Route profile
MSY→IAH
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from New Orleans to Houston, 305 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 9,037 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
MSY → IAH arrives on time 83.2% of the time; the return trip, IAH → MSY, arrives on time 80.1% of the time, a 3.0-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
MSY → IAH spends 23.8 minutes on the ground on a 305-mile trip: 14.5 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MSY and 9.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at IAH.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Every day of the week performs about the same on this route, steadier than 98% of 4,467 comparable routes.
85.1% on time on the best day (Tuesday) against 81.8% on the worst (Sunday).
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 4,467 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where MSY to IAH differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MSY to IAH is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 7 PM: 83.2% arrive on time, 12.1 points ahead of the 71.1% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 15.4 points.
MSY to IAH struggles most at 7 AM: 85.6% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 3.5 points behind the 89.1% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 2.2 points.
MSY to IAH holds up on Sundays better than routes of similar length do: 81.8% on time to their 76.4%, a 5.4 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 7 points.
February is kinder to MSY to IAH than to routes of similar length: 90.3% on time against 82.3%, 8 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 8.9 points.
United Airlines does better on MSY to IAH than on its routes of similar length: 83.7% on time here, 77.7% there, 6 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 3.8 points.
MSY to IAH against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 7 PM departures | 83.2% | routes of similar length | 71.1% | +12.1 pts | 797 here, 50,766 there |
| Hour: 7 AM departures | 85.6% | routes of similar length | 89.1% | −3.5 pts | 1,147 here, 54,476 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 81.8% | routes of similar length | 76.4% | +5.4 pts | 1,262 here, 126,622 there |
| Month: February | 90.3% | routes of similar length | 82.3% | +8.0 pts | 699 here, 61,246 there |
| Airline: United Airlines | 83.7% | routes of similar length | 77.7% | +6.0 pts | 7,859 here, 84,106 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 305 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 MSY → IAH flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
MSY → IAH cancelled 149 of 9,037 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 61. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 55.0% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 110 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 149 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, 55.0% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
48 cancellations, 32.2% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
19 cancellations, 12.8% 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.
149 coded cancellations were recorded on MSY → IAH; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
32 min late
against a median of 9 min early
Percentiles over 9,037 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at IAH after arriving from MSY.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 29% | High risk |
| 45 min | 16% | High risk |
| 60 min | 10% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.4% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.5% | 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 1.65% of the time and diverts 0.10% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 8,879 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 32 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 9,037 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MSY → IAH flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 89.6% of the time, against 74.9% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 14.7 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 93.4% on time from 1,009 flights
- 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 85.6% on time from 1,166 flights
- 8 AM: too few flights to score
- 9 AM: 90.0% on time from 1,019 flights
- 10 AM: too few flights to score
- 11 AM: 88.0% on time from 493 flights
- 12 PM: 82.5% on time from 587 flights
- 1 PM: too few flights to score
- 2 PM: 82.5% on time from 1,004 flights
- 3 PM: 81.3% on time from 890 flights
- 4 PM: 75.4% on time from 397 flights
- 5 PM: 69.7% on time from 1,119 flights
- 6 PM: too few flights to score
- 7 PM: 83.2% on time from 811 flights
- 8 PM to 9 PM: too few flights to score
- 10 PM: 77.5% on time from 154 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why MSY → IAH runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s 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 → IAH. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on MSY → IAH, at 43.8%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 89.6% of the time and 3–6 PM departures 74.9%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 7,993 | 83.7% | 1.56% | -10 min | 6.4% |
| Spirit Airlines | 770 | 77.4% | 1.95% | -8 min | 8.1% |
United Airlines flew 91.2% of the 8,763 flights listed.
United Airlines arrived on time 6.3 percentage points more often than Spirit Airlines on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 3.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 86.0%
- Feb: 90.3%
- Mar: 83.9%
- Apr: 86.8%
- May: 74.6%
- Jun: 74.7%
- Jul: 72.9%
- Aug: 85.1%
- Sep: 87.2%
- Oct: 86.9%
- Nov: 85.0%
- Dec: 86.8%
July is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 17.4 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 74.8% from 294 flights
- August 2023: 87.6% from 269 flights
- September 2023: 78.2% from 201 flights
- October 2023: 88.3% from 257 flights
- November 2023: 86.6% from 202 flights
- December 2023: 89.9% from 189 flights
- January 2024: 77.9% from 208 flights
- February 2024: 94.6% from 223 flights
- March 2024: 84.5% from 252 flights
- April 2024: 88.7% from 250 flights
- May 2024: 72.4% from 257 flights
- June 2024: 80.6% from 237 flights
- July 2024: 61.6% from 194 flights
- August 2024: 85.0% from 234 flights
- September 2024: 89.9% from 271 flights
- October 2024: 91.0% from 278 flights
- November 2024: 88.4% from 258 flights
- December 2024: 84.9% from 251 flights
- January 2025: 86.3% from 259 flights
- February 2025: 87.1% from 249 flights
- March 2025: 86.9% from 268 flights
- April 2025: 88.4% from 259 flights
- May 2025: 79.2% from 264 flights
- June 2025: 70.1% from 242 flights
- July 2025: 72.5% from 242 flights
- August 2025: 82.5% from 247 flights
- September 2025: 91.0% from 280 flights
- October 2025: 81.7% from 286 flights
- November 2025: 80.2% from 253 flights
- December 2025: 86.2% from 224 flights
- January 2026: 91.9% from 235 flights
- February 2026: 89.5% from 228 flights
- March 2026: 80.2% from 257 flights
- April 2026: 83.6% from 269 flights
- May 2026: 71.8% from 234 flights
- June 2026: 73.2% from 206 flights
- July 2026: 80.0% from 210 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 82.8% against 84.3% in the 12 months before — declining by 1.5 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 9,037 MSY → IAH 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