Washington (IAD) – Los Angeles (LAX)
- Distance
- 3,682 km
- 2,288 mi · 1,988 nm
- Flight time
- 5 h 32 min / 4 h 49 min
- Average gate to gate: IAD → LAX / back
- Time difference
- 3 h
- CO2 per passenger
- 462 kg
- One way, economy, incl. RF (273 kg CO2 only)
- Passengers / year
- 840,081
- Aug 2025 – Jul 2026 · −7.8%
- Flights / week
- 95
- Both directions, average
- Seats filled
- 88%
- 954,325 seats a year
- Airlines nonstop
- 3
- UA, AA, AS
Traffic: U.S. DOT, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Segment (all carriers, scheduled service), Aug 2025 – Jul 2026. Distance: WGS-84 ellipsoid. CO2: UK DESNZ 2026 factors. Sources
The way there
- Heading from IAD
- 274°
- Heading from LAX
- 69°
- Halfway point
- 38.25, -98.62
- Great-circle km
- 3,674 km (sphere, for EU261)
- In the air IAD → LAX
- 4 h 59 min
- In the air LAX → IAD
- 4 h 22 min
- Clocks
- Los Angeles is 3 h behind Washington
The estimate for a route without real times is 5 h 10 min; how it is worked out is on Sources.
Show as a table
| Month | Passengers |
|---|---|
| Aug 2025 | 67,516 |
| Sep 2025 | 54,989 |
| Oct 2025 | 68,186 |
| Nov 2025 | 63,332 |
| Dec 2025 | 71,806 |
| Jan 2026 | 57,432 |
| Feb 2026 | 52,201 |
| Mar 2026 | 66,922 |
| Apr 2026 | 75,386 |
| May 2026 | 85,288 |
| Jun 2026 | 89,152 |
| Jul 2026 | 87,871 |
Show as a table
| Month | Flights |
|---|---|
| Aug 2025 | 393 |
| Sep 2025 | 351 |
| Oct 2025 | 404 |
| Nov 2025 | 397 |
| Dec 2025 | 427 |
| Jan 2026 | 333 |
| Feb 2026 | 316 |
| Mar 2026 | 366 |
| Apr 2026 | 448 |
| May 2026 | 503 |
| Jun 2026 | 504 |
| Jul 2026 | 490 |
Airlines flying IAD–LAX nonstop
| Airline | Flights / week | Share of passengers |
|---|---|---|
| UAUnited Air Lines | 89 | 95% |
| AAAmerican Airlines | 4.5 | 4% |
| ASAlaska Airlines | 0.8 | 1% |
Both directions, Aug 2025 – Jul 2026. Airlines with at least one flight a month. U.S. DOT, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Segment (all carriers, scheduled service). Sources
Aircraft on this route
- Boeing B737 Max 900 · 1,977 flights
- Boeing 737-900ER · 1,459 flights
- Boeing 757-300 · 884 flights
- B787-900 Dreamliner · 286 flights
- Boeing B737 Max 800 · 185 flights
- Boeing 737-800 · 54 flights
- Boeing 757-200 · 50 flights
- B787-800 Dreamliner · 16 flights
Also carried: 3,713 tonnes of freight and 154 tonnes of mail a year (passenger and cargo flights).
Punctuality
- On time
- 85.6%
- Arrived within 15 min of schedule
- Average delay
- 9 min
- Late arrivals count, early ones as 0
- Cancelled
- 0.7%
- Flights counted
- 4,946
- Aug 2025 – Jul 2026
| Airline | On time | Average delay |
|---|---|---|
| UAUnited Air Lines | 86.2% | 9 min |
| AAAmerican Airlines | 76.1% | 16 min |
| ASAlaska Airlines | 68.4% | 15 min |
Delay minutes by cause: airline 37% · aircraft arriving late 36% · air traffic system 22% · weather 4% · security 0%.
Both directions, Aug 2025 – Jul 2026. BTS Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance (US domestic flights of the larger US airlines). Sources
What passengers paid
- Average fare, Q1 2026
- $371
- One way, all cabins
- Average over a year
- $336
- Q2 2025 – Q1 2026
- Largest airline
- United Air Lines
- 96% of passengers · $375
- Lowest-fare airline
- Southwest Airlines
- 2% of passengers · $236
History, not a price to book: what the average passenger paid per one-way trip in each quarter (Q2 2025 $303 · Q3 2025 $318 · Q4 2025 $366 · Q1 2026 $371).
Fare outlook, Q1 2027: about $378, likely $335–$431
The average fare paid we expect a year after Q1 2026, the newest DOT quarter. On this route, past forecasts made this way fell inside the range 76% of the time over 21 quarters (median error 3.8%). An estimate from US DOT data: not a price you can book, not a guarantee, not advice on when to buy. How the outlook works
Cheapest quarter on this route: Q1, typically 3% below the year's average (9 years of DOT data, without 2020–21).
U.S. DOT Consumer Airfare Report, Table 1a (airline ticket sample, US domestic airport pairs). Sources
Delay compensation (EU261 / UK261)
Measured by great-circle distance: 3,674 km.
Neither EU261 nor UK261 covers this route: it neither starts nor ends in the EU, EEA, Switzerland or the UK. Other countries have their own rules (for example Canada's APPR or Brazil's ANAC rules).
Also owed for a cancellation with less than 14 days' notice or denied boarding. Not owed for extraordinary circumstances. On a connection, the distance to the final destination counts. From 23 October 2027 the EU's Regulation 2026/2202 applies; it keeps these amounts (what changes in 2027). Information, not legal advice.
Every airport pair between Washington and Los Angeles
Kilometres. Linked numbers have a page of their own. All Washington airports