Houston (IAH) – Los Angeles (LAX)
- Distance
- 2,219 km
- 1,379 mi · 1,198 nm
- Flight time
- 3 h 34 min / 3 h 16 min
- Average gate to gate: IAH → LAX / back
- Time difference
- 2 h
- CO2 per passenger
- 279 kg
- One way, economy, incl. RF (165 kg CO2 only)
- Passengers / year
- 1,544,652
- Aug 2025 – Jul 2026 · −5.2%
- Flights / week
- 200
- Both directions, average
- Seats filled
- 88%
- 1,763,890 seats a year
- Airlines nonstop
- 5
- UA, DL, NK
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 IAH
- 287°
- Heading from LAX
- 95°
- Halfway point
- 32.49, -106.62
- Great-circle km
- 2,215 km (sphere, for EU261)
- In the air IAH → LAX
- 3 h 4 min
- In the air LAX → IAH
- 2 h 48 min
- Clocks
- Los Angeles is 2 h behind Houston
The estimate for a route without real times is 3 h 25 min; how it is worked out is on Sources.
Show as a table
| Month | Passengers |
|---|---|
| Aug 2025 | 129,252 |
| Sep 2025 | 119,176 |
| Oct 2025 | 140,881 |
| Nov 2025 | 131,682 |
| Dec 2025 | 142,207 |
| Jan 2026 | 127,219 |
| Feb 2026 | 116,075 |
| Mar 2026 | 129,271 |
| Apr 2026 | 130,350 |
| May 2026 | 127,207 |
| Jun 2026 | 123,223 |
| Jul 2026 | 128,109 |
Show as a table
| Month | Flights |
|---|---|
| Aug 2025 | 878 |
| Sep 2025 | 880 |
| Oct 2025 | 990 |
| Nov 2025 | 888 |
| Dec 2025 | 891 |
| Jan 2026 | 864 |
| Feb 2026 | 799 |
| Mar 2026 | 880 |
| Apr 2026 | 872 |
| May 2026 | 846 |
| Jun 2026 | 789 |
| Jul 2026 | 829 |
Airlines flying IAH–LAX nonstop
| Airline | Flights / week | Share of passengers |
|---|---|---|
| UAUnited Air Lines | 132 | 71% |
| DLDelta Air Lines | 25 | 9% |
| NKSpirit Air Lines | 15 | 8% |
| F9Frontier Airlines | 13 | 8% |
| OOSkyWest Airlines | 16 | 3% |
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 737-900ER · 3,431 flights
- Boeing B737 Max 900 · 2,782 flights
- Airbus Industrie A319 · 1,272 flights
- Embraer ERJ-175 · 814 flights
- Airbus Industrie A321-200n · 424 flights
- Airbus Industrie A320-200n · 424 flights
- Airbus Industrie A320-100/200 · 386 flights
- Boeing 757-200 · 357 flights
Also carried: 2,051 tonnes of freight and 771 tonnes of mail a year (passenger and cargo flights).
Punctuality
- On time
- 84.4%
- Arrived within 15 min of schedule
- Average delay
- 11 min
- Late arrivals count, early ones as 0
- Cancelled
- 0.5%
- Flights counted
- 10,436
- Aug 2025 – Jul 2026
| Airline | On time | Average delay |
|---|---|---|
| UAUnited Air Lines | 86.2% | 8 min |
| DLDelta Air Lines | 86.4% | 11 min |
| OOSkyWest Airlines | 81.2% | 15 min |
| NKSpirit Air Lines | 78.8% | 17 min |
| F9Frontier Airlines | 71.8% | 20 min |
Delay minutes by cause: airline 38% · 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
- $254
- One way, all cabins
- Average over a year
- $218
- Q2 2025 – Q1 2026
- Largest airline
- United Air Lines
- 58% of passengers · $296
- Lowest-fare airline
- Spirit Air Lines
- 12% of passengers · $135
History, not a price to book: what the average passenger paid per one-way trip in each quarter (Q2 2025 $200 · Q3 2025 $201 · Q4 2025 $224 · Q1 2026 $254).
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: 2,215 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 Houston and Los Angeles
Kilometres. Linked numbers have a page of their own. All Houston airports