HOU to ATL flight delays
Houston, TX (HOU) Atlanta, GA (ATL) · 696 miles
232 flights · March 2025 – August 2026 · US Bureau of Transportation Statistics
72.49%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
0.43%
Cancelled
Share of scheduled flights
66 min
When late, late by
Average across delayed arrivals
19 min
Delay per flight
Averaged over every flight flown
What the record says about this route
Which airline you fly changes the odds here. Delta Air Lines arrived on time 19.4 points more often than Southwest 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.
This route does better than its own airport. Departures from HOU overall run 11.7 points less punctual than this particular one — so whatever congestion HOU has, this route is largely escaping it.
The two directions do not behave alike. ATL to HOU arrives on time 5.3 points more often than the outbound. Delay accumulates through the flying day, so whichever direction is scheduled later tends to carry the worse record — which is an argument for booking the morning departure if the choice exists.
This is a thin route — 232 flights across the whole period. On a route this infrequent a cancellation is far more costly than the rate suggests, because the next departure may not be the same day.
Which airline should you fly on this route?
Over March 2025 – August 2026, Delta Air Lines arrived on time most often on HOU to ATL. Southwest Airlines was late most often.
Every airline on HOU to ATL
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 116 | 62.93% | 0% | 56 min | D |
| Delta Air Lines | 116 | 82.3% | 0.86% | 87 min | B |
The return leg
ATL to HOU Atlanta back to Houston 77.83% on time COther routes from Houston
Common questions
Are flights from Houston to Atlanta usually delayed?
72.49% of flights on the HOU to ATL route arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, so roughly 3 in every ten arrived late. That is worse than the average route in this record.
Which airline is most on time from Houston to Atlanta?
Delta Air Lines, at 82.3% on time across 116 flights. The least punctual on the route was Southwest Airlines at 62.93%.
How often are HOU to ATL flights cancelled?
0.43% of scheduled flights did not operate — about 4 in every thousand. That is in the normal range.
When HOU to ATL flights are late, how late are they?
About 66 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 HOU to ATL during March 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 →