Route profile
CLE→DEN
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Cleveland to Denver, 1,201 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 81% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 5,723 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
CLE → DEN arrives on time 82.3% of the time; the return trip, DEN → CLE, arrives on time 76.1% of the time, a 6.2-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
CLE → DEN spends 25.2 minutes on the ground on a 1,201-mile trip: 13.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at CLE and 11.4 minutes from touchdown to gate at DEN.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route has stayed remarkably steady year over year, a smaller swing than 97% of 5,368 comparable routes.
82.3% on time over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), against 82.1% in the 12 months before (2024-08 to 2025-07), virtually unchanged.
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 5,368 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where CLE to DEN differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
CLE to DEN struggles most at 8 PM: 52.6% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 12.6 points behind the 65.2% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 14.8 points.
CLE to DEN is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 4 PM: 80.9% arrive on time, 11.9 points ahead of the 69.0% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 10.2 points.
CLE to DEN holds up on Sundays better than routes of similar length do: 82.2% on time to their 73.6%, a 8.6 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 7.4 points.
September is kinder to CLE to DEN than to routes of similar length: 91.6% on time against 81.6%, 10 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 9.3 points.
United Airlines does better on CLE to DEN than on its routes of similar length: 87.4% on time here, 81.5% there, 5.9 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 7.5 points.
CLE to DEN against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 8 PM departures | 52.6% | routes of similar length | 65.2% | −12.6 pts | 215 here, 92,699 there |
| Hour: 4 PM departures | 80.9% | routes of similar length | 69.0% | +11.9 pts | 1,202 here, 115,700 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 82.2% | routes of similar length | 73.6% | +8.6 pts | 865 here, 295,458 there |
| Month: September | 91.6% | routes of similar length | 81.6% | +10.0 pts | 477 here, 151,088 there |
| Airline: United Airlines | 87.4% | routes of similar length | 81.5% | +5.9 pts | 2,988 here, 277,265 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 1,201 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
34 min late
against a median of 9 min early
Percentiles over 5,723 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at DEN after arriving from CLE.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 31% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 17% | High risk |
| 60 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.4% | 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 0.51% of the time and diverts 0.35% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 5,674 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 34 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 5,723 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
CLE → DEN flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 91.5% of the time, against 58.2% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 33.3 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 93.8% on time from 469 flights
- 6 AM: 91.0% on time from 212 flights
- 7 AM: 93.3% on time from 241 flights
- 8 AM: 89.9% on time from 901 flights
- 9 AM: 88.3% on time from 257 flights
- 10 AM: 91.9% on time from 422 flights
- 11 AM: 87.2% on time from 432 flights
- 12 PM: 85.3% on time from 213 flights
- 1 PM: 86.0% on time from 196 flights
- 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 68.0% on time from 154 flights
- 4 PM: 80.9% on time from 1,212 flights
- 5 PM: 60.4% on time from 214 flights
- 6 PM: 58.0% on time from 223 flights
- 7 PM: 62.7% on time from 279 flights
- 8 PM: 52.6% on time from 220 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why CLE → DEN 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 → DEN. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on CLE → DEN, at 41.7%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 91.5% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 58.2%.
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 | 3,004 | 87.4% | 0.20% | -11 min | 3.9% |
| Southwest Airlines | 1,849 | 80.8% | 0.38% | -7 min | 5.1% |
| Frontier Airlines | 870 | 67.5% | 1.84% | -3 min | 13.0% |
United Airlines flew 52.5% of the 5,723 flights listed. Frontier Airlines cancelled 1.84% of its flights here against 0.20% for United Airlines.
United Airlines arrived on time 19.9 percentage points more often than Frontier Airlines on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| UA486 United Airlines | 4:30 PM | 920 | 83.9% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Saturday the least, a gap of 4.5 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 76.8%
- Feb: 84.8%
- Mar: 83.2%
- Apr: 82.2%
- May: 80.8%
- Jun: 74.5%
- Jul: 75.0%
- Aug: 81.0%
- Sep: 91.6%
- Oct: 87.6%
- Nov: 89.0%
- Dec: 85.4%
June is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 17.1 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 66.4% from 155 flights
- August 2023: 85.2% from 196 flights
- September 2023: 94.1% from 154 flights
- October 2023: 88.2% from 170 flights
- November 2023: 91.4% from 162 flights
- December 2023: 91.4% from 165 flights
- January 2024: 80.0% from 134 flights
- February 2024: 88.9% from 127 flights
- March 2024: 85.0% from 143 flights
- April 2024: 80.0% from 136 flights
- May 2024: 78.1% from 169 flights
- June 2024: 72.8% from 174 flights
- July 2024: 71.9% from 180 flights
- August 2024: 81.8% from 177 flights
- September 2024: 92.6% from 162 flights
- October 2024: 92.7% from 151 flights
- November 2024: 86.0% from 150 flights
- December 2024: 87.9% from 157 flights
- January 2025: 72.2% from 126 flights
- February 2025: too few flights to score (101)
- March 2025: 88.3% from 121 flights
- April 2025: 81.5% from 153 flights
- May 2025: 78.0% from 160 flights
- June 2025: 69.5% from 175 flights
- July 2025: 78.5% from 186 flights
- August 2025: 75.4% from 177 flights
- September 2025: 88.3% from 163 flights
- October 2025: 82.2% from 158 flights
- November 2025: 89.4% from 152 flights
- December 2025: 77.0% from 166 flights
- January 2026: 78.2% from 122 flights
- February 2026: too few flights to score (102)
- March 2026: 76.7% from 133 flights
- April 2026: 85.0% from 140 flights
- May 2026: 86.3% from 161 flights
- June 2026: 80.9% from 180 flights
- July 2026: 81.8% from 185 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 82.3% against 82.1% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 5,723 CLE → DEN 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