68% of flights leaving New York (LGA) arrived on time over the past 12 months, 7 points worse than the national average of 76%. That ranks 76 of 76 large U.S. airports. About 456 flights leave LGA on a typical day; 5.3% were cancelled. 71% pushed back from the gate on time, so most of the lateness is already there when the flight leaves the gate.
At a glance
- Best hour to fly: 6 a.m. (85% on time). Worst: 10 p.m. (54%).
- Best month: September (81%). Worst: July (63%).
- Most reliable airline here: Delta Air Lines (69%), vs Frontier Airlines at 53%.
- Biggest delay cause: late-arriving aircraft (43% of delay minutes).
- Year on year: getting worse (77% → 68%).
How late?
The on-time rate treats a flight 20 minutes late the same as one 5 hours late. Here's the split for flights leaving LGA: when a flight was late, it was under 45 minutes late 47% of the time. About 1 in 9 flights landed an hour or more late, and 1 in 49 three hours or more; 5.3% were cancelled outright.
- On time or early68%
- 15–30 min late7.8%
- 30–60 min late7.5%
- 1–2 hours late6.4%
- 2–3 hours late2.4%
- 3+ hours late2.0%
- Diverted0.3%
- Cancelled5.3%
Share of all 166,553 scheduled flights, past 12 months, by arrival time against schedule.
Best time of day to fly out of LGA
Time of day matters more at LGA than almost anything else you control. Flights scheduled to leave at 6 a.m. arrived on time 85% of the time; at 10 p.m. it was 54%, a 31-point gap. Taken together, early departures (5–9 a.m.) ran 82% on time against 57% for the evening bank (5–10 p.m.). Early planes usually start the day at the airport, so they haven't had a chance to pick up delays elsewhere. By evening a late inbound aircraft, a crew running out of duty hours or an afternoon thunderstorm can push one late flight into the next. Cancellations cluster too: 8 p.m. departures were cancelled 9.9% of the time, against 5.3% overall.
Hour × month
Combine the two and the spread is wider still. The most reliable combination at LGA was a 5 a.m. departure in June (94% on time); the least, 8 p.m. in July (42%). If you can only move one thing, move the hour. Departure hour usually shifts the odds more than the month does.
Each cell: on-time rate for that departure hour in that calendar month, 2023–2026. Find your travel month, then look along the row for the greenest hour.
Best and worst months
July is the hardest month at LGA, with 63% of flights on time across 2023–2026; September is the best at 81%. Summer (June–August) runs 13 points worse than autumn: heavy schedules, peak loads and afternoon thunderstorms. Winter costs 6 points against autumn. Cancellations peak in July (8.4% of flights).
Airlines at LGA
Delta Air Lines runs 50% of departures from LGA. Among airlines with at least 1,000 departures here, Delta Air Lines was the most reliable (69% on time) and Frontier Airlines the least (53%), a 16-point difference. On a route where both fly, that difference is worth more than a small fare gap.
| Airline | Departures | On time | Left on time | Cancelled | Typical arrival |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 83,271 | 69% | 72% | 5.6% | −8 min |
| American Airlines | 49,607 | 68% | 72% | 5.3% | −6 min |
| Southwest Airlines | 11,715 | 65% | 60% | 4.3% | −1 min |
| United Airlines | 11,225 | 69% | 75% | 4.2% | −4 min |
| JetBlue | 4,458 | 63% | 68% | 4.5% | 0 min |
| Spirit Airlines | 3,953 | 66% | 67% | 7.0% | −5 min |
| Frontier Airlines | 2,324 | 53% | 53% | 7.3% | +6 min |
Why flights are late at LGA
Airlines report a cause for every flight that arrives 15 or more minutes late. At LGA, 43% of delay minutes came from late-arriving aircraft: the plane showed up late from its previous flight, so the delay started somewhere else. Next is the air traffic system at 27%. That's why the first flight of the morning is the safest bet: it has no earlier flight to inherit a delay from. Of the 8,907 cancellations, 41% were blamed on weather.
The average taxi from gate to takeoff is 27 minutes, longer than at most large U.S. airports. Airlines pad schedules for it, but a long queue on a busy afternoon still eats into the buffer.
