St. Louis to New York

What the Data Says About STL to LGA

The St. Louis to New York corridor (STL → LGA) covers roughly 888 miles and is served by 21 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 18,647 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 83.5% on-time rate with an average delay of 77.0 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 6,317 flights were recorded on this pairing — 172 cancelled (2.7%) and 30 diverted (0.5%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 21 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 18,647 total flights analyzed, the 83.5% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 77.0-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 Nov 2025 came in at 68% on-time — a 27-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the STL to LGA route, the combination of a 83.5% on-time rate, 77.0-minute average delay, 2.7% recent cancellation rate, and 21 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.