It’s clear that flight cancellations and delays are on the rise in 2025. But where you travel could make a big difference. While some airports are performing worse than ever, others that had a rough 2024 have seen notable improvements this year.
To better understand where things stand, we’re looking at two recent rankings that evaluate air travel reliability using different lenses: CBS News (via FlightAware), which tracks flight cancellations, and AirHelp, which scores airports based on overall on-time performance. Together, they paint a picture of which U.S. airports are struggling—and which ones are getting passengers where they need to be.
CBS News: Worst Airports for Flight Cancellations (Jan 1–July 15, 2025)
CBS News, using data from FlightAware, analyzed airport performance based on the percentage of canceled flights from January 1 to July 15, 2025.
Airport Cancellation Rate (2025)
- DCA (Washington–Reagan) 4.9%
- DFW (Dallas–Fort Worth) 3.1%
- LGA (New York–LaGuardia) 2.9%
- EWR (Newark) 2.7%
- PHL (Philadelphia) 2.1%
- BOS (Boston) 2.1%
- JFK (New York–JFK) 1.6%
- ATL (Atlanta) 1.5%
- IAD (Washington–Dulles) 1.5%
The national average rose to 1.8% in 2025, up from 1.4% in 2024. Several airports—especially in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic—saw sharp spikes due to weather, congestion, airline-specific issues, and traffic management constraints.
Why These Airports Made the List
Each airport’s performance reflects a combination of local challenges and national trends:
- DCA (Washington–Reagan): Construction disruptions and reduced air traffic flow regulations created operational bottlenecks.
- DFW (Dallas–Fort Worth): American Airlines dominates here, and its performance—combined with seasonal storms—dragged down the airport’s reliability.
- ATL (Atlanta): Normally a well-oiled machine, Atlanta has struggled in 2025 in part due to Delta’s issues and a few notable meltdowns.
- EWR, LGA, JFK, BOS, PHL: These are all located in the congested Northeast corridor, where ripple effects from delays often cascade across the network. Newark, in particular, saw widespread media coverage for operational chaos and construction delays.
- IAD (Washington–Dulles): Even though not as busy as DCA, it wasn’t immune to regional airspace issues and weather-related disruptions.
Interestingly, Florida airports, which had major ATC-related problems in 2024, appear to have turned a corner. Cities like Miami, Orlando, and Fort Lauderdale have significantly improved in 2025.
AirHelp: On-Time Performance Scores (June 1, 2024 – May 31, 2025)
AirHelp evaluated airport reliability based on on-time performance over a 12-month period from June 1, 2024 to May 31, 2025. A flight is considered on-time if it arrives within 15 minutes of its scheduled arrival time. They then converted the percentage of on-time flights into a 0–10 score (e.g., 8.5 = 85% of flights on time).
Airport AirHelp On-Time Score
- IAD (Washington–Dulles) 7.9
- ATL (Atlanta) 7.8
- LGA (New York–LaGuardia) 7.7
- JFK (New York–JFK) 7.6
- PHL (Philadelphia) 7.6
- BOS (Boston) 7.5
- DCA (Washington–Reagan) 7.4
- DFW (Dallas–Fort Worth) 7.3
- EWR (Newark) 7.2
Top U.S. performers:
- Honolulu (HNL): 8.5 (best in the U.S.)
- Salt Lake City (SLC): 8.3
Note: AirHelp is a company that assists passengers in filing compensation claims for delayed and canceled flights. Their scoring system highlights airport and airline performance—an area directly aligned with their business interests.
Why the Rankings Differ
Although both CBS and AirHelp offer valuable insight, their results aren’t directly interchangeable. Here’s why:
What they measure:
CBS focuses on cancellations only—flights that never operate. AirHelp looks at on-time arrivals, where even a short delay (over 15 minutes) counts against the score, but flights still operate.
Timeframes:
CBS uses data from January 1 through July 15, 2025, capturing current-year disruptions like weather, construction, or airline staffing. AirHelp’s window is June 1, 2024 to May 31, 2025, which includes late 2024 and misses part of the recent summer surge.
While there is overlap (DCA and DFW score poorly in both), some discrepancies are expected. For example, ATL and IAD have shown an increase in cancellations yet score fairly well on on-time arrivals—suggesting they’ve had some major disruptions but still run efficiently most of the time.
Final Thought
Flight delays and cancellations can happen anywhere—but these charts can help you plan smarter. If you’re traveling through one of the airports with poor stats, consider:
- Booking earlier flights, which are less likely to be delayed
- Avoiding tight connections at known trouble spots
You can’t always avoid flying through busy or delay-prone hubs. But knowing which airports are more likely to cause headaches gives you the upper hand when planning your next trip.
Want to comment on this post? Great! Read this first to help ensure it gets approved.
Want to sponsor a post, write something for Your Mileage May Vary, or put ads on our site? Click here for more info.
Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and sign up to get emailed notifications of when we post.
Whether you’ve read our articles before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!
This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