LGA vs nearby airports
LGA isn't the only option in New York. Over the past year JFK ran 71% on time with 4.3% of flights cancelled; EWR ran 74% on time with 3.6% of flights cancelled; HPN ran 71% on time with 3.8% of flights cancelled; ISP ran 74% on time with 2.2% of flights cancelled, against 68% and 5.3% at LGA. JFK and EWR and HPN and ISP have the better record, so if fares and times are close, they are the safer pick.
| Airport | Distance | Departures | On time | Cancelled |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LGA LaGuardia | — | 166,553 | 68% | 5.3% |
| JFK New York JFK | 11 mi | 124,887 | 71% | 4.3% |
| EWR Newark | 17 mi | 134,823 | 74% | 3.6% |
| HPN Westchester | 22 mi | 12,438 | 71% | 3.8% |
| ISP Long Island MacArthur | 40 mi | 5,016 | 74% | 2.2% |
| TTN Trenton Mercer | 60 mi | 1,023 | 73% | 3.1% |
Month by month
Over the latest 12 months 68% of LGA departures were on time, against 77% in the 12 months before, a decline of 9 points. The best recent month was September 2025 (82%); the worst, December 2025 (59%).
Worst cancellation days
The worst single day in the past year was Monday, Feb 23, 2026, when 100% of 486 scheduled departures were cancelled. Days like that are usually a major storm, a system outage or a holiday peak hitting bad weather. No average predicts them, so on a stormy forecast, check your airline's travel waivers.
| Date | Departures | Cancelled | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 23, 2026 | 486 | 100% | 0% |
| Jan 25, 2026 | 440 | 93% | 1% |
| Mar 23, 2026 | 497 | 61% | 22% |
| Jul 21, 2026 | 480 | 60% | 13% |
| Jan 26, 2026 | 485 | 59% | 8% |
| Jul 18, 2026 | 315 | 59% | 12% |
| Jul 28, 2026 | 480 | 56% | 23% |
| Feb 24, 2026 | 485 | 52% | 29% |
| Feb 22, 2026 | 447 | 50% | 20% |
| Dec 14, 2025 | 486 | 44% | 2% |
Last flights of the day
The last flight of the day is a different bet. Across routes from LGA, each airline's final departure was cancelled 7.9% of the time, against 4.6% for its earlier flights (1.7× as often). Late in the day crews run short on duty hours, aircraft arrive late from elsewhere, and with no later flight to fold passengers into, cancelling is easier for the airline. 2.4% of last flights landed 3+ hours late. The riskiest last flight out was Spirit Airlines to Miami (12.6% cancelled).
| Last flight to | Airline | Leaves | Cancelled | 3h+ late | On time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MIA Miami | Spirit Airlines | — | 12.6% | 4.5% | 53% |
| CHA Chattanooga | Delta Air Lines | 7:40 p.m. | 14.5% | 1.7% | 52% |
| OMA Omaha | Delta Air Lines | 8:48 p.m. | 12.5% | 2.6% | 60% |
| ROC Rochester | Delta Air Lines | 9:48 p.m. | 12.5% | 2.3% | 58% |
| GSP Greer | Delta Air Lines | 8:15 p.m. | 11.8% | 2.5% | 62% |
| ATL Atlanta | Frontier Airlines | 10:00 p.m. | 7.7% | 6.3% | 48% |
| IAD Washington | United Airlines | 7:28 p.m. | 10.7% | 3.3% | 62% |
| PIT Pittsburgh | Delta Air Lines | 9:20 p.m. | 10.8% | 3.1% | 63% |
| STL St. Louis | Delta Air Lines | 6:29 p.m. | 11.7% | 2.2% | 60% |
| ORF Norfolk | Delta Air Lines | 8:55 p.m. | 12.3% | 1.4% | 55% |
| CAE Columbia | Delta Air Lines | 8:59 p.m. | 11.3% | 2.3% | 56% |
| CLE Cleveland | American Airlines | 8:35 p.m. | 12.1% | 1.2% | 52% |
Each airline's last scheduled departure of the day on a route, on days it flies the route at least twice; past 12 months. Riskiest first.
LGA at the holidays
On the busy Thanksgiving travel days, flights from LGA arrived on time 75% of the time, against 80% normally (−4.6 points; 19th of the 30 busiest airports). On the busy Christmas–New Year travel days, flights from LGA arrived on time 76% of the time, against 74% normally (+2.2 points; 8th of the 30 busiest airports).
Thanksgiving: best days to fly → · Christmas: best days to fly →
Tips for flying out of LGA
- Book the earliest departure you can live with. At LGA the 6 a.m. flights do best.
- Traveling in July? Leave extra slack for anything that can't move: cruises, weddings, the last connection of the day.
- Choosing between airlines? Delta Air Lines has the better record here.
- Need to arrive tonight? Don't book the last flight out of LGA; the one before it leaves you a backup.
