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Route Reliability

Washington → Philadelphia

DCA–PHL · 120 miles · Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to Philadelphia International Airport

53
A Little Dicey
WanderNerd Reliability Score
66%
Arrive within 15 minutes
23 min
Average arrival delay
3.7%
Cancelled
863
Flights in the data

Data through May 2026.

American Airlines is the only airline in this data on this route, arriving on time 66% of the time across 863 flights. No comparison to make.

What the data says

Morning-you made the right choice.

DCA–PHL flights departing between 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 100% of the time, versus 49% between 3–6 PM.

Thursdays have been rough.

DCA–PHL flights arrived on time 75% of the time on Saturdays and just 58% on Thursdays. That gap is worth planning around.

Keep a backup plan handy.

This route was cancelled 3.7% of the time. Typical for U.S. flights is around 1–2%.

Trending in the right direction.

DCA–PHL flights arrived on time 63% of the time over the last three months in the data, compared with 54% in the three months before that.

Best historical flights

Ranked by on-time arrivals, minimum 100 flights. Past performance, not a promise.

Top flights by on-time rate

More flights on this route

The breakdown

On-time by weekday
  • Mon66%(119 flights)
  • Tue70%(123 flights)
  • Wed64%(119 flights)
  • Thu58%(120 flights)
  • Fri66%(117 flights)
  • Sat75%(122 flights)
  • Sun62%(111 flights)
On-time by departure window
  • 6–9 AM96%(147 flights)
  • 9 AM–12 PM100%(14 flights)
  • 12–3 PM70%(270 flights)
  • 3–6 PM49%(352 flights)
  • 9 PM–12 AM65%(48 flights)
On-time trend by month
72%
May

Jun 63% → May 72% on time

On-time arrival percentage by month
MonthOn-time percentageFlights
June 202563%95
July 202567%78
August 202576%66
September 202584%87
October 202571%93
November 202568%60
December 202548%60
January 202655%58
February 202660%52
March 202649%61
April 202668%60
May 202672%61

Same trip, other airports

Keep nerding

Based on 863 historical flights, because apparently we checked. Historical flight data: U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, June 2025 – May 2026. Data through May 2026. How we calculate this.