The flight time from Los Angeles to Washington is 4 hours, 43 minutes. See Data as Tables

Average Timeline

Leaves LAX Los Angeles, CA 2 minutes early.
18 minutes taxiing out
4 hours, 17 minutes in the air
6 minutes taxiing in
Arrives IAD Washington, DC 7 minutes early.

Flight Reliability By Airline ?

United
86%
Alaska
77%
Cancelled
Delayed*
Normal

Flight Summary

The flight time from Los Angeles to Washington is 4 hours, 43 minutes. The time spent in the air is 4 hours, 17 minutes.

The flight distance from Los Angeles to Washington is 2288 Miles.

Reverse Journey

Washington to Los Angeles
5 hours, 24 minutes

Flight Time By Airline ?

United
4h 42m
Alaska
4h 49m
Taxiing Out
Air Time
Taxiing In

Flight Time by Time of Day ?

12AM06AM12PM06PM1h2h3h4h
Taxiing Out
Air Time
Taxiing In

Flights By Time of Day ?
(Average)

12AM06AM12PM06PM0.00.51.01.52.0

Flights Per Week

45

Distance

2288 Miles

Flights By Month ?

JFMAMJJASOND050100150200

Flights By Day of Week ?
(Average)

MonTueWedThuFriSatSun0246

Flights By Airline ?
(Per Week)

United
36
Alaska
9

Frequently Asked Questions

How far is Los Angeles from Washington by plane?

The distance from Los Angeles to Washington by plane is 2288 Miles. This is the air distance on the most direct route taken by the vast majority of flights.

How long is the flight from Los Angeles to Washington?

The flight time from Los Angeles to Washington is 4 hours, 43 minutes. The time spent in the air is 4 hours, 17 minutes. These numbers are averages. In reality, it varies by airline with United being the fastest taking 4 hours, 42 minutes, and Alaska the slowest taking 4 hours, 49 minutes.

What airlines fly from Los Angeles to Washington?

United and Alaska are the airlines with direct flights from Los Angeles to Washington.

Does Southwest fly from Los Angeles to Washington?

Southwest does not fly from Los Angeles (LAX) to Washington (IAD). 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 Los Angeles 2 minutes early
Taxi Out Time 18 minutes
In the Air 257 minutes
Taxiing In 6 minutes
Arrives Washington 7 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 Los Angeles to Washington, Alaska is 77% reliable, which means that Alaska flights are on time 77% of the time, and cancelled or delayed the remaining time.

Airline Normal Flights Arrival Delayed* Flight Cancelled
United 86% 13% 1%
Alaska 77% 22% 1%

Flight Time By Airline Flight Time By Airline Chart

Each airline takes a different amount of time to fly between Los Angeles and Washington, 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 18 256 6 282
Alaska 20 262 6 289

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
9am 0.27
12pm 0.72
8am 1.11
9pm 0.68
4pm 0.79
10pm 0.06
7am 0
10am 0.85
11am 0.38
8pm 0.08
11pm 1.01
1pm 0.55

Flights By Month Flights By Month Chart

The quantity of flights from Los Angeles to Washington 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 158
February 148
March 207
April 199
May 209
June 196
July 236
August 244
September 197
October 214
November 193
December 188

Flights By Day Of Week Flights By Day of Week Chart

The quantity of flights from Los Angeles to Washington 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 6.83
Tuesday 6.29
Wednesday 6.54
Thursday 6.69
Friday 6.85
Saturday 5.96
Sunday 6.79

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
Alaska 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)
9am 19 264 6 291
12pm 18 253 6 280
8am 21 251 7 282
9pm 18 262 5 286
4pm 16 259 5 281
10pm 24 251 5 282
7am 25 250 4 279
10am 19 259 6 286
11am 19 260 6 287
8pm 16 257 7 280
11pm 18 256 6 280
1pm 18 260 7 286
* Delayed more than 20 minutes.
All data above is a median or mean as appropriate.