BUF to PHL flight delays
Buffalo, NY (BUF) Philadelphia, PA (PHL) · 279 miles
319 flights · January 2025 – August 2026 · US Bureau of Transportation Statistics
79.68%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
2.82%
Cancelled
Share of scheduled flights
118 min
When late, late by
Average across delayed arrivals
25 min
Delay per flight
Averaged over every flight flown
What the record says about this route
Which airline you fly changes the odds here. Republic Airways arrived on time 8.9 points more often than PSA Airlines over the same period on the same route — same airports, same weather, same air traffic control. A gap that survives all of that is about how the two airlines are run.
The season swings this route hard. In May it ran 34.4 points more punctual than in December — a difference bigger than the one between the best and worst airlines on most routes. If the date is flexible, it is worth more than the carrier.
Cancellation, not delay, is the risk worth pricing here: 2.82% of scheduled flights never operated. A late flight still gets you there. A cancelled one leaves you rebooking, and on a route with few daily departures that can mean losing a day.
The shape of the lateness matters here. Flights on this route are not late often, but when they are late they are late by about 118 minutes — long enough to lose a connection or an evening. The on-time percentage looks reassuring and understates the consequence of being on the wrong flight.
Which airline should you fly on this route?
Over January 2025 – August 2026, Republic Airways arrived on time most often on BUF to PHL. PSA Airlines was late most often. Flights ran closest to schedule in September and worst in December.
Every airline on BUF to PHL
Ranked by how many flights each one operated. A carrier with fewer than 100 flights in the period is listed but not graded.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Avg delay | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA Airlines | 174 | 75.74% | 2.87% | 127 min | D |
| Republic Airways | 133 | 84.62% | 2.26% | 101 min | B |
| American Airlines | 12 | 81.82% | 8.33% | 109 min | — |
Month by month
Share of flights that arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, by month flown.
The return leg
PHL to BUF Philadelphia back to Buffalo 69.02% on time FCommon questions
Are flights from Buffalo to Philadelphia usually delayed?
79.68% of flights on the BUF to PHL route arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, so roughly 2 in every ten arrived late. That is about the same as the average route in this record.
Which airline is most on time from Buffalo to Philadelphia?
Republic Airways, at 84.62% on time across 133 flights. The least punctual on the route was PSA Airlines at 75.74%.
How often are BUF to PHL flights cancelled?
2.82% of scheduled flights did not operate — about 28 in every thousand. That is high enough that cancellation, not delay, is the risk worth planning around.
What is the best month to fly Buffalo to Philadelphia?
May, when 90% of flights arrived on time. The worst was December at 55.6%.
When BUF to PHL flights are late, how late are they?
About 118 minutes on average across the flights that arrived more than 15 minutes behind schedule.
What these figures do and do not tell you
Everything on this page is counted from the flights that actually operated on BUF to PHL during January 2025 – August 2026, as reported by the airlines to the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics. "On time" is the federal definition: arriving at the gate within 15 minutes of the scheduled time.
A route's record is a description of the past, not a forecast. Weather, air traffic control and the aircraft's earlier flights that day drive most delays, and none of them are predictable from a historical rate. What the record does tell you is whether this route runs late more often than others, and which carrier on it has the better history — which is the part you can actually act on when you book.
Cancellations are counted separately from delays because they are a different problem for a traveller: a late flight still gets you there. How the grade is calculated →