Route profile
PHX→PIT
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Phoenix to Pittsburgh, 1,814 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 53% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 2,274 flights. How this is calculated
PHX → PIT arrives on time 76.6% of the time; the return trip, PIT → PHX, arrives on time 78.4% of the time.
PHX → PIT spends 19.8 minutes on the ground on a 1,814-mile trip: 14.2 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at PHX and 5.7 minutes from touchdown to gate at PIT.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where PHX to PIT differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
PHX to PIT struggles most at 2 PM: 63.8% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 10.2 points behind the 74.0% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 10.8 points.
PHX to PIT holds up on Saturdays better than routes of similar length do: 84.7% on time to their 78.4%, a 6.3 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 5.6 points.
In March, PHX to PIT runs 11.4 points below routes of similar length, 67.0% on time to 78.4%. Against all other routes the gap is 10.9 points.
PHX to PIT against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 2 PM departures | 63.8% | routes of similar length | 74.0% | −10.2 pts | 127 here, 61,640 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 84.7% | routes of similar length | 78.4% | +6.3 pts | 393 here, 172,804 there |
| Month: March | 67.0% | routes of similar length | 78.4% | −11.4 pts | 212 here, 102,325 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 1,814 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
46 min late
against a median of 3 min early
Percentiles over 2,274 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at PIT after arriving from PHX.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 42% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 22% | High risk |
| 60 min | 15% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 7.7% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 5.2% | 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 0.26% of the time and diverts 0.31% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 2,261 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 46 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 2,274 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
PHX → PIT flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 83.2% of the time, against 70.5% for 12–3 PM departures, a gap of 12.7 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 9 AM: too few flights to score
- 10 AM: 83.1% on time from 160 flights
- 11 AM: 80.0% on time from 207 flights
- 12 PM: 78.9% on time from 124 flights
- 1 PM: too few flights to score
- 2 PM: 63.8% on time from 128 flights
- 3 PM: 75.9% on time from 539 flights
- 4 PM: 74.5% on time from 755 flights
- 5 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why PHX → PIT 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
screening or terminal security incidents
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for PHX → PIT. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on PHX → PIT, at 50.4%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 9 AM–12 PM departures arrived on time 83.2% of the time and 12–3 PM departures 70.5%.
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 | 1,123 | 75.4% | 0.18% | -1 min | 7.0% |
| American Airlines | 1,057 | 77.7% | 0.28% | -6 min | 8.9% |
Southwest Airlines flew 51.5% of the 2,180 flights listed.
American Airlines arrived on time 2.3 percentage points more often than Southwest Airlines on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA2871 American Airlines | 3:20 PM | 611 | 79.8% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 12.4 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 83.9%
- Feb: 84.9%
- Mar: 67.0%
- Apr: 80.9%
- May: 73.2%
- Jun: 74.7%
- Jul: 69.4%
- Aug: 69.9%
- Sep: 83.5%
- Oct: 75.9%
- Nov: 82.1%
- Dec: 75.5%
March is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 17.9 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 75.0% against 76.9% in the 12 months before — declining by 1.9 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 2,274 PHX → PIT 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