Here are the best and worst airlines and airports to fly this summer

Gearing up for travel plans this summer? Before you book your flight, you might want to check out FiveThirtyEight's fastest flight interactive, which advises travelers on which airlines and airports to use to minimize those awful minutes-turned-hours spent twiddling your thumbs at the gate.

The program, which uses government data from May 2014 through April 2015, takes actual travel time into account, prohibiting airlines from "cheating" by padding their schedules to beat an unrealistically long flight time. It also considers weather conditions in certain locations, as well as cancellations and diverted flights.

Among major airports, those most likely to get you to your destination on time are Honolulu, Portland (Oregon), San Diego, Tampa and Salt Lake City. On the other hand , if you're flying out of the New York metropolitan area, beware: LaGuardia, JFK and Newark rank as the three worst airports. Chicago O'Hare ranked fourth from the bottom, followed by Philadelphia and Boston.

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However, frequent fliers in New York and Chicago can make the most of their plight. The data suggests travel times at Newark have improved from 50 minutes per round-trip flight to 42 minutes. While a 42-minute delay may not be cause to celebrate, it's better than JFK's delays, which have gotten worse over the past year, and LaGuardia's, which average 56 minutes per round-trip flight. In Chicago, Midway airport is reported to be 12 minutes faster per round-trip flight than O'Hare.

Here are how the airlines stack up from best to worst, according to FiveThirtyEight:

United's poor performance, paired with the overall slow pace recorded at JFK, may account for the airline's recent decision to suspend service at that location starting in October 2015.