Route profile
PHX→HOU
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Phoenix to Houston, 1,020 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 68% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 6,471 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
PHX → HOU arrives on time 77.1% of the time; the return trip, HOU → PHX, arrives on time 78.9% of the time.
PHX → HOU spends 17.7 minutes on the ground on a 1,020-mile trip: 12.2 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at PHX and 5.5 minutes from touchdown to gate at HOU.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
On-time performance swings unusually widely by time of day here, wider than 95% of 4,023 comparable routes.
93.2% on time for 5–9 AM departures, against 60.2% for 9 PM–5 AM.
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 HOU differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
PHX to HOU struggles most at 7 PM: 54.2% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 11.8 points behind the 66.0% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 13.6 points.
PHX to HOU is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 7 AM: 92.7% arrive on time, 4.7 points ahead of the 88.0% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 4.9 points.
In March, PHX to HOU runs 6.7 points below routes of similar length, 68.8% on time to 75.5%. Against all other routes the gap is 9.1 points.
January is kinder to PHX to HOU than to routes of similar length: 83.1% on time against 77.2%, 5.9 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 4 points.
PHX to HOU against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 7 PM departures | 54.2% | routes of similar length | 66.0% | −11.8 pts | 391 here, 181,841 there |
| Hour: 7 AM departures | 92.7% | routes of similar length | 88.0% | +4.7 pts | 576 here, 232,044 there |
| Month: March | 68.8% | routes of similar length | 75.5% | −6.7 pts | 565 here, 252,118 there |
| Month: January | 83.1% | routes of similar length | 77.2% | +5.9 pts | 485 here, 219,420 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 1,020 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
36 min late
against a median of 1 min early
Percentiles over 6,471 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at HOU after arriving from PHX.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 47% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 22% | High risk |
| 60 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.9% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.5% | 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 0.57% of the time and diverts 0.29% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 6,415 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 36 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 6,471 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
PHX → HOU flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 93.2% of the time, against 60.2% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 33.0 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 95.1% on time from 861 flights
- 6 AM: 93.9% on time from 230 flights
- 7 AM: 92.7% on time from 585 flights
- 8 AM: 89.6% on time from 403 flights
- 9 AM: 78.7% on time from 265 flights
- 10 AM: 81.0% on time from 482 flights
- 11 AM: 77.8% on time from 279 flights
- 12 PM: 82.6% on time from 306 flights
- 1 PM: 69.5% on time from 225 flights
- 2 PM: 71.3% on time from 358 flights
- 3 PM: 68.3% on time from 301 flights
- 4 PM: 66.6% on time from 353 flights
- 5 PM: 65.8% on time from 369 flights
- 6 PM: 67.8% on time from 602 flights
- 7 PM: 54.2% on time from 394 flights
- 8 PM: 56.9% on time from 328 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why PHX → HOU 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 → HOU. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on PHX → HOU, at 48.8%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 93.2% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 60.2%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 6,471 | 77.1% | 0.57% | -1 min | 5.0% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 7.8 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 83.1%
- Feb: 83.9%
- Mar: 68.8%
- Apr: 77.9%
- May: 73.2%
- Jun: 70.8%
- Jul: 67.9%
- Aug: 77.8%
- Sep: 85.6%
- Oct: 81.9%
- Nov: 80.0%
- Dec: 79.0%
July is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 17.7 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 69.6% from 148 flights
- August 2023: 74.8% from 151 flights
- September 2023: 91.7% from 170 flights
- October 2023: 81.4% from 186 flights
- November 2023: 85.1% from 175 flights
- December 2023: 83.3% from 181 flights
- January 2024: 74.8% from 156 flights
- February 2024: 82.3% from 141 flights
- March 2024: 78.2% from 175 flights
- April 2024: 83.5% from 170 flights
- May 2024: 77.4% from 173 flights
- June 2024: 77.1% from 192 flights
- July 2024: 70.5% from 199 flights
- August 2024: 76.7% from 164 flights
- September 2024: 79.6% from 152 flights
- October 2024: 87.2% from 190 flights
- November 2024: 88.4% from 189 flights
- December 2024: 80.4% from 194 flights
- January 2025: 87.6% from 169 flights
- February 2025: 89.0% from 157 flights
- March 2025: 82.1% from 196 flights
- April 2025: 78.5% from 184 flights
- May 2025: 77.6% from 183 flights
- June 2025: 72.7% from 177 flights
- July 2025: 62.8% from 180 flights
- August 2025: 81.6% from 159 flights
- September 2025: 84.7% from 150 flights
- October 2025: 77.1% from 192 flights
- November 2025: 66.5% from 190 flights
- December 2025: 73.6% from 198 flights
- January 2026: 86.4% from 169 flights
- February 2026: 80.4% from 158 flights
- March 2026: 47.4% from 197 flights
- April 2026: 72.5% from 193 flights
- May 2026: 65.5% from 197 flights
- June 2026: 61.1% from 158 flights
- July 2026: 69.0% from 158 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 71.6% against 80.2% in the 12 months before — declining by 8.6 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 6,471 PHX → HOU 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