Route profile
AUS→MDW
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Austin to Chicago, 972 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 67% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 4,488 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
AUS → MDW arrives on time 79.7% of the time; the return trip, MDW → AUS, arrives on time 77.6% of the time, a 2.0-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
AUS → MDW spends 18.0 minutes on the ground on a 972-mile trip: 12.9 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at AUS and 5.1 minutes from touchdown to gate at MDW.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where AUS to MDW differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
AUS to MDW is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 10 PM: 74.9% arrive on time, 10.3 points ahead of the 64.6% those routes manage at that hour.
AUS to MDW struggles most at 3 PM: 61.7% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 8.7 points behind the 70.4% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 11 points.
AUS to MDW holds up on Saturdays better than routes of similar length do: 86.6% on time to their 77.7%, a 8.9 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 7.5 points.
August is kinder to AUS to MDW than to routes of similar length: 83.5% on time against 74.6%, 8.9 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 7 points.
Southwest Airlines does better on AUS to MDW than on its routes of similar length: 79.7% on time here, 75.9% there, 3.8 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 2.3 points.
AUS to MDW against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 10 PM departures | 74.9% | routes of similar length | 64.6% | +10.3 pts | 167 here, 33,342 there |
| Hour: 3 PM departures | 61.7% | routes of similar length | 70.4% | −8.7 pts | 269 here, 182,817 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 86.6% | routes of similar length | 77.7% | +8.9 pts | 456 here, 401,769 there |
| Month: August | 83.5% | routes of similar length | 74.6% | +8.9 pts | 369 here, 240,684 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 79.7% | routes of similar length | 75.9% | +3.8 pts | 4,423 here, 751,792 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 972 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
37 min late
against a median of 3 min early
Percentiles over 4,488 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at MDW after arriving from AUS.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 41% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 19% | High risk |
| 60 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.5% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.0% | 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 1.00% of the time and diverts 0.45% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 4,423 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 37 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 4,488 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
AUS → MDW flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 92.6% of the time, against 62.7% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 29.9 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 93.1% on time from 354 flights
- 6 AM: 92.8% on time from 506 flights
- 7 AM: 91.3% on time from 165 flights
- 8 AM: too few flights to score
- 9 AM: 87.9% on time from 316 flights
- 10 AM: 91.2% on time from 301 flights
- 11 AM: 89.4% on time from 173 flights
- 12 PM: 83.2% on time from 304 flights
- 1 PM: 79.1% on time from 198 flights
- 2 PM: 74.6% on time from 397 flights
- 3 PM: 61.7% on time from 276 flights
- 4 PM: 68.3% on time from 203 flights
- 5 PM: too few flights to score
- 6 PM: 67.3% on time from 226 flights
- 7 PM: 65.5% on time from 258 flights
- 8 PM: 68.1% on time from 164 flights
- 9 PM: 71.7% on time from 273 flights
- 10 PM: 74.9% on time from 169 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why AUS → MDW 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 AUS → MDW. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on AUS → MDW, at 60.2%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 92.6% of the time and 3–6 PM departures 62.7%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 4,488 | 79.7% | 1.00% | -3 min | 5.7% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 13.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 83.5%
- Feb: 85.8%
- Mar: 76.3%
- Apr: 82.0%
- May: 75.2%
- Jun: 72.7%
- Jul: 68.2%
- Aug: 83.5%
- Sep: 84.6%
- Oct: 84.2%
- Nov: 86.3%
- Dec: 82.0%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 18.1 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 73.2% from 142 flights
- August 2023: 85.5% from 146 flights
- September 2023: 79.9% from 144 flights
- October 2023: 80.1% from 151 flights
- November 2023: 88.6% from 123 flights
- December 2023: 88.6% from 127 flights
- January 2024: too few flights to score (107)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (96)
- March 2024: 83.8% from 122 flights
- April 2024: 79.0% from 138 flights
- May 2024: 71.4% from 145 flights
- June 2024: 78.8% from 139 flights
- July 2024: 68.5% from 145 flights
- August 2024: 81.7% from 121 flights
- September 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- October 2024: 89.0% from 136 flights
- November 2024: too few flights to score (112)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (118)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (91)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (86)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (111)
- April 2025: 86.6% from 127 flights
- May 2025: 78.2% from 135 flights
- June 2025: 74.6% from 128 flights
- July 2025: 69.5% from 133 flights
- August 2025: too few flights to score (107)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (104)
- October 2025: 83.8% from 136 flights
- November 2025: too few flights to score (103)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (104)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (88)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (87)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (106)
- April 2026: 80.5% from 124 flights
- May 2026: 76.3% from 131 flights
- June 2026: 64.0% from 129 flights
- July 2026: 60.9% from 130 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 76.6% against 81.7% in the 12 months before — declining by 5.1 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 4,488 AUS → MDW 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