Route profile
MSP→LGA
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Minneapolis to New York, 1,020 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 59% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 6,752 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
MSP → LGA arrives on time 81.5% of the time; the return trip, LGA → MSP, arrives on time 85.2% of the time, a 3.7-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
MSP → LGA spends 26.3 minutes on the ground on a 1,020-mile trip: 17.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MSP and 8.5 minutes from touchdown to gate at LGA.
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 100% of 5,368 comparable routes.
79.9% on time over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), against 79.9% 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 MSP to LGA differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MSP to LGA is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 7 PM: 79.4% arrive on time, 13.5 points ahead of the 65.9% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 11.6 points.
MSP to LGA holds up on Saturdays better than routes of similar length do: 84.1% on time to their 77.3%, a 6.8 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 5 points.
August is kinder to MSP to LGA than to routes of similar length: 84.5% on time against 74.2%, 10.3 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 8 points.
MSP to LGA against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 7 PM departures | 79.4% | routes of similar length | 65.9% | +13.5 pts | 880 here, 181,352 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 84.1% | routes of similar length | 77.3% | +6.8 pts | 722 here, 380,979 there |
| Month: August | 84.5% | routes of similar length | 74.2% | +10.3 pts | 569 here, 228,396 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 1,020 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 → LGA flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
MSP → LGA cancelled 131 of 6,752 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 52. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 62.6% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 82 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 131 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
82 cancellations, 62.6% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
33 cancellations, 25.2% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
16 cancellations, 12.2% 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.
131 coded cancellations were recorded on MSP → LGA; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
36 min late
against a median of 10 min early
Percentiles over 6,752 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at LGA after arriving from MSP.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 31% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 18% | High risk |
| 60 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.1% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.6% | 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 1.94% of the time and diverts 0.58% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 6,582 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 36 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 6,752 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MSP → LGA flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 90.3% of the time, against 74.3% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 16.0 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 89.8% on time from 162 flights
- 7 AM: 90.8% on time from 812 flights
- 8 AM: too few flights to score
- 9 AM: 90.0% on time from 567 flights
- 10 AM: 84.3% on time from 1,053 flights
- 11 AM to 12 PM: too few flights to score
- 1 PM: 82.2% on time from 996 flights
- 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 73.8% on time from 1,050 flights
- 4 PM: 78.8% on time from 410 flights
- 5 PM: 69.8% on time from 305 flights
- 6 PM: too few flights to score
- 7 PM: 79.4% on time from 901 flights
- 8 PM: 68.8% on time from 222 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why MSP → LGA 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
screening or terminal security incidents
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for MSP → LGA. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 5,483 | 81.4% | 1.60% | -9 min | 6.3% |
| Republic Airways | 1,269 | 82.0% | 3.39% | -11 min | 5.7% |
Delta Air Lines flew 81.2% of the 6,752 flights listed. Republic Airways cancelled 3.39% of its flights here against 1.60% for Delta Air Lines.
Carriers on this route performed within a couple of percentage points of each other.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
DL2719 (7:00 AM) arrived on time 89.4% of the time, 18.3 points more often than DL2732 (3:15 PM) at 71.1%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 5.8 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 80.0%
- Feb: 88.3%
- Mar: 76.6%
- Apr: 85.1%
- May: 82.0%
- Jun: 73.2%
- Jul: 73.9%
- Aug: 84.5%
- Sep: 86.1%
- Oct: 89.0%
- Nov: 86.2%
- Dec: 75.7%
June is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 15.8 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 76.8% from 194 flights
- August 2023: 89.1% from 203 flights
- September 2023: 81.7% from 195 flights
- October 2023: 92.6% from 204 flights
- November 2023: 95.8% from 192 flights
- December 2023: 85.9% from 199 flights
- January 2024: 80.8% from 197 flights
- February 2024: 93.0% from 189 flights
- March 2024: 83.7% from 198 flights
- April 2024: 85.8% from 194 flights
- May 2024: 86.9% from 201 flights
- June 2024: 71.4% from 194 flights
- July 2024: 68.2% from 205 flights
- August 2024: 75.0% from 203 flights
- September 2024: 91.9% from 198 flights
- October 2024: 91.7% from 205 flights
- November 2024: 85.1% from 195 flights
- December 2024: 76.0% from 192 flights
- January 2025: 75.9% from 200 flights
- February 2025: 82.2% from 179 flights
- March 2025: 73.9% from 202 flights
- April 2025: 83.9% from 193 flights
- May 2025: 75.0% from 190 flights
- June 2025: 72.5% from 189 flights
- July 2025: 75.5% from 195 flights
- August 2025: 89.4% from 184 flights
- September 2025: 83.8% from 150 flights
- October 2025: 80.4% from 151 flights
- November 2025: 74.6% from 143 flights
- December 2025: 61.4% from 150 flights
- January 2026: 84.6% from 150 flights
- February 2026: 89.8% from 138 flights
- March 2026: 70.5% from 151 flights
- April 2026: 85.8% from 148 flights
- May 2026: 84.1% from 176 flights
- June 2026: 76.5% from 151 flights
- July 2026: 75.9% from 154 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 79.9% against 79.9% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 6,752 MSP → LGA 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