Route profile
ONT→HNL
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Ontario to Honolulu, 2,603 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 90% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 1,188 flights. How this is calculated
ONT → HNL arrives on time 82.2% of the time; the return trip, HNL → ONT, arrives on time 74.4% of the time, a 7.8-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
ONT → HNL spends 26.4 minutes on the ground on a 2,603-mile trip: 12.6 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at ONT and 13.8 minutes from touchdown to gate at HNL.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route stays close to typical even on its worst days, a smaller gap than 93% of 4,598 comparable routes.
A typical arrival is 5 min early, and the worst tenth are only 30 minutes worse than that.
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 4,598 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where ONT to HNL differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
ONT to HNL is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 9 AM: 84.4% arrive on time, 4.4 points ahead of the 80.0% those routes manage at that hour.
ONT to HNL struggles most at 8 AM: 79.3% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 4 points behind the 83.3% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 6.6 points.
ONT to HNL holds up on Sundays better than routes of similar length do: 87.6% on time to their 76.1%, a 11.5 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 12.8 points.
July is kinder to ONT to HNL than to routes of similar length: 84.4% on time against 70.6%, 13.8 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 14.7 points.
Hawaiian Airlines does better on ONT to HNL than on its routes of similar length: 78.5% on time here, 72.1% there, 6.4 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 6.8 points.
ONT to HNL against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 9 AM departures | 84.4% | routes of similar length | 80.0% | +4.4 pts | 481 here, 57,705 there |
| Hour: 8 AM departures | 79.3% | routes of similar length | 83.3% | −4.0 pts | 489 here, 89,207 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 87.6% | routes of similar length | 76.1% | +11.5 pts | 170 here, 124,054 there |
| Month: July | 84.4% | routes of similar length | 70.6% | +13.8 pts | 154 here, 102,377 there |
| Airline: Hawaiian Airlines | 78.5% | routes of similar length | 72.1% | +6.4 pts | 708 here, 31,325 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 2,603 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
25 min late
against a median of 5 min early
Percentiles over 1,188 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at HNL after arriving from ONT.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 38% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 17% | High risk |
| 60 min | 8.1% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 3.1% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 1.8% | 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 0.42% of the time and diverts 0.25% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 1,180 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 25 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 1,188 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Why ONT → HNL 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
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for ONT → HNL. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hawaiian Airlines | 715 | 78.5% | 0.56% | -3 min | 3.8% |
| Alaska Airlines | 415 | 86.2% | 0.24% | -8 min | 3.1% |
Hawaiian Airlines flew 63.3% of the 1,130 flights listed.
Alaska Airlines arrived on time 7.7 percentage points more often than Hawaiian Airlines on this route.
Other ways to fly Los Angeles to Honolulu
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LAX→HNL Los Angeles to Honolulu | 17,049 | 78.8% | 0.57% | -5 min | 71 |
| ONT→HNL this route Ontario to Honolulu | 1,188 | 82.2% | 0.42% | -5 min | 82 |
ONT → HNL is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 82.2% on time, against 78.8% for LAX → HNL.
Flying to HNL from the Los Angeles area? Compare ONT, LAX, SNA, BUR for HNL, with the same test for what counts as a real difference.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Sunday is historically the most reliable day and Saturday the least, a gap of 9.6 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 86.3% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 1,188 ONT → HNL 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