Flight profile · American Airlines
AA2581
Milwaukee (MKE) to Dallas–Fort Worth (DFW) · scheduled 11:51 AM – 2:00 PM
How AA2581 performs
932 operations, July 2023 – August 2026.
Between its first and last recorded date on MKE → DFW, AA2581 averaged about 6 operations a week (932 in 1,158 days, cancelled ones included).
AA2581 arrived on time 75.9% of the time, against 73.0% for all MKE → DFW flights, so this departure is 2.9 percentage points better than the route as a whole. Against American Airlines’ own flights on this route it is 3.1 points better.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · 932 operations, July 2023 – August 2026 · If AA2581 is cancelled or significantly changed, DOT’s automatic refund rule may entitle you to your money back. The refund checker walks through eligibility.
Where AA2581 is right now
A live reading, only if you ask for it. It is not part of the reliability record above.
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Against the rest of the route
| Flight or route | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Severe | Flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AA2581 | 75.9% | 1.07% | -8 min | 8.8% | 932 |
| American Airlines on MKE → DFW | 72.8% | 2.54% | -5 min | 11.5% | 3,550 |
| All MKE → DFW flights | 73.0% | 2.51% | -5 min | 11.4% | 3,625 |
AA2581 has cancelled 1.07% of its scheduled departures (10 of 932), against 2.51% for all MKE → DFW flights — this specific departure cancels 1.4 percentage points less often than the route as a whole. Different flight numbers on the same route can carry different aircraft, crews and schedules, so this is a fact about AA2581 specifically, not about the route it flies.
8.8% of AA2581’s arrivals were an hour or more late, against 11.4% across MKE → DFW, so the long delays are less common on this number than on the route.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – August 2026
Why AA2581 runs late
Where US DOT attributed the delay minutes on this flight.
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
screening or terminal security incidents
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for AA2581 on MKE → DFW. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – August 2026
Does a late aircraft delay this flight?
How often the plane that flies AA2581 comes in late, and what that does to the departure.
When the aircraft came in 15 or more minutes late, AA2581 pushed back an average of 94 minutes late; when it came in on time or early, an average of 6 minutes late.
Matched by tail number to the aircraft’s previous flight into MKE: 903 of 923 departures. Unknown, cancelled or diverted inbounds and gaps over 12 hours are left out.
Against the network at the same turn length
| Share of departures | Inbound landed 15+ late | Left 15+ late after a late inbound | Left 15+ late after an on-time inbound |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA2581 | 19% | 93% | 9% |
| Network, same turn | 18% | 85% | 10% |
50 scheduled minutes is enough to clean and board when the aircraft is on time, with little to spare when it is not.
The network row is every flight with a scheduled turn of 45 to 59 minutes. How often AA2581’s aircraft landed 15 or more minutes late is about the same as the network’s and, once the aircraft was late, how often AA2581 left 15 or more minutes late is higher than the network’s.
Which Flight Numbers Pay for a Late Aircraft ranks the flight numbers that pass a late aircraft on.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – August 2026
From pushback to gate
When it leaves MKE late, does that still matter by the time it reaches DFW?
AA2581 pushes back an average of 25.7 minutes late and reaches the gate at DFW an average of 17.6 minutes late. The 8.2 minutes between those two figures are slack the published schedule already carries, so a late pushback is partly, not fully, made up before the gate. Its 14.0 minutes on the taxiways at MKE is about what any departure from the airport in that hour spends.
On arrival at DFW, AA2581 spends 13.2 min taxiing from touchdown to the gate — ground time a connecting passenger sits through before they can even leave the aircraft, on top of however late the flight itself ran. That is about what any arrival at DFW spends on the ground before reaching the gate.
Taxi-out is gate to wheels up and sits inside the scheduled block; the hourly comparison is 5,096 MKE departures. Taxi-in is landing to gate, set against 988,998 arrivals at DFW. More on taxi time.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – August 2026
The hour it leaves MKE
AA2581 has one departure time, 11:51 AM, so this is what that hour at MKE is worth.
On-time arrival rate. 5,096 departures from MKE are scheduled in the 11 AM–12 PM hour over the period, against 90,584 across the whole day.
AA2581 is scheduled out of MKE at 11:51 AM, in the 11 AM–12 PM bank. Departures from MKE in that hour arrive on time 80.7% of the time against 80.6% across the airport’s whole day, so the hour AA2581 leaves in is an ordinary one for MKE and explains nothing about its record either way.
Both airport figures cover every destination from MKE, so they describe the slot, not this journey; the route comparison is above. Why the hour matters.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – August 2026 · Hours below 120 departures are not scored.
By day of week
Does AA2581 run worse on particular days?
Friday scored highest and Monday lowest, 8.3 points apart, but with about 133 operations per scored day that is within what chance alone produces, so no day stands out.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – August 2026 · Days with fewer than 120 operations are not scored.
Other routes AA2581 has flown
Carriers reassign flight numbers. AA2581 also served these 8 other city pairs in the period.
| Route | Operated | Flights | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| DFW→MKE Dallas–Fort Worth to Milwaukee | July 1, 2023 – August 31, 2026 | 863 | 79.4% |
| MIA→SJU Miami to San Juan | May 21, 2026 – August 4, 2026 | 76 | — |
| SJU→MIA San Juan to Miami | May 21, 2026 – August 4, 2026 | 76 | — |
| PHX→PSP Phoenix to Palm Springs | April 8, 2026 – May 20, 2026 | 37 | — |
| PSP→PHX Palm Springs to Phoenix | April 8, 2026 – May 20, 2026 | 37 | — |
| ORD→PBI Chicago to West Palm Beach | December 18, 2025 – January 5, 2026 | 16 | — |
| TPA→DFW Tampa to Dallas–Fort Worth | March 6–29, 2025 | 24 | — |
| RDU→DCA Raleigh–Durham to Washington | February 16, 2025 – March 2, 2025 | 3 | — |
The figures above describe only MKE → DFW, the route AA2581 flies now.
When it goes wrong
The average describes a usual day. This is the day that ruins a connection.
55 min late
against a median of 8 min early
AA2581 has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 8 min early, but the worst tenth are 63 minutes worse than that. If the trip has something unmissable at the end of it, the median is the wrong number to plan against.
Percentiles over 932 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – August 2026
Other flights on this route
Same airports, same journey, different odds of arriving on time.
| Flight | Airline | On time | Median arrival | Operations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AA2621 | American Airlines | 80.0% | 6 min early | 1,152 |
| AA2581 this flight | American Airlines | 75.9% | 8 min early | 932 |
Among all 2 departures on this route with at least 600 operations, AA2581 has the lowest on-time rate, 4.1 points behind the best. Every departure here has at least 600 operations; the other rows are the most punctual on the route, not all of them.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 932 records of AA2581 operating MKE → DFW, published by the US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics. A flight counts as delayed when it arrives 15 or more minutes after schedule; cancelled and diverted flights are reported separately, not in the on-time rate.
Full methodology · Data sources · Report a problem
Related research: Most and Least Reliable Flight Numbers · The Delay You Inherit · Making Up Time in the Air
Analysis last recomputed