Would you book a flight with a 70% on time record?
 

I need to fly from San Jose to Detroit on Labor Day. I looked at flights from San Jose, Oakland, and San Francisco and the itinerary with the best combination of flight times and price has a first leg of San Jose to Houston with only a 70% on time record. There is a 1 hour 18 minute connection time for the Houston to Detroit flight.

I'd appreciate opinions on whether its a bad idea to book this. Thanks!

I wouldn't hesitate. That's not a great record, but not that bad either. And connections at IAH are fairly easy (I'm assuming this is on CO)

I rarely book a flight with over 70% on time record.

Thanks! I'll go ahead and book it.

Are flights that take off a few minutes earlier, or land earlier, counted as "on-time" or not?

Actual take off and landing time are irrelevant. On time refers to departure from/arrival at the gate within 15min of scheduled time.

A 6pm flight can leave the gate on-time at 6:15, sit on the tarmac for 2hrs before takeoff and still be called "departed" on time. Of course it won't arrive on-time, unless the schedule has a whole lot of slop.

Ditto for a flight that lands with enough time to get to the gate for scheduled arrival time but has to sit and wait for a gate - I'll be logged as late.

I recall a few years ago when the FAA started to track & publicize on-time flights. Almost overnight the % of flights on-time went up dramatically - not because of any actual changes in travel time, but simply because the airlines built more slop into the schedule to account for ground holds, taxi queues, etc.

Is the IAH-DTW flight last one on CO (or NW) of the day? If so, then if you miss the connection, you'll have to overnight in Houston. If not, then chances are you can get to Detroit same day.