- Connecting here? See how long a layover you need at LGA.
- Delayed already? Most delays at LGA come from late-arriving aircraft. If your inbound plane is late, your flight will be too, whatever the board says.
Delayed at LGA right now? See how much later LGA delays usually get, and what to do →
Routes from LGA
Where you're going matters too. From LGA, the most reliable busy route was to Minneapolis (MSP, 78% on time) and the least reliable to Washington (DCA, 62%). Flights into congested airports inherit their delays: an air traffic program at the destination holds planes on the ground here.
Least reliable first. Routes with at least 365 flights a year.
| To | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Typical arrival |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HSV Huntsville | 384 | 57% | 9.6% | −3 min |
| LIT Little Rock | 611 | 58% | 7.5% | −3 min |
| DSM Des Moines | 719 | 61% | 5.1% | −2 min |
| LEX Lexington | 392 | 61% | 7.6% | −3 min |
| DCA Washington | 4,841 | 62% | 5.8% | 0 min |
| ROA Roanoke | 670 | 62% | 6.6% | −4 min |
| CHA Chattanooga | 586 | 62% | 8.0% | −7 min |
| ORD Chicago | 11,641 | 63% | 5.4% | −1 min |
| MCI Kansas City | 1,879 | 64% | 5.2% | −1 min |
| SAV Savannah | 1,114 | 64% | 6.6% | −2 min |
| BHM Birmingham | 1,015 | 65% | 7.1% | −5 min |
| CAE Columbia | 1,305 | 65% | 6.8% | −8 min |
| FLL Fort Lauderdale | 4,715 | 65% | 4.6% | −2 min |
| ORF Norfolk | 2,202 | 65% | 7.9% | −6 min |
| OKC Oklahoma City | 998 | 65% | 6.5% | −8 min |
| ROC Rochester | 974 | 65% | 7.2% | −4 min |
| CHO Charlottesville | 1,019 | 66% | 5.8% | −8 min |
| SYR Syracuse | 975 | 66% | 6.5% | −6 min |
| DFW Dallas | 6,646 | 66% | 5.1% | −6 min |
| MDW Chicago | 2,391 | 66% | 5.2% | −1 min |
| TUL Tulsa | 945 | 66% | 5.8% | −8 min |
| MCO Orlando | 5,149 | 66% | 4.7% | −3 min |
| MIA Miami | 5,951 | 67% | 4.3% | −5 min |
| PBI West Palm Beach | 3,008 | 67% | 4.3% | −3 min |
| GSP Greer | 2,165 | 67% | 7.1% | −9 min |
| ILM Wilmington | 1,844 | 67% | 7.2% | −7 min |
| BNA Nashville | 4,470 | 67% | 5.4% | −4 min |
| DEN Denver | 4,663 | 67% | 3.3% | −2 min |
| MSY New Orleans | 1,391 | 67% | 4.2% | −3 min |
| JAX Jacksonville | 1,408 | 67% | 5.5% | −5 min |
| CHS Charleston | 2,315 | 67% | 5.8% | −5 min |
| RDU Raleigh | 4,341 | 68% | 6.1% | −6 min |
| MSN Madison | 1,027 | 68% | 6.5% | −8 min |
| OMA Omaha | 1,090 | 68% | 7.8% | −7 min |
| MEM Memphis | 1,650 | 68% | 6.2% | −9 min |
| TPA Tampa | 2,763 | 68% | 3.3% | −4 min |
| CLE Cleveland | 2,923 | 68% | 6.5% | −7 min |
| TYS Knoxville | 1,042 | 69% | 6.1% | −8 min |
| ALB Albany | 658 | 69% | 5.6% | −7 min |
| BOS Boston | 7,443 | 69% | 6.2% | −7 min |
| BTV Burlington | 721 | 69% | 6.5% | −9 min |
| RIC Richmond | 2,972 | 69% | 7.4% | −8 min |
| HOU Houston | 1,359 | 69% | 3.7% | −3 min |
| IAD Washington | 1,450 | 69% | 7.1% | −8 min |
| DAL Dallas | 1,558 | 69% | 4.2% | −2 min |
| AVL Asheville | 1,009 | 69% | 4.7% | −6 min |
| RSW Fort Myers | 869 | 70% | 4.7% | −4 min |
| GSO Greensboro | 2,498 | 70% | 6.5% | −9 min |
| CVG Cincinnati | 1,855 | 70% | 6.0% | −9 min |
| BUF Buffalo | 2,317 | 70% | 6.7% | −8 min |
| BGR Bangor | 1,166 | 70% | 6.3% | −9 min |
