Flight profile · United Airlines

UA1491

Kansas City (MCI) to Chicago (ORD) · scheduled 8:00 AM – 9:17 AM

FlyerIntel does not track flights in the air. This page describes how UA1491 has historically performed, which is a different and more useful question when you are deciding what to book. For today’s status, check with United Airlines.

How UA1491 performs

323 operations, 2025-02-13 to 2026-06-30.

On-time arrivals
84.9%
270 of 318 completed
Cancellation rate
1.24%
4 cancelled
Median arrival delay
-6 min
Average 2.0 min
Severe delays
4.1%
Arrived 60+ minutes late
Delay when late
56 min
Average, when 15+ min late
Departure punctuality
92.2%
Left the gate on time

UA1491 arrived on time 84.9% of the time, against 79.2% for all MCIORD flights — this specific departure is 5.7 percentage points better than the route as a whole. Against United Airlines’s own flights on this route it is 3.8 points better.

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · 323 operations between 2025-02-13 to 2026-06-30

Against the rest of the route

On timeCancelledMedian delaySevereFlights
UA149184.9%1.24%-6 min4.1%323
United Airlines on MCIORD81.2%1.42%-4 min7.1%4,141
All MCIORD flights79.2%1.91%-6 min8.5%10,568

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · 2025-02-13 to 2026-06-30

Other routes UA1491 has flown

A flight number is a slot in a schedule, and carriers reassign it. These are the other city pairs this number served in the analysis period.

RouteOperatedFlightsOn time
ORDECP Chicago to Panama City Beach2026-04-302026-05-2017
EWRIAH Newark to Houston2026-03-292026-04-2932
ORDORF Chicago to Norfolk2025-09-252026-03-2789
ORDBOS Chicago to Boston2026-02-122026-03-0421
BOSEWR Boston to Newark2026-02-122026-03-0415
DENTPA Denver to Tampa2025-12-182026-01-0517
MSNORD Madison to Chicago2025-11-072025-11-212
ORDDFW Chicago to Dallas–Fort Worth2025-05-222025-09-0110383.5%
ORDPBI Chicago to West Palm Beach2025-05-012025-05-2121
PBIEWR West Palm Beach to Newark2025-05-012025-05-2121
IADMCO Washington to Orlando2025-03-302025-04-3032
EUGDEN Eugene to Denver2025-03-062025-03-2924
DENBOS Denver to Boston2025-03-062025-03-2820
ORDDEN Chicago to Denver2024-12-192025-03-0574
RSWORD Fort Myers to Chicago2025-01-072025-02-1232
SFOSEA San Francisco to Seattle2024-12-212025-01-043
DENONT Denver to Ontario2024-12-202025-01-038
DENSLC Denver to Salt Lake City2024-02-152024-12-1819178.4%
AUSDEN Austin to Denver2024-10-272024-12-0236
TPADEN Tampa to Denver2024-03-072024-10-2619980.3%
SLCSFO Salt Lake City to San Francisco2024-09-262024-10-2526
ORDTPA Chicago to Tampa2024-06-272024-08-1852
LASEWR Las Vegas to Newark2023-07-012024-02-1413976.1%
SATIAH San Antonio to Houston2023-10-292023-11-2729
ORDSAT Chicago to San Antonio2023-11-272023-11-271
OMADEN Omaha to Denver2023-10-012023-10-2828
BHMIAH Birmingham to Houston2023-09-082023-09-081
IAHLAS Houston to Las Vegas2023-07-012023-09-0465

Because the same number has served different journeys, the statistics above describe only the route UA1491 currently operates. Blending them would produce an average of two different flights.

Why UA1491 runs late

Where US DOT attributed the delay minutes on this flight.

Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for UA1491 on MCI → ORD. A single late flight can carry more than one cause, and only delays of fifteen minutes or more are attributed at all.

Other departures on MCI → ORD

Same airports, same journey — and not the same odds of arriving on time.

FlightAirlineOn timeMedian arrivalOperations
UA303United Airlines81.6%5 min early1,093

Every departure listed carries at least 600 operations, so the comparison is between figures that mean something. Schedules change; confirm the departure still operates before booking around this.

Data and methodology

Calculated by FlyerIntel from 323 records of UA1491 operating MCIORD, 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 excluded from the on-time rate and reported separately. Flight numbers are resolved as carrier plus number plus route, because the same number serves different routes over time.

Full methodology · Report a problem