PDX to LAX flight delays

PDX LAX Portland to Los Angeles · 834 miles

13,197 flights were scheduled from PDX to LAX over July 2023 through June 2026. Of the 13,080 that made the trip, 88% reached the gate less than 15 minutes behind schedule. These are arrival figures: “on time” means the flight reached the gate less than 15 minutes behind schedule. Arrivals are what decide whether you make the connection, so route and airline pages are scored on them rather than on pushback.

Data through June 2026 · Bureau of Transportation Statistics

The route in brief

Flights in the window
13,197
Arrived on time
88%
Cancelled
0.9%
Scheduled distance
834 miles

Cancellations are counted against everything scheduled. Diverted flights are counted with them rather than as very late arrivals, which is why the on-time share and the cancellation rate do not add up to everything that happened.

Airline by airline

Airlines with at least 100 flights on PDX–LAX, busiest first. Same route, same weather, same air traffic — which makes this the fairest comparison on the site.

Airline Arrived on time Typical delay Cancelled Flights
Alaska Airlines 85.9% 49 min 1.1% 5,580
Delta Air Lines 90.9% 88 min 0.7% 5,011
SkyWest Airlines 87.2% 98 min 0.3% 2,105
Frontier Airlines 85.8% 65 min 2.1% 373
Spirit Airlines 85.2% 2.7% 111

A dash under typical delay means fewer than 30 of that airline’s flights arrived 15 minutes late or more — too few to average.

Month by month

December was the month to avoid on PDX–LAX: 83.2% of flights arrived on time, against 90.7% in September. Each bar pools three years of that calendar month.

Share of flights that arrived on time, by calendar month. Best month in green, worst in amber. The hairline sits at the overall rate, 88%.
Arrival on-time share, PDX to LAX, by calendar month
Month Share flights that arrived on time Flights
January 86.6% 1,012
February 87.6% 964
March 88.5% 1,080
April 90.3% 1,031
May 89.5% 1,149
June 88.2% 1,131
July 88.3% 1,174
August 86.6% 1,206
September 90.7% 1,085
October 89.4% 1,152
November 86.9% 1,089
December 83.2% 1,124

Both ends of the route

A route’s record is built out of two airports’ habits. The hour-by-hour grid for each is on its own page.

PDX to LAX in one number

PDX → LAX

When a flight on this route was late, it was late by about 69 min.

July 2023–June 2026 · 13,197 flights

88% of flights arrived on time

Questions about PDX to LAX

Which airline is most reliable from PDX to LAX?
Delta Air Lines — its flights on this pairing arrived on time 90.9% of the time, with 5,011 scheduled. Spirit Airlines came in at 85.2% over 111 scheduled. Airlines with fewer than 100 flights on the route are not rated.
What is the worst month to fly PDX to LAX?
December, at 83.2% of arrivals on time, with 1,124 flights scheduled. September was the best of the year at 90.7%.
How late are PDX–LAX flights when they are late?
69 min on average, counting only the flights that arrived 15 minutes or more behind schedule. The on-time flights are left out of that average on purpose — mixing them in would flatter it.
How often is the PDX to LAX flight cancelled?
0.9% of scheduled flights on this route were cancelled, July 2023 through June 2026. Diverted flights are counted with the cancellations rather than as late arrivals.
Are these departure or arrival numbers?
Arrival. A flight counts as on time here if it reached the gate at LAX less than 15 minutes behind schedule. Airport pages score departures instead, because that is the number you can act on when you pick a booking time.