Route profile
BWI→PIT
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Baltimore to Pittsburgh, 210 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 3,282 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
BWI → PIT arrives on time 74.9% of the time; the return trip, PIT → BWI, arrives on time 86.6% of the time, an 11.7-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
BWI → PIT spends 19.5 minutes on the ground on a 210-mile trip: 14.2 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at BWI and 5.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at PIT.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Reliability here swings unusually widely by season, a wider month-to-month spread than 100% of 3,357 comparable routes.
87.4% on time in a typical February, against 55.1% in July.
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 3,357 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where BWI to PIT differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
BWI to PIT struggles most at 10 PM: 53.6% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 17.9 points behind the 71.5% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 18.1 points.
BWI to PIT is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 8 PM: 85.6% arrive on time, 17.6 points ahead of the 68.0% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 18.2 points.
Saturday is the day BWI to PIT slips furthest against routes of similar length, 71.8% on time where they average 80.6%, 8.8 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 7.3 points.
In July, BWI to PIT runs 15.6 points below routes of similar length, 55.1% on time to 70.7%. Against all other routes the gap is 14.6 points.
February is kinder to BWI to PIT than to routes of similar length: 87.4% on time against 81.3%, 6.1 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 6 points.
BWI to PIT against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 10 PM departures | 53.6% | routes of similar length | 71.5% | −17.9 pts | 444 here, 21,114 there |
| Hour: 8 PM departures | 85.6% | routes of similar length | 68.0% | +17.6 pts | 194 here, 36,744 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 71.8% | routes of similar length | 80.6% | −8.8 pts | 440 here, 76,442 there |
| Month: July | 55.1% | routes of similar length | 70.7% | −15.6 pts | 352 here, 69,191 there |
| Month: February | 87.4% | routes of similar length | 81.3% | +6.1 pts | 246 here, 47,468 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 210 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
44 min late
against a median of 2 min early
Percentiles over 3,282 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at PIT after arriving from BWI.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 46% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 24% | High risk |
| 60 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.8% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.5% | 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 1.37% of the time and diverts 0.00% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,237 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 44 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,282 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
BWI → PIT flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 89.3% of the time, against 60.6% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 28.7 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 9 AM: too few flights to score
- 10 AM: 88.6% on time from 583 flights
- 11 AM: 89.8% on time from 469 flights
- 12 PM to 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 74.1% on time from 313 flights
- 4 PM: 76.6% on time from 303 flights
- 5 PM: 68.9% on time from 255 flights
- 6 PM to 7 PM: too few flights to score
- 8 PM: 85.6% on time from 199 flights
- 9 PM: 67.5% on time from 459 flights
- 10 PM: 53.6% on time from 455 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why BWI → PIT 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 BWI → PIT. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on BWI → PIT, at 48.1%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 9 AM–12 PM departures arrived on time 89.3% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 60.6%.
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 | 3,282 | 74.9% | 1.37% | -2 min | 7.0% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 11.6 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 84.2%
- Feb: 87.4%
- Mar: 70.0%
- Apr: 82.0%
- May: 66.0%
- Jun: 63.1%
- Jul: 55.1%
- Aug: 74.9%
- Sep: 84.1%
- Oct: 80.8%
- Nov: 86.3%
- Dec: 73.1%
July is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 32.3 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 79.1% against 76.4% in the 12 months before — improving by 2.7 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,282 BWI → PIT 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