
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for MSP → BOS. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 5,707 | 79.0% | 0.70% | -8 min | 6.3% |
| JetBlue | 560 | 60.8% | 1.79% | 1 min | 18.2% |
Delta Air Lines flew 91.1% of the 6,267 flights listed. JetBlue cancelled 1.79% of its flights here against 0.70% for Delta Air Lines.
Delta Air Lines arrived on time 18.2 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.
DL2649 (7:00 AM) arrived on time 91.5% of the time, 23.9 points more often than DL2591 (3:15 PM) at 67.6%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 11.0 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 81.0%
- Feb: 82.3%
- Mar: 78.5%
- Apr: 81.7%
- May: 78.9%
- Jun: 74.5%
- Jul: 69.4%
- Aug: 74.5%
- Sep: 73.8%
- Oct: 79.1%
- Nov: 87.8%
- Dec: 74.6%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 18.4 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 65.5% from 204 flights
- August 2023: 80.2% from 213 flights
- September 2023: 67.7% from 223 flights
- October 2023: 80.3% from 238 flights
- November 2023: 93.3% from 178 flights
- December 2023: 79.9% from 179 flights
- January 2024: 78.6% from 155 flights
- February 2024: 81.3% from 145 flights
- March 2024: 76.4% from 174 flights
- April 2024: 81.1% from 176 flights
- May 2024: 77.4% from 199 flights
- June 2024: 68.6% from 196 flights
- July 2024: 69.4% from 207 flights
- August 2024: 62.0% from 209 flights
- September 2024: 83.5% from 201 flights
- October 2024: 87.6% from 202 flights
- November 2024: 87.8% from 148 flights
- December 2024: 74.0% from 150 flights
- January 2025: 83.6% from 128 flights
- February 2025: too few flights to score (112)
- March 2025: 75.7% from 144 flights
- April 2025: 80.9% from 141 flights
- May 2025: 71.8% from 150 flights
- June 2025: 77.4% from 168 flights
- July 2025: 75.8% from 178 flights
- August 2025: 82.2% from 181 flights
- September 2025: 70.5% from 177 flights
- October 2025: 67.6% from 176 flights
- November 2025: 81.1% from 148 flights
- December 2025: 68.8% from 147 flights
- January 2026: too few flights to score (118)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (106)
- March 2026: 83.9% from 144 flights
- April 2026: 83.2% from 149 flights
- May 2026: 87.7% from 155 flights
- June 2026: 78.6% from 168 flights
- July 2026: 67.2% from 180 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 77.3% against 78.4% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 6,267 MSP → 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