Flight profile · Delta Air Lines
DL1285
Chicago (MDW) to Atlanta (ATL) · scheduled 6:00 AM – 9:00 AM
How DL1285 performs
621 operations, June 2024 – August 2026.
Between its first and last recorded date on MDW → ATL, DL1285 averaged about 5 operations a week (621 in 816 days, cancelled ones included).
DL1285 arrived on time 90.8% of the time, against 80.1% for all MDW → ATL flights, so this departure is 10.7 percentage points better than the route as a whole. Against Delta Air Lines’ own flights on this route it is 4.8 points better.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · 621 operations, June 2024 – August 2026 · If DL1285 is cancelled or significantly changed, DOT’s automatic refund rule may entitle you to your money back. The refund checker walks through eligibility.
What stands out
How DL1285 compares to other flight numbers, not just to itself.
This flight runs unusually far ahead of the MDW → ATL route as a whole, better than 91% of 12,358 comparable flight numbers.
90.8% on time for this specific departure, against 80.1% for every MDW → ATL flight.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · June 2024 – August 2026 · The one thing about this specific departure that ranks most extreme against every other published flight number, out of everything FlyerIntel checks — shown only when something clears a real statistical bar, not for every flight.
Where DL1285 is right now
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Against the rest of the route
| Flight or route | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Severe | Flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DL1285 | 90.8% | 1.29% | -15 min | 4.4% | 621 |
| Delta Air Lines on MDW → ATL | 86.0% | 1.61% | -14 min | 5.9% | 4,590 |
| All MDW → ATL flights | 80.1% | 1.45% | -8 min | 6.6% | 11,640 |
DL1285 cancelled 8 of 621 operations (1.29%), close to the 1.45% for MDW → ATL.
4.4% of DL1285’s arrivals were an hour or more late, against 6.6% across MDW → ATL, so the long delays are less common on this number than on the route.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · June 2024 – August 2026
Why DL1285 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
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for DL1285 on MDW → ATL. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering June 2024 – August 2026
Does a late aircraft delay this flight?
How often the plane that flies DL1285 comes in late, and what that does to the departure.
DL1285 is usually the aircraft’s first flight of the day: the schedule gives it a median of 7.8 hours on the ground at MDW, so its “inbound” is mostly the aircraft’s arrival the evening before.
When the aircraft came in 15 or more minutes late, DL1285 pushed back an average of 13 minutes late; when it came in on time or early, an average of 0 minutes early.
Matched by tail number to the aircraft’s previous flight into MDW: 600 of 613 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| DL1285 | 22% | 10% | 5% |
| Network, same turn | 29% | 12% | 9% |
A night on the ground absorbs most of a late arrival, so a late inbound matters far less here than on a same-day turn.
The network row is every flight with a scheduled turn of 6 hours or more, usually overnight. How often DL1285’s aircraft landed 15 or more minutes late is lower than the network’s and, once the aircraft was late, how often DL1285 left 15 or more minutes late is about the same as the network’s.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering June 2024 – August 2026
From pushback to gate
When it leaves MDW late, does that still matter by the time it reaches ATL?
DL1285 pushes back an average of 5.9 minutes late and reaches the gate at ATL an average of 0.7 minutes early. The 6.6 minutes between those two figures are slack the published schedule already carries, so on average a late pushback on this flight is made up before the gate. Its 15.5 minutes on the taxiways at MDW is about what any departure from the airport in that hour spends.
On arrival at ATL, DL1285 spends 10.2 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 ATL 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 11,078 MDW departures. Taxi-in is landing to gate, set against 1,039,387 arrivals at ATL. More on taxi time.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · June 2024 – August 2026
The hour it leaves MDW
DL1285 has one departure time, 6:00 AM, so this is what that hour at MDW is worth.
On-time arrival rate. 11,078 departures from MDW are scheduled in the 6 AM–7 AM hour over the period, against 247,222 across the whole day.
DL1285 is scheduled out of MDW at 6:00 AM, in the 6 AM–7 AM bank. Departures from MDW in that hour arrive on time 91.1% of the time against 76.2% across the airport’s whole day — the slot alone is worth 15.0 points better before anything about this particular flight is considered.
Both airport figures cover every destination from MDW, 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 · June 2024 – August 2026 · Hours below 120 departures are not scored.
Other routes DL1285 has flown
Carriers reassign flight numbers. DL1285 also served these 18 other city pairs in the period.
| Route | Operated | Flights | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| FLL→ATL Fort Lauderdale to Atlanta | November 9, 2025 – December 19, 2025 | 41 | — |
| LAX→SMF Los Angeles to Sacramento | June 8, 2025 – October 4, 2025 | 117 | 62.1% |
| PNS→ATL Pensacola to Atlanta | May 7, 2024 – June 6, 2024 | 31 | — |
| MSP→SNA Minneapolis to Santa Ana | April 9, 2024 – May 6, 2024 | 28 | — |
| MCO→SLC Orlando to Salt Lake City | March 10, 2024 – April 8, 2024 | 30 | — |
| SLC→MCO Salt Lake City to Orlando | March 10, 2024 – April 8, 2024 | 30 | — |
| SLC→DEN Salt Lake City to Denver | January 8, 2024 – March 9, 2024 | 62 | — |
| RSW→JFK Fort Myers to New York | December 16, 2023 – January 7, 2024 | 23 | — |
| ATL→SJC Atlanta to San Jose | December 7–15, 2023 | 3 | — |
| DFW→BOS Dallas–Fort Worth to Boston | December 9, 2023 | 1 | — |
| IND→ATL Indianapolis to Atlanta | November 5, 2023 – December 6, 2023 | 13 | — |
| RIC→ATL Richmond to Atlanta | July 1, 2023 – October 27, 2023 | 75 | — |
| ATL→RIC Atlanta to Richmond | July 1, 2023 – October 27, 2023 | 73 | — |
| ATL→HSV Atlanta to Huntsville | October 14–21, 2023 | 2 | — |
| HSV→ATL Huntsville to Atlanta | October 14–21, 2023 | 2 | — |
| ATL→LEX Atlanta to Lexington | September 9, 2023 – October 8, 2023 | 30 | — |
| LEX→ATL Lexington to Atlanta | September 9, 2023 – October 8, 2023 | 30 | — |
| BOS→LGA Boston to New York | September 5, 2023 | 1 | — |
The figures above describe only MDW → ATL, the route DL1285 flies now.
When it goes wrong
The average describes a usual day. This is the day that ruins a connection.
10 min late
against a median of 15 min early
Percentiles over 621 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering June 2024 – August 2026
Other flights on this route
Same airports, same journey, different odds of arriving on time.
| Flight | Airline | On time | Median arrival | Operations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DL1285 this flight | Delta Air Lines | 90.8% | 15 min early | 621 |
| DL1063 | Delta Air Lines | 88.3% | 15 min early | 1,044 |
| DL2417 | Delta Air Lines | 86.1% | 16 min early | 782 |
Among all 3 departures on this route with at least 600 operations, DL1285 has the highest on-time rate. 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 621 records of DL1285 operating MDW → ATL, 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