Route profile
ATL→DFW
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Atlanta to Dallas–Fort Worth, 731 miles.
Right now
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Route reliability
July 2023 – July 2026
Better than 11% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 20,334 flights. How this is calculated
ATL → DFW arrives on time 72.8% of the time; the return trip, DFW → ATL, arrives on time 75.0% of the time, a 2.1-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
ATL → DFW spends 31.7 minutes on the ground on a 731-mile trip: 17.6 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at ATL and 14.1 minutes from touchdown to gate at DFW.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
The airline matters unusually much on this route, a wider carrier-to-carrier gap than 93% of 2,692 comparable routes.
Envoy Air arrived on time 77.6% of the time, against 58.2% for Frontier Airlines, flying the exact same route.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Ranked against every other route with the same kind of figure and at least 2,692 in the comparison.
Why ATL → DFW flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
ATL → DFW cancelled 424 of 20,334 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 48. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 67.0% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 72 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 424 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
284 cancellations, 67.0% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
133 cancellations, 31.4% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
7 cancellations, 1.7% of the total.
A terminal evacuation, a security breach, screening equipment failure, or screening queues over 29 minutes.
0 cancellations, 0.0% of the total.
Reason codes are the operating airline’s own filing with US DOT, not an independent finding of fault. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
424 coded cancellations were recorded on ATL → DFW; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
62 min late
against a median of 2 min early
ATL → DFW has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 2 min early, but the worst tenth are 64 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 20,334 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at DFW after arriving from ATL.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 45% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 26% | High risk |
| 60 min | 18% | High risk |
| 90 min | 10% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 6.4% | Some risk |
This is one leg of a connection. Gate changes and the next flight's own schedule matter too. And a connection can fail before delay is even the question — this route cancels 2.09% of the time and diverts 0.46% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 19,817 arrivals on this route that landed later than the connection time less 30 minutes to reach the next gate.
The worst tenth of arrivals on this route land at least 62 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 20,334 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
ATL → DFW flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 81.2% of the time, against 60.5% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 20.7 percentage points.
By day and hour
On-time arrival rate for each weekday and scheduled departure hour, in local time at the departure airport (ATL).
Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 8.9 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 3.0 points.
| Hour | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 AM–7 AM | |||||||
| 7 AM–8 AM | |||||||
| 8 AM–9 AM | |||||||
| 9 AM–10 AM | |||||||
| 10 AM–11 AM | |||||||
| 11 AM–12 PM | |||||||
| 12 PM–1 PM | |||||||
| 1 PM–2 PM | |||||||
| 2 PM–3 PM | |||||||
| 3 PM–4 PM | |||||||
| 4 PM–5 PM | |||||||
| 5 PM–6 PM | |||||||
| 6 PM–7 PM | |||||||
| 7 PM–8 PM | |||||||
| 8 PM–9 PM | |||||||
| 9 PM–10 PM | |||||||
| 10 PM–11 PM |
On-time rate, % · stronger color, fewer on time
- 50–59
- 60–69
- 70–79
- 80–89
- Fewer than 120 flights, not scored
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · On time is arrival within 15 minutes of schedule. Cells round to whole percentages; the table shows one decimal.
No slot is named best or worst: too few reach 500 flights. Departures before 6 AM and after 11 PM (803 flights) are not drawn: no slot in those hours has enough flights to score.
View as tableHide table
| Hour | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 AM–7 AM | 111 flights, too few to score | 92 flights, too few to score | 83 flights, too few to score | 86.2% on time135 flights | 85.2% on time121 flights | 93 flights, too few to score | 82.3% on time127 flights |
| 7 AM–8 AM | 78.6% on time319 flights | 83.4% on time306 flights | 75.1% on time315 flights | 77.9% on time308 flights | 76.5% on time312 flights | 78.4% on time264 flights | 71.6% on time302 flights |
| 8 AM–9 AM | 111 flights, too few to score | 78.7% on time137 flights | 85.3% on time131 flights | 118 flights, too few to score | 118 flights, too few to score | 79.6% on time153 flights | 119 flights, too few to score |
| 9 AM–10 AM | 79.1% on time132 flights | 82.7% on time131 flights | 83.7% on time133 flights | 78.2% on time121 flights | 71.4% on time128 flights | 99 flights, too few to score | 82.4% on time130 flights |
| 10 AM–11 AM | 74 flights, too few to score | 66 flights, too few to score | 64 flights, too few to score | 65 flights, too few to score | 69 flights, too few to score | 78 flights, too few to score | 75 flights, too few to score |
