Route profile
AUS→DTW
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Austin to Detroit, 1,149 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 71% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 4,074 flights. How this is calculated
AUS → DTW arrives on time 84.9% of the time; the return trip, DTW → AUS, arrives on time 76.8% of the time, an 8.1-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
AUS → DTW spends 26.1 minutes on the ground on a 1,149-mile trip: 15.9 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at AUS and 10.2 minutes from touchdown to gate at DTW.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where AUS to DTW differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
AUS to DTW is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 3 PM: 82.4% arrive on time, 12.1 points ahead of the 70.3% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 9.7 points.
AUS to DTW holds up on Sundays better than routes of similar length do: 83.6% on time to their 73.3%, a 10.3 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 8.8 points.
July is kinder to AUS to DTW than to routes of similar length: 81.8% on time against 68.5%, 13.3 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 12.1 points.
Delta Air Lines does better on AUS to DTW than on its routes of similar length: 85.3% on time here, 80.7% there, 4.6 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 3.8 points.
AUS to DTW against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 3 PM departures | 82.4% | routes of similar length | 70.3% | +12.1 pts | 187 here, 137,854 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 83.6% | routes of similar length | 73.3% | +10.3 pts | 584 here, 356,409 there |
| Month: July | 81.8% | routes of similar length | 68.5% | +13.3 pts | 490 here, 261,521 there |
| Airline: Delta Air Lines | 85.3% | routes of similar length | 80.7% | +4.6 pts | 3,917 here, 431,445 there |
Each comparison pools the flights of other routes, with this route’s own left out. Similar length means within 15% of this route’s 1,149 miles, with at least 5 such routes. A bucket is set against the most comparable group that has enough flights: similar length, then the same origin (at least 3 routes), then all other routes. Hours, weekdays and months appear only where both sides have 120 completed flights, and airlines where both have 600. The gap must be at least 2 points and 2 standard errors, and only the largest gap each way is kept per measure. These are differences in the flights counted, not causes.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
29 min late
against a median of 9 min early
Percentiles over 4,074 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at DTW after arriving from AUS.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 28% | High risk |
| 45 min | 15% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 9.8% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.0% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.4% | Low 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 0.98% of the time and diverts 0.22% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 4,025 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 29 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 4,074 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
AUS → DTW flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 94.0% of the time, against 77.3% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 16.7 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 94.9% on time from 1,125 flights
- 6 AM to 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 90.8% on time from 342 flights
- 9 AM: too few flights to score
- 10 AM: 82.4% on time from 134 flights
- 11 AM: 84.3% on time from 361 flights
- 12 PM: 86.9% on time from 218 flights
- 1 PM: 78.8% on time from 135 flights
- 2 PM: 77.7% on time from 513 flights
- 3 PM: 82.4% on time from 187 flights
- 4 PM: 76.1% on time from 804 flights
- 5 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why AUS → DTW runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
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 AUS → DTW. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
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 | 3,964 | 85.3% | 0.96% | -10 min | 5.8% |
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| DL1040 Delta Air Lines | 5:30 AM | 1,125 | 94.7% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Monday the least, a gap of 6.6 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 83.7%
- Feb: 88.9%
- Mar: 86.6%
- Apr: 83.7%
- May: 78.3%
- Jun: 79.3%
- Jul: 81.8%
- Aug: 84.5%
- Sep: 87.7%
- Oct: 87.5%
- Nov: 89.9%
- Dec: 89.9%
May is historically the weakest month and December the strongest, a spread of 11.6 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 79.2% from 145 flights
- August 2023: 74.2% from 128 flights
- September 2023: too few flights to score (114)
- October 2023: too few flights to score (117)
- November 2023: too few flights to score (104)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (98)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (79)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (70)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (112)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (117)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (119)
- June 2024: too few flights to score (114)
- July 2024: too few flights to score (115)
- August 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- September 2024: 85.0% from 120 flights
- October 2024: too few flights to score (115)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (105)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (106)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (77)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (78)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (112)
- April 2025: too few flights to score (116)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (118)
- June 2025: 82.4% from 126 flights
- July 2025: 82.2% from 132 flights
- August 2025: 91.5% from 131 flights
- September 2025: too few flights to score (116)
- October 2025: 81.8% from 121 flights
- November 2025: too few flights to score (107)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (107)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (77)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (78)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (113)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (116)
- May 2026: 90.4% from 123 flights
- June 2026: too few flights to score (115)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (117)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 87.6% against 84.1% in the 12 months before — improving by 3.5 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 4,074 AUS → DTW 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