ORD → LAX Flight Reliability

Right now

Origin · ORDNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 07:51 UTC

Chicago airport profile →

Destination · LAXNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 07:53 UTC

Los Angeles airport profile →

Route reliability

July 2023 – July 2026

Route Reliability Score

61/ 100Good

Better than 37% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)

Calculated from 21,173 flights. How this is calculated

On-time arrivals

76.4%

15,958 of 20,894

Cancellation rate

1.19%

253 cancelled

Median arrival delay

-6 min

Average 8.1 min

Severe delays

8.6%

60+ minutes late

Delay when late

73 min

Average, when 15+ min late

Flights analyzed

21,173

4 carriers

ORD → LAX arrives on time 76.4% of the time; the return trip, LAX → ORD, arrives on time 80.9% of the time, a 4.5-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.

ORD → LAX spends 33.3 minutes on the ground on a 1,744-mile trip: 22.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at ORD and 10.5 minutes from touchdown to gate at LAX.

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026

Why ORD → LAX flights are cancelled

July 2023 – July 2026

ORD → LAX cancelled 253 of 21,173 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 84. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 47.8% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 175 scheduled flights.

Share of cancellations

Weather47.8%

Airline47.4%

Air traffic4.7%

Security0.0%

Of 253 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.

What each reason means

Extreme weather1 in 175

Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.

121 cancellations, 47.8% of the total.

The airline1 in 176

Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.

120 cancellations, 47.4% of the total.

The air traffic system1 in 1,764

Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.

12 cancellations, 4.7% of the total.

Security—

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.

253 coded cancellations were recorded on ORD → LAX; the section appears from 50.

When it goes wrong

July 2023 – July 2026

One arrival in ten is worse than

51 min late

against a median of 6 min early

Arrived an hour or more late8.6%

Typical delay when late73 min

Cancelled1.19%

Landed somewhere else0.12%

Percentiles over 21,173 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.

Will your connection be tight enough?

Layovers at LAX after arriving from ORD.

Connection buffer and chance of missing by layover length, ORD → LAX arrivals
Connection time	Chance of missing	Reads as
30 min	39%	Likely to miss
45 min	23%	High risk
60 min	15%	High risk
90 min	8.4%	Some risk
120 min	5.1%	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 1.19% of the time and diverts 0.12% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.

Chance of missing is the share of 20,894 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 51 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 21,173 operations.

Any other layover length: connection checker.

Best time to fly

ORD → LAX flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 86.5% of the time, against 64.4% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 22.1 percentage points.

By day and hour

On-time arrival rate for each weekday and scheduled departure hour, in local time at the departure airport (ORD).

Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 8.7 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 1.9 points.

On-time arrival rate for ORD to LAX by weekday and scheduled departure hour, local time. Each button reads out one slot.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
6 AM–7 AM
7 AM–8 AM
8 AM–9 AM
9 AM–10 AM
10 AM–11 AM
11 AM–12 PM
12 PM–1 PM
1 PM–2 PM
2 PM–3 PM
3 PM–4 PM
4 PM–5 PM
5 PM–6 PM
6 PM–7 PM
7 PM–8 PM
8 PM–9 PM
9 PM–10 PM

On-time rate, % · stronger color, fewer on time

50–59
60–69
70–79
80–89
90–99

Fewer than 120 flights, not scored

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · On time is arrival within 15 minutes of schedule. Cells round to whole percentages; the table shows one decimal.

No slot is named best or worst: too few reach 500 flights. Departures before 6 AM and after 10 PM (570 flights) are not drawn: no slot in those hours has enough flights to score.

