Route profile
MSY→LGA
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from New Orleans to New York, 1,183 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 15% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 4,469 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
MSY → LGA arrives on time 75.7% of the time; the return trip, LGA → MSY, arrives on time 73.4% of the time, a 2.3-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
MSY → LGA spends 21.2 minutes on the ground on a 1,183-mile trip: 13.2 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MSY and 7.9 minutes from touchdown to gate at LGA.
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 93% of 2,692 comparable routes.
JetBlue arrived on time 80.5% of the time, against 61.3% for American Airlines, 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 MSY to LGA differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MSY to LGA struggles most at 9 AM: 72.8% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 10.7 points behind the 83.5% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 11.5 points.
MSY to LGA is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 3 PM: 77.7% arrive on time, 7.6 points ahead of the 70.1% those routes manage at that hour.
MSY to LGA holds up on Saturdays better than routes of similar length do: 84.2% on time to their 77.2%, a 7 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 5.1 points.
In June, MSY to LGA runs 8 points below routes of similar length, 63.6% on time to 71.6%. Against all other routes the gap is 9.1 points.
August is kinder to MSY to LGA than to routes of similar length: 79.8% on time against 74.4%, 5.4 points better.
MSY to LGA against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 9 AM departures | 72.8% | routes of similar length | 83.5% | −10.7 pts | 125 here, 111,429 there |
| Hour: 3 PM departures | 77.7% | routes of similar length | 70.1% | +7.6 pts | 256 here, 120,588 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 84.2% | routes of similar length | 77.2% | +7.0 pts | 488 here, 285,991 there |
| Month: June | 63.6% | routes of similar length | 71.6% | −8.0 pts | 319 here, 170,148 there |
| Month: August | 79.8% | routes of similar length | 74.4% | +5.4 pts | 317 here, 168,677 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 1,183 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 → LGA flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
MSY → LGA cancelled 107 of 4,469 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 42. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 54.2% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 77 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 107 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.
58 cancellations, 54.2% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
34 cancellations, 31.8% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
15 cancellations, 14.0% 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. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
107 coded cancellations were recorded on MSY → LGA; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
59 min late
against a median of 6 min early
MSY → LGA has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 6 min early, but the worst tenth are 65 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 4,469 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at LGA after arriving from MSY.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 38% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 24% | High risk |
| 60 min | 16% | High risk |
| 90 min | 9.9% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 6.4% | 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 2.39% of the time and diverts 0.78% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 4,327 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 59 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 4,469 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MSY → LGA flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 90.9% of the time, against 66.7% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 24.2 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 92.5% on time from 486 flights
- 7 AM: 94.1% on time from 190 flights
- 8 AM: 84.5% on time from 223 flights
- 9 AM: 72.8% on time from 128 flights
- 10 AM: 81.4% on time from 401 flights
- 11 AM: 80.2% on time from 453 flights
- 12 PM: 73.8% on time from 640 flights
- 1 PM: too few flights to score
- 2 PM: 65.6% on time from 517 flights
- 3 PM: 77.7% on time from 260 flights
- 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 62.8% on time from 448 flights
- 6 PM: 66.9% on time from 354 flights
- 7 PM: 66.4% on time from 284 flights
- 8 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why MSY → LGA 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 → LGA. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on MSY → LGA, at 39.6%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 90.9% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 66.7%.
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 | 2,235 | 79.3% | 2.64% | -11 min | 9.8% |
| Southwest Airlines | 1,055 | 74.2% | 2.09% | -1 min | 6.8% |
| American Airlines | 600 | 61.3% | 2.67% | 3 min | 17.8% |
| JetBlue | 493 | 80.5% | 1.83% | -12 min | 8.1% |
Delta Air Lines flew 51.0% of the 4,383 flights listed.
JetBlue arrived on time 19.2 percentage points more often than American Airlines on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 14.2 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 80.7%
- Feb: 77.4%
- Mar: 70.0%
- Apr: 77.1%
- May: 69.7%
- Jun: 63.6%
- Jul: 69.1%
- Aug: 79.8%
- Sep: 85.1%
- Oct: 80.9%
- Nov: 83.1%
- Dec: 74.1%
June is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 21.5 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 74.5% from 124 flights
- August 2023: 83.5% from 124 flights
- September 2023: 81.5% from 130 flights
- October 2023: 88.4% from 147 flights
- November 2023: 91.5% from 141 flights
- December 2023: 81.6% from 141 flights
- January 2024: 75.5% from 144 flights
- February 2024: 83.7% from 141 flights
- March 2024: 76.9% from 148 flights
- April 2024: 84.7% from 120 flights
- May 2024: 73.8% from 124 flights
- June 2024: too few flights to score (98)
- July 2024: too few flights to score (89)
- August 2024: too few flights to score (88)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (86)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (90)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (109)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (118)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (116)
- February 2025: 72.4% from 136 flights
- March 2025: 69.3% from 156 flights
- April 2025: 78.3% from 120 flights
- May 2025: 67.5% from 123 flights
- June 2025: too few flights to score (117)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (119)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (119)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (116)
- October 2025: 68.1% from 120 flights
- November 2025: too few flights to score (114)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (119)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (115)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (117)
- March 2026: 62.3% from 123 flights
- April 2026: 68.1% from 120 flights
- May 2026: 67.8% from 124 flights
- June 2026: too few flights to score (115)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (118)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 71.3% against 73.7% in the 12 months before — declining by 2.4 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 4,469 MSY → 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