Route profile
BWI→ORD
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Baltimore to Chicago, 622 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 42% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 8,342 flights. How this is calculated
BWI → ORD arrives on time 79.2% of the time; the return trip, ORD → BWI, arrives on time 75.9% of the time, a 3.4-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
BWI → ORD spends 31.9 minutes on the ground on a 622-mile trip: 15.2 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at BWI and 16.8 minutes from touchdown to gate at ORD.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where BWI to ORD differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
BWI to ORD struggles most at 6 PM: 57.1% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 10.8 points behind the 67.9% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 11.5 points.
BWI to ORD is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 1 PM: 87.9% arrive on time, 9.5 points ahead of the 78.4% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 10.8 points.
BWI to ORD holds up on Sundays better than routes of similar length do: 77.7% on time to their 75.0%, a 2.7 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 2.9 points.
May is kinder to BWI to ORD than to routes of similar length: 79.9% on time against 74.7%, 5.2 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 4.7 points.
In January, BWI to ORD runs 3.8 points below routes of similar length, 75.6% on time to 79.4%.
BWI to ORD against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 6 PM departures | 57.1% | routes of similar length | 67.9% | −10.8 pts | 422 here, 129,299 there |
| Hour: 1 PM departures | 87.9% | routes of similar length | 78.4% | +9.5 pts | 132 here, 125,288 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 77.7% | routes of similar length | 75.0% | +2.7 pts | 1,194 here, 303,567 there |
| Month: May | 79.9% | routes of similar length | 74.7% | +5.2 pts | 728 here, 174,224 there |
| Month: January | 75.6% | routes of similar length | 79.4% | −3.8 pts | 517 here, 149,097 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 622 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.
Why BWI → ORD flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
BWI → ORD cancelled 138 of 8,342 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 60. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 50.7% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 119 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 138 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.
70 cancellations, 50.7% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
36 cancellations, 26.1% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
32 cancellations, 23.2% 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.
138 coded cancellations were recorded on BWI → ORD; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
42 min late
against a median of 7 min early
Percentiles over 8,342 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at ORD after arriving from BWI.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 36% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 20% | High risk |
| 60 min | 13% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 7.3% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.7% | 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 1.65% of the time and diverts 0.26% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 8,182 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 42 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 8,342 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
BWI → ORD flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 89.6% of the time, against 62.7% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 26.9 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 90.3% on time from 129 flights
- 6 AM: 91.2% on time from 1,517 flights
- 7 AM: 85.8% on time from 509 flights
- 8 AM: 88.3% on time from 396 flights
- 9 AM: too few flights to score
- 10 AM: 90.6% on time from 1,208 flights
- 11 AM: 82.0% on time from 1,096 flights
- 12 PM: 79.6% on time from 396 flights
- 1 PM: 87.9% on time from 132 flights
- 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 66.8% on time from 221 flights
- 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 62.0% on time from 1,200 flights
- 6 PM: 57.1% on time from 438 flights
- 7 PM: 65.3% on time from 258 flights
- 8 PM: 69.2% on time from 329 flights
- 9 PM: 68.0% on time from 312 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why BWI → ORD runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s 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 BWI → ORD. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on BWI → ORD, at 37.3%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 89.6% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 3,382 | 80.4% | 1.27% | -6 min | 6.9% |
| Envoy Air | 1,856 | 77.9% | 2.42% | -10 min | 8.3% |
| Southwest Airlines | 1,838 | 78.1% | 1.20% | -5 min | 6.0% |
| American Airlines | 562 | 85.5% | 0.53% | -14 min | 6.3% |
| Republic Airways | 437 | 82.7% | 4.12% | -11 min | 6.7% |
United Airlines flew 41.9% of the 8,075 flights listed. Republic Airways cancelled 4.12% of its flights here against 0.53% for American Airlines.
American Airlines arrived on time 7.6 percentage points more often than Envoy Air on this route.
Other ways to fly Washington to Chicago
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DCA→ORD Washington to Chicago | 20,170 | 79.0% | 2.47% | -8 min | 55 |
| BWI→ORD this route Baltimore to Chicago | 8,342 | 79.2% | 1.65% | -7 min | 63 |
BWI → ORD is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 79.2% on time, against 79.0% for DCA → ORD.
Flying to ORD from the Washington area? Compare BWI, DCA, IAD for ORD, with the same test for what counts as a real difference.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| UA590 United Airlines | 5:41 PM | 1,119 | 63.8% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 5.7 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 75.6%
- Feb: 86.0%
- Mar: 79.6%
- Apr: 81.2%
- May: 79.9%
- Jun: 76.6%
- Jul: 70.0%
- Aug: 77.0%
- Sep: 84.6%
- Oct: 83.3%
- Nov: 82.8%
- Dec: 77.4%
July is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 16.0 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 62.9% from 236 flights
- August 2023: 79.1% from 258 flights
- September 2023: 81.4% from 255 flights
- October 2023: 85.1% from 263 flights
- November 2023: 85.5% from 251 flights
- December 2023: 83.9% from 255 flights
- January 2024: 72.6% from 220 flights
- February 2024: 92.1% from 205 flights
- March 2024: 87.4% from 224 flights
- April 2024: 87.3% from 220 flights
- May 2024: 79.2% from 227 flights
- June 2024: 79.8% from 219 flights
- July 2024: 75.7% from 227 flights
- August 2024: 76.1% from 223 flights
- September 2024: 91.1% from 224 flights
- October 2024: 86.6% from 248 flights
- November 2024: 89.4% from 200 flights
- December 2024: 85.0% from 188 flights
- January 2025: 80.9% from 180 flights
- February 2025: 82.0% from 179 flights
- March 2025: 77.8% from 226 flights
- April 2025: 79.0% from 209 flights
- May 2025: 81.5% from 236 flights
- June 2025: 74.0% from 237 flights
- July 2025: 64.7% from 243 flights
- August 2025: 75.5% from 252 flights
- September 2025: 81.9% from 248 flights
- October 2025: 78.0% from 246 flights
- November 2025: 72.9% from 216 flights
- December 2025: 62.0% from 205 flights
- January 2026: 73.4% from 151 flights
- February 2026: 82.7% from 166 flights
- March 2026: 72.3% from 198 flights
- April 2026: 77.5% from 253 flights
- May 2026: 79.3% from 273 flights
- June 2026: 76.3% from 239 flights
- July 2026: 77.0% from 242 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 75.9% against 80.4% in the 12 months before — declining by 4.5 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 8,342 BWI → ORD 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