New York to St. Louis

What the Data Says About LGA to STL

The New York to St. Louis corridor (LGA → STL) covers roughly 888 miles and is served by 20 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 18,657 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 83.4% on-time rate with an average delay of 74.5 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 6,322 flights were recorded on this pairing — 181 cancelled (2.9%) and 17 diverted (0.3%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 20 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 18,657 total flights analyzed, the 83.4% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 74.5-minute average delay applies only to flights that actually ran late, so it is not the average wait across all departures — the majority of flights on this route depart on time under the BTS definition of a delay (15+ minutes past schedule).

Looking at recent months, Sep 2024 posted the best performance on this corridor at 95% on-time, while Dec 2025 came in at 65% on-time — a 31-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the LGA to STL route, the combination of a 83.4% on-time rate, 74.5-minute average delay, 2.9% recent cancellation rate, and 20 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.