Route profile
CLE→BWI
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Cleveland to Baltimore, 314 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 90% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,044 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
CLE → BWI arrives on time 86.1% of the time; the return trip, BWI → CLE, arrives on time 72.9% of the time, a 13.2-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
CLE → BWI spends 17.7 minutes on the ground on a 314-mile trip: 11.9 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at CLE and 5.8 minutes from touchdown to gate at BWI.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where CLE to BWI differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
CLE to BWI is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 3 PM: 87.3% arrive on time, 11.5 points ahead of the 75.8% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 14.6 points.
CLE to BWI holds up on Fridays better than routes of similar length do: 85.9% on time to their 77.2%, a 8.7 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 9.7 points.
April is kinder to CLE to BWI than to routes of similar length: 93.1% on time against 80.8%, 12.3 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 13.2 points.
Southwest Airlines does better on CLE to BWI than on its routes of similar length: 86.4% on time here, 81.4% there, 5 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 9 points.
CLE to BWI against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 3 PM departures | 87.3% | routes of similar length | 75.8% | +11.5 pts | 158 here, 55,979 there |
| Weekday: Friday | 85.9% | routes of similar length | 77.2% | +8.7 pts | 440 here, 140,067 there |
| Month: April | 93.1% | routes of similar length | 80.8% | +12.3 pts | 259 here, 75,605 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 86.4% | routes of similar length | 81.4% | +5.0 pts | 2,966 here, 294,819 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 314 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.
CLE to BWI in context
This route against CLE and BWI as a whole, against similar routes from CLE, and against its own first year, July 2023 – July 2026.
Leaving CLE, CLE to BWI is on time 86.1% of the time, 5.3 points better than the airport’s other departures at CLE (80.8%, from 121,151 flights).
Arriving at BWI, CLE to BWI is on time 86.1% of the time, 6.2 points better than the airport’s other arrivals at BWI (79.9%, from 291,201 flights).
CLE to BWI cancels 0.95% of its scheduled flights, 1.59 points below the 2.54% on 4 other routes from CLE of similar length (within 15% of 314 miles).
Of the 2,833 flights scheduled in hours with at least 120 flights, 5 AM is the busiest hour with 662 (23.4%), 97.3% of them on time, and 12 PM the quietest with 120 (4.2%), 88.3% of them on time.
Airport comparisons take this route’s flights out of the airport total. Length means within 15% of this route’s distance, with at least 3 other routes from the same origin. On-time gaps are stated at 2 points and 2 standard errors, cancellation gaps at 0.5 points and 2 standard errors, and every group needs 750 flights. These are differences in the flights counted, not causes.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
24 min late
against a median of 9 min early
Percentiles over 3,044 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at BWI after arriving from CLE.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 27% | High risk |
| 45 min | 13% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 8.4% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.0% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.3% | 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 0.95% of the time and diverts 0.13% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,011 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 24 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,044 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
CLE → BWI flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 95.6% of the time, against 72.8% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 22.8 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 97.3% on time from 662 flights
- 6 AM: 94.1% on time from 409 flights
- 7 AM to 9 AM: too few flights to score
- 10 AM: 93.0% on time from 215 flights
- 11 AM: 89.5% on time from 296 flights
- 12 PM: 88.3% on time from 120 flights
- 1 PM: 78.1% on time from 138 flights
- 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 87.3% on time from 161 flights
- 4 PM: 71.9% on time from 312 flights
- 5 PM: 69.6% on time from 389 flights
- 6 PM: 73.6% on time from 131 flights
- 7 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why CLE → BWI 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 CLE → BWI. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on CLE → BWI, at 46.9%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 95.6% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 72.8%.
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 | 2,997 | 86.4% | 0.90% | -9 min | 3.9% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 5.1 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 85.7%
- Feb: 91.0%
- Mar: 85.2%
- Apr: 93.1%
- May: 86.8%
- Jun: 83.2%
- Jul: 79.7%
- Aug: 83.3%
- Sep: 91.1%
- Oct: 86.4%
- Nov: 90.1%
- Dec: 82.0%
July is historically the weakest month and April the strongest, a spread of 13.4 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 85.2% against 87.9% in the 12 months before — declining by 2.7 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,044 CLE → BWI 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