Best Time of Day to Fly in the US

When to fly · Aug 2025 – Jul 2026

Data through July 2026 · Last updated October 18, 2026

On-time arrival rate by scheduled departure hour for every US domestic flight reported to BTS, Aug 2024 – Jul 2026.

First place goes to 5am–6am (91.4%); 7pm–8pm comes last of 23 (68.9%).

The median across this list is 79.7%.

Top 15: on-time arrivals

5am–6am91.4%

6am–7am90.3%

7am–8am87.7%

8am–9am86.0%

9am–10am84.5%

12am–1am83.5%

10am–11am83.0%

1am–2am82.6%

3am–4am81.5%

11am–12pm81.3%

11pm–12am80.4%

2am–3am79.7%

12pm–1pm79.5%

1pm–2pm77.9%

2pm–3pm75.2%

#	Name	On time	Avg delay when late	Cancelled	Flights
1	5am–6am	91.4%	102 min	1.5%	394,938
2	6am–7am	90.3%	88 min	1.6%	969,930
3	7am–8am	87.7%	73 min	1.3%	1,025,303
4	8am–9am	86.0%	67 min	1.2%	972,561
5	9am–10am	84.5%	65 min	1.2%	796,847
6	12am–1am	83.5%	77 min	1.4%	22,257
7	10am–11am	83.0%	66 min	1.2%	877,618
8	1am–2am	82.6%	79 min	1.8%	7,008
9	3am–4am	81.5%	91 min	2.1%	1,495
10	11am–12pm	81.3%	67 min	1.2%	882,695
11	11pm–12am	80.4%	69 min	1.5%	116,366
12	2am–3am	79.7%	70 min	1.5%	2,538
13	12pm–1pm	79.5%	70 min	1.3%	838,762
14	1pm–2pm	77.9%	70 min	1.2%	839,606
15	2pm–3pm	75.2%	72 min	1.5%	812,392
16	3pm–4pm	73.4%	71 min	1.6%	809,885
17	10pm–11pm	72.5%	73 min	2.5%	320,012
18	4pm–5pm	71.5%	72 min	1.7%	813,867
19	9pm–10pm	71.4%	74 min	2.3%	465,813
20	5pm–6pm	70.4%	75 min	2.0%	891,280
21	6pm–7pm	69.4%	74 min	2.1%	844,010
22	8pm–9pm	69.0%	72 min	2.2%	630,334
23	7pm–8pm	68.9%	74 min	2.2%	769,011

80%+ good 70–79.9% fair <70% poor