OnTimeStats

Historical on-time performance

Washington to Boston

399 miData through May 2026Source: US DOT · BTS

Flights on DCA–BOS arrive on time 68% of the time over the last 12 months.

On-time rate68%arrived within 15 min
p90 delay75 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

  • Republic Airwaysbest
    On-time74%
    Medianon time
    p9055 min
    Cancel4.5%
    Flights4,010
  • American Airlines
    On-time63%
    Medianon time
    p9085 min
    Cancel3.1%
    Flights2,240
  • JetBlue Airways
    On-time63%
    Medianon time
    p9085 min
    Cancel3.6%
    Flights2,645

Why flights run late

Delay causes

  • Airline19%
  • Weather3%
  • Air traffic (NAS)32%
  • Late aircraft46%
  • Security0%

Most delay minutes here are attributed to Late aircraft.

When flights don't go

Why flights were cancelled

  • Airline17%
  • Weather46%
  • Air traffic (NAS)37%
  • Security0%

Most cancellations here are attributed to Weather. Shares are among 345 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 DCA → BOS

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 — 87% on time.

  • Mornings87% on time · p90 15 min · 7,093 flights
  • Middays79% on time · p90 45 min · 7,360 flights
  • Overnights67% on time · p90 70 min · 2,924 flights
  • Afternoons65% on time · p90 85 min · 4,692 flights
  • Evenings63% on time · p90 100 min · 5,764 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
  • Tuesdays78% on time · p90 50 min · 4,232 flights
  • Wednesdays78% on time · p90 50 min · 4,226 flights
  • Thursdays73% on time · p90 70 min · 4,295 flights
  • Mondays72% on time · p90 65 min · 4,335 flights
  • Sundays70% on time · p90 70 min · 4,023 flights
  • Fridays69% on time · p90 80 min · 4,282 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.