Flight profile · Delta Air Lines
DL2852
Detroit (DTW) to Tampa (TPA) · scheduled 7:00 AM – 10:00 AM
How DL2852 performs
609 operations, June 2024 – August 2026.
Between its first and last recorded date on DTW → TPA, DL2852 averaged about 5 operations a week (609 in 816 days, cancelled ones included).
DL2852 arrived on time 88.6% of the time, against 79.4% for all DTW → TPA flights, so this departure is 9.2 percentage points better than the route as a whole. Against Delta Air Lines’ own flights on this route it is 8.4 points better.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · 609 operations, June 2024 – August 2026 · If DL2852 is cancelled or significantly changed, DOT’s automatic refund rule may entitle you to your money back. The refund checker walks through eligibility.
Where DL2852 is right now
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Against the rest of the route
| Flight or route | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Severe | Flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DL2852 | 88.6% | 1.97% | -8 min | 2.9% | 609 |
| Delta Air Lines on DTW → TPA | 80.2% | 1.38% | -6 min | 6.9% | 5,062 |
| All DTW → TPA flights | 79.4% | 1.61% | -6 min | 7.4% | 7,446 |
DL2852 cancelled 12 of 609 operations (1.97%), close to the 1.61% for DTW → TPA.
2.9% of DL2852’s arrivals were an hour or more late, against 7.4% across DTW → TPA, 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 DL2852 runs late
Where US DOT attributed the delay minutes on this flight.
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for DL2852 on DTW → TPA. 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 DL2852 comes in late, and what that does to the departure.
DL2852 is usually the aircraft’s first flight of the day: the schedule gives it a median of 7.8 hours on the ground at DTW, so its “inbound” is mostly the aircraft’s arrival the evening before.
The aircraft flying DL2852 came in 15 or more minutes late on 22% of the departures where its previous flight is known. There are not enough departures in both groups to say how the flight left after a late one and after an on-time one.
Matched by tail number to the aircraft’s previous flight into DTW: 531 of 597 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 |
|---|---|
| DL2852 | 22% |
| Network, same turn | 29% |
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 DL2852’s aircraft landed 15 or more minutes late is lower than the network’s. There are not enough departures in both groups to compare how it left.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering June 2024 – August 2026
From pushback to gate
When it leaves DTW late, does that still matter by the time it reaches TPA?
DL2852 pushes back an average of 1.5 minutes late and reaches the gate at TPA an average of 2.7 minutes early. The 4.2 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. It spends 20.5 minutes on the taxiways at DTW, 1.3 minutes longer than a typical DTW departure in the same hour.
On arrival at TPA, DL2852 spends 5.2 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 TPA 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 26,700 DTW departures. Taxi-in is landing to gate, set against 248,359 arrivals at TPA. More on taxi time.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · June 2024 – August 2026
The hour it leaves DTW
DL2852 has one departure time, 7:00 AM, so this is what that hour at DTW is worth.
On-time arrival rate. 26,700 departures from DTW are scheduled in the 7 AM–8 AM hour over the period, against 398,799 across the whole day.
DL2852 is scheduled out of DTW at 7:00 AM, in the 7 AM–8 AM bank. Departures from DTW in that hour arrive on time 87.2% of the time against 79.6% across the airport’s whole day — the slot alone is worth 7.6 points better before anything about this particular flight is considered.
Both airport figures cover every destination from DTW, 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 DL2852 has flown
Carriers reassign flight numbers. DL2852 also served these 5 other city pairs in the period.
| Route | Operated | Flights | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| TPA→DTW Tampa to Detroit | June 7, 2024 – August 31, 2026 | 426 | 87.4% |
| CHA→DTW Chattanooga to Detroit | November 7, 2025 | 1 | — |
| PIT→ATL Pittsburgh to Atlanta | July 1, 2023 – June 6, 2024 | 236 | 91.9% |
| IAH→LGA Houston to New York | April 9, 2024 – May 6, 2024 | 28 | — |
| ATL→DCA Atlanta to Washington | January 13, 2024 – March 9, 2024 | 9 | — |
The figures above describe only DTW → TPA, the route DL2852 flies now.
When it goes wrong
The average describes a usual day. This is the day that ruins a connection.
19 min late
against a median of 8 min early
Percentiles over 609 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DL2852 this flight | Delta Air Lines | 88.6% | 8 min early | 609 |
| DL2587 | Delta Air Lines | 80.6% | 7 min early | 769 |
| DL1355 | Delta Air Lines | 72.9% | 2 min early | 1,054 |
Among all 3 departures on this route with at least 600 operations, DL2852 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 609 records of DL2852 operating DTW → TPA, 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