| 11 AM–12 PM | 76.3% on time310 flights | 84.5% on time287 flights | 80.6% on time287 flights | 83.9% on time300 flights | 81.7% on time319 flights | 80.1% on time274 flights | 78.9% on time293 flights |
| 12 PM–1 PM | 80.6% on time162 flights | 89.4% on time163 flights | 85.7% on time177 flights | 82.9% on time156 flights | 78.3% on time158 flights | 87.7% on time160 flights | 79.1% on time162 flights |
| 1 PM–2 PM | 75.4% on time145 flights | 80.0% on time158 flights | 75.3% on time160 flights | 72.7% on time151 flights | 77.3% on time156 flights | 75.0% on time146 flights | 76.4% on time151 flights |
| 2 PM–3 PM | 70.1% on time180 flights | 79.2% on time181 flights | 69.3% on time179 flights | 77.4% on time191 flights | 75.5% on time190 flights | 71.4% on time136 flights | 64.9% on time192 flights |
| 3 PM–4 PM | 58.9% on time188 flights | 68.6% on time153 flights | 74.0% on time151 flights | 74.0% on time184 flights | 66.7% on time186 flights | 71.5% on time127 flights | 68.0% on time181 flights |
| 4 PM–5 PM | 64.5% on time197 flights | 69.3% on time185 flights | 71.7% on time186 flights | 69.7% on time184 flights | 66.7% on time192 flights | 68.5% on time247 flights | 64.4% on time189 flights |
| 5 PM–6 PM | 60.1% on time178 flights | 66.7% on time133 flights | 66.2% on time142 flights | 61.9% on time148 flights | 59.9% on time168 flights | 89 flights, too few to score | 62.6% on time152 flights |
| 6 PM–7 PM | 60.2% on time228 flights | 66.8% on time209 flights | 61.5% on time213 flights | 60.8% on time222 flights | 63.9% on time210 flights | 61.7% on time208 flights | 61.5% on time213 flights |
| 7 PM–8 PM | 27 flights, too few to score | 64 flights, too few to score | 69 flights, too few to score | 31 flights, too few to score | 41 flights, too few to score | 81 flights, too few to score | 40 flights, too few to score |
| 8 PM–9 PM | 56.6% on time288 flights | 61.3% on time189 flights | 71.1% on time207 flights | 61.5% on time335 flights | 56.8% on time292 flights | 65.1% on time181 flights | 52.1% on time330 flights |
| 9 PM–10 PM | 74 flights, too few to score | 56 flights, too few to score | 58 flights, too few to score | 64 flights, too few to score | 62 flights, too few to score | 76 flights, too few to score | 65 flights, too few to score |
| 10 PM–11 PM | 74.6% on time171 flights | 84.4% on time155 flights | 81.5% on time151 flights | 67.1% on time175 flights | 73.1% on time175 flights | 74.3% on time157 flights | 62.1% on time190 flights |
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 86.8% on time from 678 flights
- 6 AM: 85.6% on time from 762 flights
- 7 AM: 77.3% on time from 2,126 flights
- 8 AM: 82.8% on time from 887 flights
- 9 AM: 79.6% on time from 874 flights
- 10 AM: 75.7% on time from 491 flights
- 11 AM: 80.8% on time from 2,070 flights
- 12 PM: 83.4% on time from 1,138 flights
- 1 PM: 76.0% on time from 1,067 flights
- 2 PM: 72.6% on time from 1,249 flights
- 3 PM: 68.6% on time from 1,170 flights
- 4 PM: 67.8% on time from 1,380 flights
- 5 PM: 62.7% on time from 1,010 flights
- 6 PM: 62.3% on time from 1,503 flights
- 7 PM: 57.2% on time from 353 flights
- 8 PM: 59.7% on time from 1,822 flights
- 9 PM: 53.6% on time from 455 flights
- 10 PM: 73.4% on time from 1,174 flights
- 11 PM: 59.7% on time from 125 flights
Why ATL → DFW runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
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 ATL → DFW. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on ATL → DFW, at 40.7%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 81.2% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 60.5%.
How this route holds up in bad weather
July 2023 – July 2026
The harder-hit end is DFW, where the flight lands. Its figure counts departures from DFW, so it says more about how that airport copes than about this route. Bad weather cancels 7.0 times the normal rate at DFW against 3.3 times at ATL. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: ATL 3.4% against 1.0%, DFW 10.4% against 1.5%. Flights that did leave DFW in bad weather arrived on time 56.4% of the time, against 74.4% in normal hours.
Bad weather and normal hours at the airports
Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026| Departures from | ATL | DFW |
|---|---|---|
| Cancelled in bad weather | 3.4% | 10.4% |
| Cancelled in normal hours | 1.0% | 1.5% |
| Arrived on time, bad weather | 66.5% | 56.4% |
| Arrived on time, normal hours | 80.2% | 74.4% |
| Departures in bad weather | 105,854 | 72,822 |
Of the carriers on this route, American Airlines (2.4% cancelled against 3.4% for the other carriers at ATL) cancelled the fewest departures from ATL in bad weather and Frontier Airlines (5.0% cancelled against 3.8% for the other carriers at ATL) the most. One more carrier flies this route but has too few bad-weather departures from ATL to compare.
This route’s airlines in bad weather at ATL
All departures from ATL| Airline | Bad-weather departures | Cancelled | Other carriers |
|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 2,658 | 2.4%below the others | 3.4% |
| Delta Air Lines | 73,919 | 3.5%about level | 3.6% |
| Spirit Airlines | 2,965 | 3.9%above the others | 3.2% |
| Frontier Airlines | 4,928 | 5.0%above the others | 3.8% |
These are airport figures, not route figures: every scheduled departure from ATL and DFW, to any destination, in hours the weather report called bad. The airline rows count each carrier’s departures from ATL on every route.
