OnTimeStats

Historical on-time performance

Boston to Washington

399 miData through May 2026Source: US DOT · BTS

Flights on BOS–DCA arrive on time 70% of the time over the last 12 months.

On-time rate70%arrived within 15 min
p90 delay60 min1 in 10 flights is worse (tail risk)
Cancelled3.9%of scheduled flights

based on 8,895 flights over the last 12 months. On-time means arriving within 15 minutes (BTS standard).

By airline

How each carrier compares

Too close to call — no single carrier is clearly more on-time here.

  • American Airlines
    On-time73%
    Medianon time
    p9060 min
    Cancel3.3%
    Flights2,238
  • Republic Airways
    On-time71%
    Medianon time
    p9055 min
    Cancel4.4%
    Flights4,012
  • JetBlue Airways
    On-time66%
    Medianon time
    p9070 min
    Cancel3.5%
    Flights2,645

Why flights run late

Delay causes

  • Airline24%
  • Weather3%
  • Air traffic (NAS)32%
  • Late aircraft41%
  • Security0%

Most delay minutes here are attributed to Late aircraft.

When flights don't go

Why flights were cancelled

  • Airline16%
  • Weather47%
  • Air traffic (NAS)38%
  • Security0%

Most cancellations here are attributed to Weather. Shares are among 344 cancellations with a reported cause (BTS reports causes from June 2003).

Over time

On-time trend

By season

On-time rate by month

When to fly

Best time to fly BOS → DCA

All airlines · rolling 36 months (2023-06 .. 2026-05).

Best time of day

Mornings are the most reliable time of day to fly this route — 86% on time.

  • Mornings86% on time · p90 15 min · 9,124 flights
  • Middays81% on time · p90 35 min · 6,363 flights
  • Afternoons69% on time · p90 65 min · 5,187 flights
  • Overnights62% on time · p90 85 min · 2,058 flights
  • Evenings61% on time · p90 85 min · 5,099 flights

Best day of week

Saturdays are the most reliable day to fly this route — 83% on time.

  • Saturdays83% on time · p90 35 min · 2,440 flights
  • Tuesdays79% on time · p90 40 min · 4,229 flights
  • Wednesdays78% on time · p90 40 min · 4,227 flights
  • Thursdays74% on time · p90 55 min · 4,295 flights
  • Mondays74% on time · p90 55 min · 4,337 flights
  • Sundays72% on time · p90 60 min · 4,020 flights
  • Fridays71% on time · p90 65 min · 4,283 flights

Keep exploring

Related pages

Methodology

A flight is on time when it arrives within 15 minutes of schedule — the US DOT / BTS standard. Median and p90(the “1-in-10 bad day”) are read from the full arrival-delay distribution, never averaged across periods.

Figures cover a carrier’s own BTS-coded flights. Cells below ~200 flights are flagged as limited data. All numbers are pre-computed from public BTS On-Time Performance data.