Airline reliability
Southwest Airlines on-time performance
Reliability of Southwest Airlines flights across 108 airports and 1,684 routes, September 2025 to August 2026.
108 airports1,684 routes
- On time
- 74.8% Rank 7 of 14 airlines
- Cancelled
- 0.9% All airlines 1.9%
- 60+ minutes late
- 6.6% All airlines 8.1%
- Scheduled flights
- 1,391,794 12 months
What this means
Southwest Airlines ranked 7 of 14 on on-time arrival.
- Southwest Airlines reported 1,391,794 scheduled flights over the 12 months to August 2026. 74.8% arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, 0.8 points lower than the average for all reporting airlines (75.6%).
- 0.9% of its flights were cancelled (all-airline average 1.9%) and 6.6% arrived an hour or more late.
- Its most punctual busy route was Lihue (LIH) to Las Vegas (LAS) (96.7% on time); its least punctual was Burbank (BUR) to San Francisco (SFO) (39.7%).
- Over the last 3 years, November was the most reliable month for Southwest Airlines (83.7% on time) and July the least reliable (69.5%).
- Cancellations peaked in January, when 2.9% of flights were cancelled.
- Flights scheduled to depart before 6 am were the most punctual (93.6% on time); flights scheduled to depart 10 pm to 11 pm were the least (59.6%).
Month by month, last 12 months
Share of scheduled flights on time All airlines 75.6%
Show as table
| Period | On time | Flights |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 82.6% | 110,361 |
| Oct 2025 | 77.1% | 121,588 |
| Nov 2025 | 78.4% | 113,938 |
| Dec 2025 | 74.8% | 118,075 |
| Jan 2026 | 82.4% | 104,002 |
| Feb 2026 | 80.8% | 100,783 |
| Mar 2026 | 73.0% | 122,298 |
| Apr 2026 | 77.3% | 117,814 |
| May 2026 | 71.9% | 120,646 |
| Jun 2026 | 65.3% | 120,933 |
| Jul 2026 | 68.0% | 124,994 |
| Aug 2026 | 69.1% | 116,362 |
Best and worst months for Southwest Airlines
Share of scheduled flights on time 12-month average 74.8%
Show as table
| Period | On time | Flights |
|---|---|---|
| January | 79.3% | 324,698 |
| February | 82.3% | 306,189 |
| March | 77.0% | 370,002 |
| April | 79.2% | 356,015 |
| May | 73.2% | 362,961 |
| June | 70.1% | 367,098 |
| July | 69.5% | 378,313 |
| August | 75.3% | 349,219 |
| September | 82.3% | 340,792 |
| October | 80.8% | 369,427 |
| November | 83.7% | 349,030 |
| December | 79.1% | 362,124 |
On-time rate by departure hour
Share of scheduled flights on time
Show as table
| Period | On time | Flights |
|---|---|---|
| Departing before 6 am | 93.6% | 59,187 |
| Departing 6 am to 7 am | 93.0% | 98,799 |
| Departing 7 am to 8 am | 90.5% | 89,788 |
| Departing 8 am to 9 am | 88.1% | 93,298 |
| Departing 9 am to 10 am | 85.3% | 74,096 |
| Departing 10 am to 11 am | 82.3% | 93,284 |
| Departing 11 am to noon | 78.9% | 79,891 |
| Departing noon to 1 pm | 75.5% | 85,322 |
| Departing 1 pm to 2 pm | 72.5% | 84,782 |
| Departing 2 pm to 3 pm | 68.1% | 79,857 |
| Departing 3 pm to 4 pm | 67.4% | 80,819 |
| Departing 4 pm to 5 pm | 63.1% | 81,591 |
| Departing 5 pm to 6 pm | 63.0% | 82,818 |
| Departing 6 pm to 7 pm | 61.8% | 87,784 |
| Departing 7 pm to 8 pm | 60.3% | 77,026 |
| Departing 8 pm to 9 pm | 61.6% | 74,144 |
| Departing 9 pm to 10 pm | 59.8% | 43,215 |
| Departing 10 pm to 11 pm | 59.6% | 20,497 |
| Departing 11 pm to midnight | 80.9% | 5,596 |
Most punctual Southwest Airlines routes
| Route | On time | Cancelled | 60+ min late | Flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lihue (LIH) to Las Vegas (LAS) | 96.7% | 0.3% | 0.8% | 365 |
| Kahului (OGG) to Phoenix (PHX) | 96.4% | 0.3% | 0.5% | 365 |
