Route profile
MSP→MSY
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Minneapolis to New Orleans, 1,039 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 88% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 1,303 flights. How this is calculated
MSP → MSY arrives on time 86.0% of the time; the return trip, MSY → MSP, arrives on time 84.7% of the time.
MSP → MSY spends 24.4 minutes on the ground on a 1,039-mile trip: 17.1 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MSP and 7.4 minutes from touchdown to gate at MSY.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Unlike most, it barely matters what time you fly this route, a steadier spread than 93% of 4,023 comparable routes.
92.6% on time for 5–9 AM departures, against 84.7% for 12–3 PM, a narrow gap either way.
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 MSP to MSY differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MSP to MSY is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 2 PM: 84.1% arrive on time, 11.3 points ahead of the 72.8% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 9.5 points.
MSP to MSY holds up on Thursdays better than routes of similar length do: 87.6% on time to their 75.7%, a 11.9 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 10.8 points.
April is kinder to MSP to MSY than to routes of similar length: 86.6% on time against 79.1%, 7.5 points better.
Delta Air Lines does better on MSP to MSY than on its routes of similar length: 86.0% on time here, 80.6% there, 5.4 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 4.5 points.
MSP to MSY against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 2 PM departures | 84.1% | routes of similar length | 72.8% | +11.3 pts | 283 here, 172,120 there |
| Weekday: Thursday | 87.6% | routes of similar length | 75.7% | +11.9 pts | 193 here, 417,581 there |
| Month: April | 86.6% | routes of similar length | 79.1% | +7.5 pts | 134 here, 238,804 there |
| Airline: Delta Air Lines | 86.0% | routes of similar length | 80.6% | +5.4 pts | 1,280 here, 448,449 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 1,039 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
24 min late
against a median of 8 min early
Percentiles over 1,303 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at MSY after arriving from MSP.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 29% | High risk |
| 45 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 8.4% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.7% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.3% | 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 1.30% of the time and diverts 0.23% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 1,283 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 24 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 1,303 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MSP → MSY flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 92.6% of the time, against 84.7% for 12–3 PM departures, a gap of 7.9 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 9 AM: too few flights to score
- 10 AM: 85.2% on time from 267 flights
- 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 84.3% on time from 430 flights
- 1 PM: too few flights to score
- 2 PM: 84.1% on time from 286 flights
- 3 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why MSP → MSY 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 → MSY. 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 | 1,300 | 86.0% | 1.31% | -9 min | 4.7% |
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| DL2695 Delta Air Lines | 12:45 PM | 776 | 84.7% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Saturday the least, a gap of 11.1 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 86.8% against 85.8% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 1,303 MSP → MSY 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