Route profile
RDU→BOS
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Raleigh–Durham to Boston, 612 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 29% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 9,029 flights. How this is calculated
RDU → BOS arrives on time 78.9% of the time; the return trip, BOS → RDU, arrives on time 76.9% of the time, a 2.0-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
RDU → BOS spends 26.6 minutes on the ground on a 612-mile trip: 17.1 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at RDU and 9.5 minutes from touchdown to gate at BOS.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where RDU to BOS differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
RDU to BOS struggles most at 3 PM: 60.6% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 13.4 points behind the 74.0% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 12.1 points.
RDU to BOS is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 5 PM: 76.9% arrive on time, 6.5 points ahead of the 70.4% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 7.1 points.
In September, RDU to BOS runs 12.5 points below routes of similar length, 70.6% on time to 83.1%. Against all other routes the gap is 11.8 points.
March is kinder to RDU to BOS than to routes of similar length: 86.6% on time against 78.5%, 8.1 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 8.7 points.
JetBlue does better on RDU to BOS than on its routes of similar length: 75.9% on time here, 72.9% there, 3 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 3.7 points.
RDU to BOS against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 3 PM departures | 60.6% | routes of similar length | 74.0% | −13.4 pts | 249 here, 120,347 there |
| Hour: 5 PM departures | 76.9% | routes of similar length | 70.4% | +6.5 pts | 485 here, 130,552 there |
| Month: September | 70.6% | routes of similar length | 83.1% | −12.5 pts | 798 here, 166,521 there |
| Month: March | 86.6% | routes of similar length | 78.5% | +8.1 pts | 659 here, 167,151 there |
| Airline: JetBlue | 75.9% | routes of similar length | 72.9% | +3.0 pts | 3,767 here, 27,159 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 612 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 RDU → BOS flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
RDU → BOS cancelled 167 of 9,029 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 54. The reason filed most often was the airline, 43.1% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 125 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 167 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
72 cancellations, 43.1% of the total.
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
53 cancellations, 31.7% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
42 cancellations, 25.1% 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.
167 coded cancellations were recorded on RDU → BOS; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
58 min late
against a median of 11 min early
RDU → BOS has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 11 min early, but the worst tenth are 69 minutes worse than that. If the trip has something unmissable at the end of it, the median is the wrong number to plan against.
Percentiles over 9,029 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at BOS after arriving from RDU.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 31% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 21% | High risk |
| 60 min | 16% | High risk |
| 90 min | 9.7% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 6.7% | 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 1.85% of the time and diverts 0.09% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 8,854 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 58 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 9,029 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
RDU → BOS flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 89.9% of the time, against 67.8% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 22.1 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 91.0% on time from 1,125 flights
- 7 AM: 91.5% on time from 657 flights
- 8 AM: 85.4% on time from 449 flights
- 9 AM: 91.0% on time from 979 flights
- 10 AM: 86.2% on time from 738 flights
- 11 AM: 82.1% on time from 281 flights
- 12 PM: 71.1% on time from 382 flights
- 1 PM: 74.5% on time from 904 flights
- 2 PM: 66.4% on time from 267 flights
- 3 PM: 60.6% on time from 260 flights
- 4 PM: 67.4% on time from 797 flights
- 5 PM: 76.9% on time from 493 flights
- 6 PM: 63.0% on time from 344 flights
- 7 PM: 73.5% on time from 545 flights
- 8 PM: 65.5% on time from 615 flights
- 9 PM: 69.7% on time from 158 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why RDU → 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 RDU → BOS. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on RDU → BOS, at 44.2%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 89.9% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 67.8%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 4,491 | 81.0% | 1.54% | -13 min | 9.6% |
| JetBlue | 3,854 | 75.9% | 2.21% | -10 min | 10.9% |
| Frontier Airlines | 383 | 79.5% | 0.78% | -7 min | 4.5% |
| Republic Airways | 301 | 85.6% | 3.32% | -14 min | 6.5% |
Delta Air Lines flew 49.7% of the 9,029 flights listed. Republic Airways cancelled 3.32% of its flights here against 0.78% for Frontier Airlines.
Republic Airways arrived on time 9.7 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.
DL1054 (7:00 AM) arrived on time 93.4% of the time, 32.7 points more often than B62184 (5:35 PM) at 60.7%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 5.4 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 79.3%
- Feb: 83.5%
- Mar: 86.6%
- Apr: 83.1%
- May: 80.9%
- Jun: 79.5%
- Jul: 69.7%
- Aug: 73.9%
- Sep: 70.6%
- Oct: 79.2%
- Nov: 86.4%
- Dec: 80.1%
July is historically the weakest month and March the strongest, a spread of 16.9 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 55.6% from 268 flights
- August 2023: 63.3% from 283 flights
- September 2023: 66.4% from 274 flights
- October 2023: 79.6% from 301 flights
- November 2023: 86.2% from 247 flights
- December 2023: 82.4% from 191 flights
- January 2024: 71.7% from 182 flights
- February 2024: 83.5% from 178 flights
- March 2024: 87.1% from 202 flights
- April 2024: 79.4% from 234 flights
- May 2024: 83.6% from 275 flights
- June 2024: 81.3% from 267 flights
- July 2024: 77.5% from 268 flights
- August 2024: 75.0% from 305 flights
- September 2024: 78.0% from 287 flights
- October 2024: 86.1% from 294 flights
- November 2024: 89.9% from 258 flights
- December 2024: 82.1% from 263 flights
- January 2025: 83.3% from 217 flights
- February 2025: 83.2% from 198 flights
- March 2025: 89.2% from 243 flights
- April 2025: 87.1% from 242 flights
- May 2025: 75.8% from 257 flights
- June 2025: 75.6% from 238 flights
- July 2025: 70.7% from 230 flights
- August 2025: 85.5% from 230 flights
- September 2025: 66.4% from 256 flights
- October 2025: 71.8% from 291 flights
- November 2025: 82.9% from 249 flights
- December 2025: 76.3% from 249 flights
- January 2026: 82.6% from 171 flights
- February 2026: 83.8% from 167 flights
- March 2026: 83.5% from 225 flights
- April 2026: 82.8% from 245 flights
- May 2026: 83.0% from 260 flights
- June 2026: 81.4% from 242 flights
- July 2026: 75.3% from 242 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 79.2% against 81.3% in the 12 months before — declining by 2.1 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 9,029 RDU → 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