The flight time from Houston to Los Angeles is 3 hours, 31 minutes. See Data as Tables

Average Timeline

Leaves IAH Houston, TX 1 minute early.
17 minutes taxiing out
3 hours, 3 minutes in the air
8 minutes taxiing in
Arrives LAX Los Angeles, CA 5 minutes early.

Flight Reliability By Airline ?

Delta
88%
American
86%
United
82%
Spirit
82%
Cancelled
Delayed*
Normal

Flight Summary

The flight time from Houston to Los Angeles is 3 hours, 31 minutes. The time spent in the air is 3 hours, 3 minutes.

The flight distance from Houston to Los Angeles is 1379 Miles.

Reverse Journey

Los Angeles to Houston
3 hours, 10 minutes

Flight Time By Airline ?

United
3h 30m
Spirit
3h 31m
Delta
3h 32m
American
3h 39m
Taxiing Out
Air Time
Taxiing In

Flight Time by Time of Day ?

12AM06AM12PM06PM1h2h3h
Taxiing Out
Air Time
Taxiing In

Flights By Time of Day ?
(Average)

12AM06AM12PM06PM0.00.51.01.52.0

Flights Per Week

101

Distance

1379 Miles

Flights By Month ?

JFMAMJJASOND0100200300400

Flights By Day of Week ?
(Average)

MonTueWedThuFriSatSun051015

Flights By Airline ?
(Per Week)

United
63
Spirit
18
Delta
13
American
6

Frequently Asked Questions

How far is Houston from Los Angeles by plane?

The distance from Houston to Los Angeles by plane is 1379 Miles. This is the air distance on the most direct route taken by the vast majority of flights.

How long is the flight from Houston to Los Angeles?

The flight time from Houston to Los Angeles is 3 hours, 31 minutes. The time spent in the air is 3 hours, 3 minutes. These numbers are averages. In reality, it varies by airline with United being the fastest taking 3 hours, 30 minutes, and American the slowest taking 3 hours, 39 minutes.

What airlines fly from Houston to Los Angeles?

United, Spirit, American, and Delta are the airlines with direct flights from Houston to Los Angeles.

Does Southwest fly from Houston to Los Angeles?

Southwest does not fly from Houston (IAH) to Los Angeles (LAX). Keep in mind that Southwest may fly to other nearby airports, as they will often fly into smaller airpors instead of larger ones. This is because the costs are often lower to fly into smaller airports, and they pass the savings on to you.

Tables and Explanations

Data Source

Our information is computed from the latest available data from the US Department of Transportation.

Average Timeline Timeline Chart

The average timeline contains the median time a flight spends in 3 stages. The first of these three stages is taxiing out which includes the time from the flight leaving the gate to taking off. The second stage is in the air, which includes the time spent from the flight leaving the ground to touching back down at the end of it's journey. The last stage is taxiing in, which is from when the flight touches down to the flight arriving at it's gate.

The average timeline also estimates on average of when the flight will leave and arrive relative to it's stated departure time.

Leaves Houston 1 minute early
Taxi Out Time 17 minutes
In the Air 183 minutes
Taxiing In 8 minutes
Arrives Los Angeles 5 minutes early

Flight Reliability Reliability Chart

The reliability of an airline measures how often the airline's flights on this route are cancelled or delayed more than 20 minutes. For example, from Houston to Los Angeles, American is 86% reliable, which means that American flights are on time 86% of the time, and cancelled or delayed the remaining time.

Airline Normal Flights Arrival Delayed* Flight Cancelled
Delta 88% 11% 1%
American 86% 14% 0%
Spirit 82% 18% 0%
United 82% 17% 1%

Flight Time By Airline Flight Time By Airline Chart

Each airline takes a different amount of time to fly between Houston and Los Angeles, this is due to different operational factors on the ground, as well as scheduling of planes. Each airline's flight time is split into three stages which are described above in the "Average Timeline" section. There are also miscellaneous operational issues which are included in the below total but are not accounted for in one of the three stages.

Airline Taxiing Out
(minutes)
In the Air
(minutes)
Taxiing In
(minutes)
Total
(minutes)
United 18 181 8 210
Spirit 14 187 8 211
Delta 13 186 11 212
American 17 193 7 219

Flights By Time of Day Flight Time By Day Chart

This one is pretty self explanatory, it represents the number of flights that leave the gate in a given hour of the day. The tricky thing here is that this is normally not a whole number since it is an average over 52 weeks. Partial numbers may indicate that a flight may be seasonal or may take off at different times due to different operational factors.

Time Count
5am 0.86
2pm 0.99
9pm 0.83
10pm 0.15
1pm 0.53
8am 0.02
6am 1.23
5pm 0.26
7am 1.42
7pm 1.04
4pm 1.33
3pm 0.7
6pm 1.55
8pm 1.01
12pm 1.04
10am 0.32
11am 0.38
9am 0.68

Flights By Month Flights By Month Chart

The quantity of flights from Houston to Los Angeles that take off in a given month of the year. This number changes because some flights are seasonal, and almost all flights have uneven demand througout the year.

Month Count
January 415
February 381
March 433
April 416
May 456
June 464
July 481
August 492
September 434
October 457
November 409
December 426

Flights By Day Of Week Flights By Day of Week Chart

The quantity of flights from Houston to Los Angeles that take off on a given day of the week. Some routes only have enough demand to sustain a few trips a week, while others have many flights a day. This number is also an average across the year, and hence may not be a whole number.

Day Count
Monday 14.71
Tuesday 14.35
Wednesday 14.65
Thursday 14.65
Friday 14.71
Saturday 13.4
Sunday 14.75

Flight per Airline (per Week) Flights By Airline Chart

How many times an airline flies this route in a week. Different factors play into how often a carrier chooses to fly a given route including it's need to connect disparate routes, and demand.

Airline Flights per Week
United 1
Spirit 0
Delta 0
American 0

Flight Time By Time of Day Flight Time by Time of Day Chart

The total flight time varies by each hour of the day due to factors such as airport traffic. More flights leaving an airport may cause higher taxi in or taxi out times. See the description of the average timeline above for a deeper discussion of each of these times.

Time Taxi Out
(minutes)
In the Air
(minutes)
Taxi In
(minutes)
Total
(minutes)
5am 14 189 8 213
2pm 18 182 7 210
9pm 16 180 9 208
10pm 14 182 10 210
1pm 14 184 7 205
8am 18 179 10 210
6am 14 177 10 202
5pm 17 191 8 219
7am 18 185 10 215
7pm 18 183 7 211
4pm 17 184 8 211
3pm 14 186 10 211
6pm 18 187 7 214
8pm 19 180 8 211
12pm 18 181 7 208
10am 21 171 8 201
11am 14 196 8 219
9am 22 184 8 217
* Delayed more than 20 minutes.
All data above is a median or mean as appropriate.