Flight profile · Delta Air Lines
DL3121
Atlanta (ATL) to Nashville (BNA) · scheduled 11:00 PM – 11:15 PM
How DL3121 performs
605 operations, June 2024 – August 2026.
Between its first and last recorded date on ATL → BNA, DL3121 averaged about 5 operations a week (605 in 816 days, cancelled ones included).
DL3121 arrived on time 78.5% of the time, against 81.6% for all ATL → BNA flights, so this departure is 3.1 percentage points worse than the route as a whole. Against Delta Air Lines’ own flights on this route it is 3.3 points worse.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · 605 operations, June 2024 – August 2026 · If DL3121 is cancelled or significantly changed, DOT’s automatic refund rule may entitle you to your money back. The refund checker walks through eligibility.
Where DL3121 is right now
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Against the rest of the route
| Flight or route | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Severe | Flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DL3121 | 78.5% | 2.81% | -5 min | 7.2% | 605 |
| Delta Air Lines on ATL → BNA | 81.8% | 1.23% | -5 min | 5.5% | 10,033 |
| All ATL → BNA flights | 81.6% | 1.07% | -5 min | 5.7% | 12,572 |
DL3121 has cancelled 2.81% of its scheduled departures (17 of 605), against 1.07% for all ATL → BNA flights — this specific departure cancels 1.7 percentage points more 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 DL3121 specifically, not about the route it flies.
7.2% of DL3121’s arrivals were an hour or more late, against 5.7% across ATL → BNA, so the long delays are more common on this number than on the route.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · June 2024 – August 2026
Why DL3121 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 DL3121 on ATL → BNA. 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 DL3121 comes in late, and what that does to the departure.
The aircraft flying DL3121 came in 15 or more minutes late on 21% 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 ATL: 501 of 588 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 |
|---|---|
| DL3121 | 21% |
| Network, same turn | 23% |
A long gap on the ground gives a late aircraft room to catch up before this flight pushes back.
The network row is every flight with a scheduled turn of 90 minutes to 3 hours. How often DL3121’s aircraft landed 15 or more minutes late is about the same as 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 ATL late, does that still matter by the time it reaches BNA?
DL3121 pushes back an average of 12.9 minutes late and reaches the gate at BNA an average of 9.1 minutes late. The 3.8 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. It spends 16.2 minutes on the taxiways at ATL, 1.0 minutes shorter than a typical ATL departure in the same hour.
On arrival at BNA, DL3121 spends 8.6 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 BNA 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 13,585 ATL departures. Taxi-in is landing to gate, set against 329,326 arrivals at BNA. More on taxi time.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · June 2024 – August 2026
The hour it leaves ATL
DL3121 has one departure time, 11:00 PM, so this is what that hour at ATL is worth.
On-time arrival rate. 13,585 departures from ATL are scheduled in the 11 PM–12 AM hour over the period, against 1,039,468 across the whole day.
DL3121 is scheduled out of ATL at 11:00 PM, in the 11 PM–12 AM bank. Departures from ATL in that hour arrive on time 72.1% of the time against 78.6% across the airport’s whole day — the slot alone is worth 6.5 points worse before anything about this particular flight is considered.
Both airport figures cover every destination from ATL, 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 DL3121 has flown
Carriers reassign flight numbers. DL3121 also served these 4 other city pairs in the period.
| Route | Operated | Flights | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| DTW→MSN Detroit to Madison | October 6, 2025 – December 19, 2025 | 55 | — |
| MSN→DTW Madison to Detroit | October 6, 2025 – December 19, 2025 | 55 | — |
| ATL→XNA Atlanta to Fayetteville/Springdale/Rogers | September 23, 2025 | 1 | — |
| XNA→ATL Fayetteville/Springdale/Rogers to Atlanta | September 23, 2025 | 1 | — |
The figures above describe only ATL → BNA, the route DL3121 flies now.
When it goes wrong
The average describes a usual day. This is the day that ruins a connection.
44 min late
against a median of 5 min early
Percentiles over 605 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DL3069 | Delta Air Lines | 92.1% | 8 min early | 697 |
| DL1155 | Delta Air Lines | 86.9% | 7 min early | 673 |
| DL3121 this flight | Delta Air Lines | 78.5% | 5 min early | 605 |
| DL1693 | Delta Air Lines | 76.0% | 2 min early | 607 |
| DL1490 | Delta Air Lines | 75.2% | 4 min early | 921 |
Among all 5 departures on this route with at least 600 operations, DL3121 has the 3rd highest on-time rate, 13.6 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 605 records of DL3121 operating ATL → BNA, 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