View as tableHide table

On-time arrival rate (%) with flights beneath, by scheduled departure hour and weekday for ORD to LAX. A dash means fewer than 120 flights, which are not scored.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
6 AM–7 AM	84.9% on time228 flights	88.7% on time178 flights	89.7% on time185 flights	90.6% on time226 flights	81.8% on time231 flights	87.1% on time198 flights	88.4% on time218 flights
7 AM–8 AM	90.1% on time268 flights	92.1% on time243 flights	94.8% on time255 flights	87.2% on time269 flights	90.1% on time268 flights	85.5% on time225 flights	84.9% on time267 flights
8 AM–9 AM	83.6% on time217 flights	83.7% on time197 flights	79.9% on time196 flights	87.1% on time215 flights	84.3% on time214 flights	82.4% on time198 flights	73.6% on time220 flights
9 AM–10 AM	76.5% on time223 flights	83.3% on time211 flights	82.7% on time218 flights	79.8% on time221 flights	77.0% on time220 flights	74.5% on time202 flights	76.1% on time216 flights
10 AM–11 AM	84.1% on time202 flights	80.9% on time216 flights	85.6% on time206 flights	84.8% on time202 flights	79.6% on time202 flights	83.5% on time203 flights	76.4% on time205 flights
11 AM–12 PM	99 flights, too few to score	83 flights, too few to score	89 flights, too few to score	96 flights, too few to score	94 flights, too few to score	85 flights, too few to score	97 flights, too few to score
12 PM–1 PM	91.1% on time124 flights	84.1% on time132 flights	83.8% on time131 flights	88.1% on time128 flights	79.1% on time139 flights	77.0% on time135 flights	81.1% on time125 flights
1 PM–2 PM	81.7% on time169 flights	81.5% on time158 flights	86.3% on time161 flights	78.9% on time166 flights	76.1% on time163 flights	84.4% on time141 flights	85.1% on time148 flights
2 PM–3 PM	79.5% on time157 flights	88.1% on time151 flights	83.2% on time156 flights	80.8% on time156 flights	76.8% on time155 flights	80.6% on time130 flights	80.5% on time170 flights
3 PM–4 PM	76.6% on time246 flights	78.6% on time238 flights	77.0% on time241 flights	76.1% on time254 flights	74.3% on time244 flights	77.5% on time235 flights	71.8% on time247 flights
4 PM–5 PM	69.7% on time122 flights	114 flights, too few to score	73.3% on time123 flights	70.3% on time148 flights	70.8% on time123 flights	70.7% on time124 flights	69.3% on time143 flights
5 PM–6 PM	72.6% on time169 flights	74.7% on time163 flights	76.6% on time155 flights	69.2% on time146 flights	70.5% on time169 flights	72.0% on time143 flights	76.8% on time142 flights
6 PM–7 PM	68.4% on time228 flights	73.4% on time230 flights	69.1% on time224 flights	63.0% on time237 flights	69.9% on time230 flights	67.6% on time188 flights	66.1% on time227 flights
7 PM–8 PM	55.9% on time178 flights	64.5% on time171 flights	63.4% on time176 flights	64.4% on time183 flights	55.2% on time180 flights	56.9% on time171 flights	63.4% on time186 flights
8 PM–9 PM	60.9% on time252 flights	72.7% on time230 flights	66.4% on time233 flights	60.0% on time225 flights	56.4% on time247 flights	69.1% on time226 flights	60.9% on time243 flights
9 PM–10 PM	70.3% on time150 flights	68.9% on time124 flights	72.4% on time135 flights	69.4% on time184 flights	68.4% on time173 flights	103 flights, too few to score	67.2% on time179 flights

By departure window

5–9 AM86.5%

9 AM–12 PM79.9%

12–3 PM82.1%

3–6 PM73.8%

6–9 PM64.4%

9 PM–5 AM66.1%

By departure hour

12 AM

3 AM

6 AM

9 AM

12 PM

3 PM

6 PM

9 PM

Why ORD → LAX runs late

July 2023 – July 2026

Late-arriving aircraft42.5%

the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late

The airline33.8%

crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control

Air traffic control17.7%

airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control

Weather5.8%

weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically

Security0.2%

screening or terminal security incidents

Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for ORD → LAX. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.

Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on ORD → LAX, at 42.5%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 86.5% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 64.4%.