| IND Indianapolis | 2,990 | 71% | 5.4% | −9 min |
| STL St. Louis | 3,637 | 71% | 5.2% | −7 min |
| ATL Atlanta | 8,500 | 72% | 4.4% | −8 min |
| GRR Grand Rapids | 1,088 | 72% | 5.9% | −11 min |
| CLT Charlotte | 5,139 | 72% | 5.0% | −9 min |
| CMH Columbus | 3,186 | 72% | 5.3% | −9 min |
| XNA Fayetteville | 1,266 | 73% | 4.6% | −9 min |
| MYR Myrtle Beach | 715 | 73% | 4.6% | −6 min |
| DTW Detroit | 3,865 | 73% | 5.2% | −8 min |
| PNS Pensacola | 392 | 74% | 5.4% | −9 min |
| PIT Pittsburgh | 3,365 | 74% | 5.4% | −10 min |
| IAH Houston | 4,267 | 74% | 3.4% | −11 min |
| MKE Milwaukee | 1,326 | 74% | 6.0% | −12 min |
| PWM Portland | 1,605 | 74% | 4.6% | −9 min |
| ACK Nantucket | 411 | 75% | 4.9% | −10 min |
| SRQ Sarasota | 542 | 76% | 5.7% | −11 min |
| SDF Louisville | 1,201 | 76% | 4.1% | −12 min |
| MSP Minneapolis | 1,971 | 78% | 2.9% | −11 min |
Flights into LGA
Arriving rather than leaving? These are the routes into LaGuardia, least reliable first. The weakest is from Dallas (57% on time).
| From | Flights | On time | Cancelled |
|---|---|---|---|
| DAL Dallas | 1,557 | 57% | 3.3% |
| HOU Houston | 1,358 | 60% | 2.6% |
| FLL Fort Lauderdale | 4,714 | 61% | 4.7% |
| DCA Washington | 4,844 | 61% | 6.4% |
| DFW Dallas | 6,650 | 62% | 5.1% |
| ORD Chicago | 11,641 | 63% | 5.3% |
| MIA Miami | 5,955 | 64% | 4.2% |
| MDW Chicago | 2,391 | 64% | 4.5% |
| MCO Orlando | 5,149 | 64% | 4.3% |
| AVL Asheville | 1,009 | 65% | 6.4% |
| PBI West Palm Beach | 3,008 | 65% | 4.5% |
| RDU Raleigh | 4,339 | 65% | 6.6% |
| ROA Roanoke | 672 | 65% | 7.0% |
| RSW Fort Myers | 869 | 65% | 5.0% |
| ORF Norfolk | 2,198 | 66% | 7.7% |
| RIC Richmond | 2,973 | 67% | 6.8% |
| MSY New Orleans | 1,391 | 67% | 3.8% |
| ACK Nantucket | 411 | 67% | 8.5% |
| PNS Pensacola | 392 | 67% | 5.4% |
| CLT Charlotte | 5,136 | 67% | 5.0% |
| ROC Rochester | 974 | 68% | 6.8% |
| BNA Nashville | 4,470 | 68% | 4.2% |
| SYR Syracuse | 975 | 68% | 5.7% |
| SRQ Sarasota | 542 | 68% | 5.9% |
| DEN Denver | 4,664 | 68% | 2.9% |
Showing the 25 least reliable of 69 routes into LGA.
Questions about LGA delays
What is the best time to fly out of LGA?
Flights scheduled at 6 a.m.: over the past year 85% of LGA departures at that hour arrived on time, against 54% at 10 p.m., the worst hour.
What month has the most flight delays at LGA?
July (63% on time). September is the best month (81%).
Which airline is most on time at LGA?
Delta Air Lines: 69% of its LGA departures arrived on time over the past year. Frontier Airlines had the weakest record at 53%.
Why are flights delayed at LGA?
The biggest cause was late-arriving aircraft (43% of delay minutes): the plane showed up late from its previous flight, so the delay started somewhere else. Then the air traffic system (27%).
Is LGA or JFK or EWR or HPN or ISP more reliable?
Over the past year: LGA 68% on time, JFK 71%, EWR 74%, HPN 71%, ISP 74%.
How often are flights cancelled at LGA?
5.3% of scheduled departures over the past 12 months, peaking in July at 8.4%.
Hours are scheduled local departure times. "On time" means arriving less than 15 minutes late at the destination; cancelled and diverted flights count as not on time. Method.