| Kahului (OGG) to Las Vegas (LAS) | 95.9% | 0.5% | 0.8% | 370 |
| Lihue (LIH) to Oakland (OAK) | 95.9% | 0.3% | 1.6% | 365 |
| Kahului (OGG) to Oakland (OAK) | 95.9% | 0.0% | 0.8% | 365 |
| Lihue (LIH) to Honolulu (HNL) | 94.7% | 0.6% | 1.5% | 1,770 |
| Kona (KOA) to Las Vegas (LAS) | 94.2% | 0.5% | 1.4% | 365 |
| Kona (KOA) to Honolulu (HNL) | 93.9% | 1.5% | 1.5% | 1,770 |
| Kahului (OGG) to Honolulu (HNL) | 93.4% | 0.6% | 1.3% | 2,861 |
| Hilo (ITO) to Honolulu (HNL) | 93.1% | 1.0% | 1.6% | 1,822 |
Least punctual Southwest Airlines routes
| Route | On time | Cancelled | 60+ min late | Flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burbank (BUR) to San Francisco (SFO) | 39.7% | 1.6% | 16.9% | 514 |
| San Francisco (SFO) to St. Louis (STL) | 39.8% | 0.3% | 24.6% | 342 |
| San Francisco (SFO) to Austin (AUS) | 40.1% | 0.0% | 24.8% | 411 |
| Las Vegas (LAS) to San Francisco (SFO) | 42.1% | 0.8% | 17.7% | 1,312 |
| Chicago (MDW) to San Francisco (SFO) | 42.8% | 1.2% | 17.1% | 516 |
| San Francisco (SFO) to San Diego (SAN) | 47.1% | 1.4% | 20.0% | 2,070 |
| Denver (DEN) to San Francisco (SFO) | 48.1% | 0.5% | 21.5% | 1,392 |
| Washington (DCA) to Las Vegas (LAS) | 48.2% | 1.6% | 18.1% | 365 |
| San Francisco (SFO) to Burbank (BUR) | 48.4% | 2.3% | 16.7% | 514 |
| Nashville (BNA) to San Francisco (SFO) | 48.7% | 0.6% | 17.3% | 312 |
Routes with the most Southwest Airlines cancellations
| Route | On time | Cancelled | 60+ min late | Flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York (LGA) to Chicago (MDW) | 66.2% | 5.2% | 10.0% | 2,391 |
| New York (LGA) to Nashville (BNA) | 63.8% | 4.5% | 9.6% | 1,455 |
| Chicago (MDW) to New York (LGA) | 64.2% | 4.5% | 9.8% | 2,391 |
| New York (LGA) to Kansas City (MCI) | 62.7% | 4.4% | 13.3% | 839 |
| New York (LGA) to New Orleans (MSY) | 51.4% | 4.2% | 20.7% | 333 |
| New York (LGA) to Dallas (DAL) | 69.2% | 4.2% | 9.3% | 1,558 |
| New York (LGA) to Denver (DEN) | 56.5% | 4.0% | 13.1% | 1,516 |
| New York (LGA) to St. Louis (STL) | 70.4% | 3.8% | 8.5% | 1,395 |
| New York (LGA) to Houston (HOU) | 68.9% | 3.7% | 8.6% | 1,359 |
| Dallas (DAL) to New York (LGA) | 56.6% | 3.3% | 13.4% | 1,557 |
Busiest Southwest Airlines routes
| Route | On time | Cancelled | 60+ min late | Flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dallas (DAL) to Houston (HOU) | 73.3% | 2.0% | 6.9% | 4,044 |
| Houston (HOU) to Dallas (DAL) | 79.7% | 2.1% | 6.0% | 4,039 |
| Denver (DEN) to Phoenix (PHX) | 70.7% | 1.1% | 8.4% | 3,989 |
| Phoenix (PHX) to Denver (DEN) | 71.4% | 0.7% | 8.3% | 3,934 |
| San Diego (SAN) to Sacramento (SMF) | 72.5% | 0.6% | 6.2% | 3,798 |
| Sacramento (SMF) to San Diego (SAN) | 66.6% | 0.6% | 6.6% | 3,794 |
| Las Vegas (LAS) to San Diego (SAN) | 58.1% | 0.9% | 10.4% | 3,757 |
| San Diego (SAN) to San Jose (SJC) | 71.9% | 0.8% | 6.7% | 3,752 |
| San Jose (SJC) to San Diego (SAN) | 65.7% | 1.0% | 7.4% | 3,745 |
| San Diego (SAN) to Las Vegas (LAS) | 71.4% | 1.5% | 7.7% | 3,727 |
Sources & data dates
- Source
- U.S. DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance (1987-present)
- Period
- September 2025 to August 2026 (12 months); month-of-year patterns September 2023 to August 2026
- Data through
- August 2026
- Processed
- 2026-11-03
- Scope
- Scheduled nonstop domestic flights operated by Southwest Airlines (WN).
- Method
- Rates use all scheduled flights as the denominator; cancelled and diverted flights count as not on time. Figures based on fewer than 50 scheduled flights are suppressed. Full methodology.