How this route holds up in bad weather

July 2023 – July 2026

The harder-hit end is the one the flight leaves from, where a cancellation keeps it from departing at all. Bad weather cancels 5.5 times the normal rate at ORD against 1.3 times at LAX. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: ORD 6.5% against 1.2%, LAX 1.0% against 0.8%. Flights that did leave ORD in bad weather arrived on time 55.7% of the time, against 77.1% in normal hours.

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026

Departures from ORD and LAX in hours of bad weather and in normal hours
Departures from	ORD	LAX
Cancelled in bad weather	6.5%	1.0%
Cancelled in normal hours	1.2%	0.8%
Arrived on time, bad weather	55.7%	78.9%
Arrived on time, normal hours	77.1%	81.4%
Departures in bad weather	104,455	60,639

United Airlines (3.5% cancelled against 7.4% for the other carriers at ORD) and American Airlines (5.4% cancelled against 6.7% for the other carriers at ORD) cancelled fewer departures from ORD in bad weather than the other carriers there did in the same months. None of the route’s other carriers was clearly worse.

This route’s airlines in bad weather at ORD

All departures from ORD

Cancellation rates in bad weather at ORD for the airlines that fly ORD to LAX, against the other carriers at ORD in the same months
Airline	Bad-weather departures	Cancelled	Other carriers
United Airlines	31,269	3.5%below the others	7.4%
Frontier Airlines	1,047	6.0%about level	7.5%
American Airlines	17,789	5.4%below the others	6.7%
Spirit Airlines	2,378	4.8%about level	5.5%

These are airport figures, not route figures: every scheduled departure from ORD and LAX, to any destination, in hours the weather report called bad. The airline rows count each carrier’s departures from ORD on every route.

Weather source and limits. In full: ORD (airlines), LAX, What Weather Costs Each Airport, Who Cancels More When the Weather Turns, Airports That Change Places When Weather Turns.

Airlines on this route

Carriers with at least 200 flights, by the airline that operated each one.

Airlines on this route
Carrier	Flights	On time	Cancelled	Median delay	Severe
United Airlines	9,994	79.6%	1.07%	-6 min	7.3%
American Airlines	9,029	73.9%	1.23%	-5 min	9.4%
Spirit Airlines	1,709	72.2%	1.29%	-7 min	11.0%
Frontier Airlines	290	66.3%	4.48%	3 min	12.7%

United Airlines flew 47.5% of the 21,022 flights listed. Frontier Airlines cancelled 4.48% of its flights here against 1.07% for United Airlines.

United Airlines arrived on time 13.3 percentage points more often than Frontier Airlines on this route.

Flights on this route

Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.

Flights on this route
Flight	Scheduled	Operations	On time
AA2364 American Airlines	5:10 PM	899	66.9%
AA1979 American Airlines	9:45 AM	682	77.1%
AA607 American Airlines	6:00 AM	603	87.2%

AA607 (6:00 AM) arrived on time 87.2% of the time, 20.3 points more often than AA2364 (5:10 PM) at 66.9%.

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

Mon76.0%

Tue79.1%

Wed78.9%

Thu76.7%

Fri73.8%

Sat76.2%

Sun74.1%

Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 5.3 percentage points.

By month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

June is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 15.3 percentage points.

Reliability over time

July 2023 – July 2026

24

25

26

Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 73.0% against 80.1% in the 12 months before — declining by 7.1 percentage points.

Data and methodology

Calculated by FlyerIntel from 21,173 ORD → LAX 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

Analysis last recomputed September 26, 2026

ORD airport LAX airport Return direction LAX → ORD

ORD→LAX

Right now

Route reliability

Why ORD → LAX flights are cancelled

Share of cancellations

What each reason means

When it goes wrong

Will your connection be tight enough?

Best time to fly

By day and hour

By departure window

By departure hour

Why ORD → LAX runs late

How this route holds up in bad weather

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

This route’s airlines in bad weather at ORD

Airlines on this route

Flights on this route

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

By month

Reliability over time

Data and methodology