Route profile
MSY→BOS
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from New Orleans to Boston, 1,368 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 5% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 2,770 flights. How this is calculated
MSY → BOS arrives on time 69.9% of the time; the return trip, BOS → MSY, arrives on time 78.1% of the time, an 8.2-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
MSY → BOS spends 24.4 minutes on the ground on a 1,368-mile trip: 14.7 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MSY and 9.7 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 99% of 3,357 comparable routes.
83.8% on time in a typical January, against 54.0% 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 MSY to BOS differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MSY to BOS struggles most at 12 PM: 67.3% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 11.2 points behind the 78.5% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 12.1 points.
Thursday is the day MSY to BOS slips furthest against routes of similar length, 65.3% on time where they average 76.6%, 11.3 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 11.5 points.
In September, MSY to BOS runs 28.4 points below routes of similar length, 54.0% on time to 82.4%. Against all other routes the gap is 28.4 points.
Delta Air Lines’ flights on MSY to BOS arrive on time 69.7% of the time, 12.8 points below the 82.5% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 11.8 points.
MSY to BOS against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 12 PM departures | 67.3% | routes of similar length | 78.5% | −11.2 pts | 401 here, 115,365 there |
| Weekday: Thursday | 65.3% | routes of similar length | 76.6% | −11.3 pts | 403 here, 255,650 there |
| Month: September | 54.0% | routes of similar length | 82.4% | −28.4 pts | 174 here, 134,255 there |
| Airline: Delta Air Lines | 69.7% | routes of similar length | 82.5% | −12.8 pts | 1,122 here, 300,981 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 1,368 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
76 min late
against a median of 4 min early
MSY → BOS has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 4 min early, but the worst tenth are 80 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 2,770 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at BOS after arriving from MSY.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 43% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 29% | High risk |
| 60 min | 22% | High risk |
| 90 min | 13% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 8.0% | 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 1.66% of the time and diverts 0.11% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 2,721 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 76 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 2,770 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MSY → BOS flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 84.6% of the time, against 65.1% for 12–3 PM departures, a gap of 19.5 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 8 AM: too few flights to score
- 9 AM: 77.0% on time from 188 flights
- 10 AM: 71.4% on time from 211 flights
- 11 AM: 78.5% on time from 234 flights
- 12 PM: 67.3% on time from 405 flights
- 1 PM: 74.4% on time from 121 flights
- 2 PM: 62.9% on time from 913 flights
- 3 PM: 72.9% on time from 190 flights
- 4 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why MSY → BOS 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 MSY → BOS. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on MSY → BOS, at 37.7%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 84.6% of the time and 12–3 PM departures 65.1%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JetBlue | 1,449 | 68.6% | 1.93% | -3 min | 14.2% |
| Delta Air Lines | 1,137 | 69.7% | 1.23% | -4 min | 13.1% |
JetBlue flew 56.0% of the 2,586 flights listed.
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.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| B6400 JetBlue | 12:20 PM | 799 | 69.6% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 12.5 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 83.8%
- Feb: 72.5%
- Mar: 78.9%
- Apr: 74.4%
- May: 70.1%
- Jun: 62.1%
- Jul: 56.8%
- Aug: 66.3%
- Sep: 54.0%
- Oct: 65.4%
- Nov: 79.0%
- Dec: 70.3%
September is historically the weakest month and January the strongest, a spread of 29.8 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: too few flights to score (62)
- August 2023: too few flights to score (62)
- September 2023: too few flights to score (60)
- October 2023: too few flights to score (62)
- November 2023: too few flights to score (68)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (62)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (62)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (58)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (62)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (60)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (88)
- June 2024: too few flights to score (72)
- July 2024: too few flights to score (62)
- August 2024: too few flights to score (62)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (60)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (84)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (110)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (117)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (82)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (100)
- March 2025: 80.5% from 123 flights
- April 2025: too few flights to score (113)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (98)
- June 2025: too few flights to score (66)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (62)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (54)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (60)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (95)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (80)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (74)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (64)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (70)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (79)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (77)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (78)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (60)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (62)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 62.9% against 74.0% in the 12 months before — declining by 11.1 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 2,770 MSY → 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