Route profile
SLC→PHL
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Salt Lake City to Philadelphia, 1,927 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 66% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 2,262 flights. How this is calculated
SLC → PHL arrives on time 81.6% of the time; the return trip, PHL → SLC, arrives on time 77.3% of the time, a 4.2-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
SLC → PHL spends 27.0 minutes on the ground on a 1,927-mile trip: 16.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SLC and 10.2 minutes from touchdown to gate at PHL.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Every airline on this route performs about the same, a narrower carrier gap than 100% of 2,692 comparable routes.
Delta Air Lines (81.6% on time) and American Airlines (81.4%) are close together here.
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 2,692 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where SLC to PHL differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SLC to PHL is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 5 PM: 89.5% arrive on time, 15.9 points ahead of the 73.6% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 19.7 points.
SLC to PHL struggles most at 11 PM: 77.0% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 3.6 points behind the 80.6% on routes of similar length at the same hour.
SLC to PHL holds up on Tuesdays better than routes of similar length do: 87.7% on time to their 81.4%, a 6.3 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 6.1 points.
May is kinder to SLC to PHL than to routes of similar length: 86.4% on time against 76.2%, 10.2 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 11.2 points.
In November, SLC to PHL runs 7.6 points below routes of similar length, 75.8% on time to 83.4%. Against all other routes the gap is 7.6 points.
SLC to PHL against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 5 PM departures | 89.5% | routes of similar length | 73.6% | +15.9 pts | 133 here, 69,855 there |
| Hour: 11 PM departures | 77.0% | routes of similar length | 80.6% | −3.6 pts | 739 here, 62,895 there |
| Weekday: Tuesday | 87.7% | routes of similar length | 81.4% | +6.3 pts | 261 here, 145,846 there |
| Month: May | 86.4% | routes of similar length | 76.2% | +10.2 pts | 177 here, 93,694 there |
| Month: November | 75.8% | routes of similar length | 83.4% | −7.6 pts | 149 here, 82,561 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 1,927 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
29 min late
against a median of 7 min early
Percentiles over 2,262 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at PHL after arriving from SLC.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 35% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 18% | High risk |
| 60 min | 9.2% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.8% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 3.1% | 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 1.81% of the time and diverts 0.40% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 2,212 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 29 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 2,262 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SLC → PHL flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 89.9% of the time, against 77.5% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 12.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 9 AM: too few flights to score
- 10 AM: 86.3% on time from 237 flights
- 11 AM: 81.4% on time from 844 flights
- 12 PM to 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 89.5% on time from 136 flights
- 6 PM to 10 PM: too few flights to score
- 11 PM: 77.0% on time from 760 flights
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why SLC → PHL runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for SLC → PHL. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
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 | 1,844 | 81.6% | 0.92% | -6 min | 4.2% |
| American Airlines | 418 | 81.4% | 5.74% | -14 min | 7.6% |
Delta Air Lines flew 81.5% of the 2,262 flights listed. American Airlines cancelled 5.74% of its flights here against 0.92% for Delta Air Lines.
Carriers on this route performed within a couple of percentage points of each other.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| DL2022 Delta Air Lines | 11:25 AM | 680 | 83.9% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 10.4 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 82.8%
- Feb: 87.9%
- Mar: 75.3%
- Apr: 82.2%
- May: 86.4%
- Jun: 82.3%
- Jul: 73.5%
- Aug: 83.2%
- Sep: 85.6%
- Oct: 87.4%
- Nov: 75.8%
- Dec: 82.7%
July is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 14.4 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 84.6% against 83.3% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 2,262 SLC → PHL 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