Route profile
PHX→BOS
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Phoenix to Boston, 2,300 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 47% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 6,475 flights. How this is calculated
PHX → BOS arrives on time 77.9% of the time; the return trip, BOS → PHX, arrives on time 78.0% of the time.
PHX → BOS spends 25.5 minutes on the ground on a 2,300-mile trip: 16.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at PHX and 8.7 minutes from touchdown to gate at BOS.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Unlike most, it barely matters what time you fly this route, a steadier spread than 94% of 4,023 comparable routes.
81.2% on time for 9 AM–12 PM departures, against 73.9% for 3–6 PM, a narrow gap either way.
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 4,023 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where PHX to BOS differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
PHX to BOS is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 5 PM: 81.2% arrive on time, 8.5 points ahead of the 72.7% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 11.4 points.
PHX to BOS struggles most at 3 PM: 69.5% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 6.2 points behind the 75.7% on routes of similar length at the same hour.
Thursday is the day PHX to BOS slips furthest against routes of similar length, 73.7% on time where they average 77.6%, 3.9 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 3.1 points.
In October, PHX to BOS runs 7.5 points below routes of similar length, 76.1% on time to 83.6%. Against all other routes the gap is 6.9 points.
JetBlue’s flights on PHX to BOS arrive on time 68.8% of the time, 6.5 points below the 75.3% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 3.4 points.
PHX to BOS against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 5 PM departures | 81.2% | routes of similar length | 72.7% | +8.5 pts | 197 here, 64,646 there |
| Hour: 3 PM departures | 69.5% | routes of similar length | 75.7% | −6.2 pts | 515 here, 48,064 there |
| Weekday: Thursday | 73.7% | routes of similar length | 77.6% | −3.9 pts | 952 here, 167,989 there |
| Month: October | 76.1% | routes of similar length | 83.6% | −7.5 pts | 503 here, 95,236 there |
| Airline: JetBlue | 68.8% | routes of similar length | 75.3% | −6.5 pts | 1,147 here, 113,445 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 2,300 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 PHX → BOS flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
PHX → BOS cancelled 60 of 6,475 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 108. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 58.3% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 185 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 60 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.
35 cancellations, 58.3% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
21 cancellations, 35.0% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
4 cancellations, 6.7% 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.
60 coded cancellations were recorded on PHX → BOS; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
45 min late
against a median of 6 min early
Percentiles over 6,475 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at BOS after arriving from PHX.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 38% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 21% | High risk |
| 60 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 7.6% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.4% | 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 0.93% of the time and diverts 0.19% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 6,403 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 45 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 6,475 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
PHX → BOS flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 81.2% of the time, against 73.9% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 7.3 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 79.5% on time from 630 flights
- 9 AM: 84.3% on time from 463 flights
- 10 AM to 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 75.4% on time from 646 flights
- 1 PM: 74.7% on time from 738 flights
- 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 69.5% on time from 522 flights
- 4 PM: 76.1% on time from 362 flights
- 5 PM: 81.2% on time from 198 flights
- 6 PM to 8 PM: too few flights to score
- 9 PM: 82.7% on time from 370 flights
- 10 PM: 78.0% on time from 1,556 flights
- 11 PM: 81.8% on time from 690 flights
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why PHX → 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 PHX → BOS. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on PHX → BOS, at 41.3%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, though departure time makes little difference here: the best and worst windows are 7 points apart.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 4,044 | 79.4% | 0.74% | -6 min | 6.5% |
| Delta Air Lines | 1,242 | 81.9% | 1.29% | -9 min | 6.5% |
| JetBlue | 1,162 | 68.8% | 1.20% | -3 min | 13.3% |
American Airlines flew 62.7% of the 6,448 flights listed.
Delta Air Lines arrived on time 13.1 percentage points more often than JetBlue on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 7.8 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 82.6%
- Feb: 78.6%
- Mar: 77.8%
- Apr: 81.4%
- May: 79.4%
- Jun: 74.9%
- Jul: 66.4%
- Aug: 74.7%
- Sep: 78.8%
- Oct: 76.1%
- Nov: 83.3%
- Dec: 81.5%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 16.9 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 67.8% from 158 flights
- August 2023: 71.9% from 181 flights
- September 2023: 75.5% from 156 flights
- October 2023: 78.4% from 153 flights
- November 2023: 87.6% from 170 flights
- December 2023: 79.5% from 190 flights
- January 2024: 83.3% from 181 flights
- February 2024: 82.6% from 172 flights
- March 2024: 77.3% from 194 flights
- April 2024: 81.4% from 177 flights
- May 2024: 78.9% from 186 flights
- June 2024: 68.6% from 157 flights
- July 2024: 64.1% from 159 flights
- August 2024: 69.0% from 172 flights
- September 2024: 86.8% from 167 flights
- October 2024: 85.3% from 184 flights
- November 2024: 87.9% from 190 flights
- December 2024: 82.6% from 209 flights
- January 2025: 85.9% from 198 flights
- February 2025: 76.4% from 184 flights
- March 2025: 79.2% from 212 flights
- April 2025: 80.2% from 187 flights
- May 2025: 75.4% from 183 flights
- June 2025: 77.0% from 180 flights
- July 2025: 71.6% from 160 flights
- August 2025: 85.4% from 137 flights
- September 2025: 72.5% from 132 flights
- October 2025: 63.9% from 166 flights
- November 2025: 72.9% from 158 flights
- December 2025: 82.5% from 179 flights
- January 2026: 77.4% from 169 flights
- February 2026: 76.7% from 163 flights
- March 2026: 76.6% from 198 flights
- April 2026: 82.5% from 211 flights
- May 2026: 83.5% from 201 flights
- June 2026: 79.1% from 148 flights
- July 2026: 62.0% from 153 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 76.6% against 80.0% in the 12 months before — declining by 3.4 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 6,475 PHX → 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