Airline · WN · 2020–2025 BTS data
Southwest Airlines
According to PlainFlights' airline traffic ranking (BTS On-Time Performance total flights), Southwest Airlines ranks #1 of 18 tracked US carriers by total flights (most flights = #1).
Data updated 2026-06-13
- 80.4%
- On-time
- +1.4 pts
- vs US avg
- 58 min
- Delay when late
- 2.40%
- Cancelled
- #1 of 18
- Corpus placement
According to PlainFlights' airline traffic ranking (BTS On-Time Performance total flights), Southwest Airlines ranks #1 of 18 tracked US carriers by total flights (most flights = #1). How we place airlines.
PlainFlights Reliability Score
Transparent derived index from BTS On-Time Performance data — not an official DOT/FAA rating.
- On-Time Rate F
80.4%
Share of flights arriving within the BTS 15-minute on-time threshold
- Delay Severity A
58 min
Total arrival-delay minutes (all flights, including delays under 15 min) divided by the flights that arrived 15+ min late
- Cancellation Rate D
2.40%
Share of scheduled flights cancelled
Weighted from on-time rate, delay minutes per late flight, and cancellation rate, each scored against the 18 currently tracked U.S. carriers with meaningful flight volume (percentile method). A dimension without a reported value drops out and its weight redistributes to the rest — missing data never deflates the score. See the full formula, weights, and live benchmark table.
BTS on-time dispatch plate
Carrier WN · Southwest Airlines
ONTIME-SOLID · ABOVE-AVG · BOOK-MEGA · LATE-AC · CX-HOT · SPREAD-WIDE
- ONTIME-SOLID 80.4% on-time
- ABOVE-AVG +1.4 pts vs US
- BOOK-MEGA 7.6M flights
- LATE-AC Late aircraft lead
- CX-HOT 2.40% cancel
- SPREAD-WIDE 16-pt season gap
Nearest on-time peer: Alaska Airlines (+ 0.4 pts)
Instrument codes from this carrier’s BTS on-time band, national gap, flight-book size, leading delay cause, cancel posture, and seasonal spread, not a booking recommendation.
On-time neighbourhood
Poles + nearest peers, not a full 18-carrier reprint
- EV
EV 89.8%
90
- UA
UA 81.3%
81
- OH
OH 81.3%
81
- AS
AS 80.8%
81
- WN
WN 80.4%
80
- AA
AA 78.6%
79
- F9
F9 73.7%
74
What this shows How WN sits among BTS on-time poles and nearest peers.
Southwest Airlines - monthly on-time rate
Last 24 months reported; ranged 72%–87%
Southwest Airlines - BTS Delay Tier Breakdown
How Southwest Airlines flights distribute across federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics arrival-delay tiers. The on-time band uses the BTS 15-minute threshold; longer-delay tiers reflect arrival-time bins reported in the underlying database.
Delay Cause Breakdown
Top delay cause: Late Aircraft.
Source: U.S. DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, On-Time Performance
Seasonal on-time calendar
Multi-year average by calendar month for WN (BTS 2020–2025), not a single recent year.
-
Best month
February
85.3% on-time · ~92,023 flights/mo
-
Mid pack
October
81.3% on-time · ~108,891 flights/mo
-
Worst month
June
73.6% on-time · ~106,463 flights/mo
Spread 11.7 pts between February and June. The monthly chart above shows the recent path; this desk ranks the long-run calendar.
WN delay-share reading
Across 7,582,834 BTS-reported flights (2020–2025), Southwest Airlines posts 80.4% on-time, 1.4 points above the 79% national flight-weighted average, with 1,487,141 delayed arrivals and 181,898 cancellations (2.40% of the book). When a flight runs late, the average delay is 57.9 minutes.
Nearest on-time peer
Closest BTS on-time neighbour for WN, not a universal board reprint.
Alaska Airlines
+0.4 pts on-time vs WN
Field definitions: on-time performance explained.
What to do with the Southwest Airlines on-time record
A single carrier's rate rarely settles a travel decision on its own -- use it as a starting point, not a verdict.
- See how Southwest Airlines ranks against every other tracked carrier on on-time performance. Airline performance rankings
- Put Southwest Airlines side by side against another airline on the same metrics. Compare airlines
- Late Aircraft is this airline's leading delay cause -- see how it's measured. Read methodology
Reflects BTS On-Time Performance data, 2020-2025; excludes cancelled and diverted flights.
Disclaimer: This information is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Data is sourced from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS). Consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on this data.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Every figure on PlainFlights is rendered directly from BTS On-Time Performance data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page aggregates this airline's on-time performance and delay-cause breakdown, live from the dataset. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.