Weather source and limits. In full: ATL (airlines), DFW, What Weather Costs Each Airport, Who Cancels More When the Weather Turns, Airports That Change Places When Weather Turns.
Airlines on this route
Carriers with at least 200 flights, by the airline that operated each one.
| Carrier | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Severe |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 8,630 | 73.8% | 1.60% | -1 min | 8.2% |
| American Airlines | 8,144 | 75.8% | 2.50% | -5 min | 10.6% |
| Frontier Airlines | 2,002 | 58.2% | 2.40% | 6 min | 18.7% |
| Spirit Airlines | 1,336 | 69.9% | 2.17% | -1 min | 11.1% |
| Envoy Air | 207 | 77.6% | 1.93% | -8 min | 6.5% |
Delta Air Lines flew 42.5% of the 20,319 flights listed.
Envoy Air arrived on time 19.4 percentage points more often than Frontier Airlines on this route.
Other ways to fly Atlanta to Dallas–Fort Worth
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ATL→DFW this route Atlanta to Dallas–Fort Worth | 20,334 | 72.8% | 2.09% | -2 min | 47 |
| ATL→DAL Atlanta to Dallas | 10,751 | 79.6% | 1.25% | -6 min | 69 |
ATL → DAL is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 79.6% on time, against 72.8% for ATL → DFW.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| DL921 Delta Air Lines | 1:41 PM | 1,125 | 75.1% |
| AA1567 American Airlines | 7:15 AM | 1,119 | 79.9% |
| DL818 Delta Air Lines | 10:43 PM | 1,100 | 74.9% |
| AA2770 American Airlines | 6:00 AM | 1,046 | 89.1% |
| DL374 Delta Air Lines | 3:36 PM | 1,039 | 69.7% |
| DL839 Delta Air Lines | 7:25 AM | 1,037 | 76.4% |
| DL31 Delta Air Lines | 8:55 PM | 1,024 | 65.7% |
| DL961 Delta Air Lines | 9:00 AM | 983 | 83.2% |
| DL414 Delta Air Lines | 11:28 AM | 760 | 80.3% |
| F93021 Frontier Airlines | 10:54 AM | 695 | 64.4% |
AA2770 (6:00 AM) arrived on time 89.1% of the time, 24.7 points more often than F93021 (10:54 AM) at 64.4%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 9.0 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 71.4%
- Feb: 80.9%
- Mar: 72.4%
- Apr: 70.4%
- May: 61.6%
- Jun: 66.0%
- Jul: 63.9%
- Aug: 73.8%
- Sep: 80.8%
- Oct: 81.0%
- Nov: 79.5%
- Dec: 76.2%
May is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 19.4 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 69.9% from 577 flights
- August 2023: 73.6% from 580 flights
- September 2023: 81.1% from 522 flights
- October 2023: 79.6% from 540 flights
- November 2023: 82.9% from 538 flights
- December 2023: 85.2% from 521 flights
- January 2024: 70.1% from 476 flights
- February 2024: 82.4% from 467 flights
- March 2024: 68.9% from 555 flights
- April 2024: 66.3% from 530 flights
- May 2024: 51.2% from 551 flights
- June 2024: 73.0% from 562 flights
- July 2024: 58.1% from 582 flights
- August 2024: 75.1% from 593 flights
- September 2024: 79.7% from 548 flights
- October 2024: 86.6% from 576 flights
- November 2024: 82.3% from 547 flights
- December 2024: 69.5% from 536 flights
- January 2025: 71.2% from 535 flights
- February 2025: 77.1% from 473 flights
- March 2025: 71.2% from 560 flights
- April 2025: 67.7% from 541 flights
- May 2025: 62.3% from 567 flights
- June 2025: 57.5% from 578 flights
- July 2025: 65.4% from 590 flights
- August 2025: 72.7% from 552 flights
- September 2025: 81.7% from 544 flights
- October 2025: 76.8% from 576 flights
- November 2025: 73.2% from 553 flights
- December 2025: 74.2% from 574 flights
- January 2026: 72.7% from 555 flights
- February 2026: 83.3% from 502 flights
- March 2026: 76.8% from 587 flights
- April 2026: 76.8% from 561 flights
- May 2026: 70.9% from 563 flights
- June 2026: 67.5% from 541 flights
- July 2026: 61.8% from 581 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 73.9% against 72.0% in the 12 months before — improving by 1.9 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 20,334 ATL → DFW flight records from the US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, covering July 2023 – July 2026. Late means 15 or more minutes past scheduled arrival; cancelled and diverted flights are left out of on-time rates.
Full methodology · Data sources · Report a problem
Related research: How Long a Layover Needs to Be · Two Airlines on One Route · Best Time of Day to Fly From Major US Airports
Analysis last recomputed