Route profile
CLE→IAD
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Cleveland to Washington, 288 miles.
Right now
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Route reliability
July 2023 – August 2026
Better than 86% of comparable major US routes (4,629 compared)
Calculated from 2,744 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
CLE → IAD arrives on time 88.2% of the time; the return trip, IAD → CLE, arrives on time 83.8% of the time, a 4.4-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
CLE → IAD spends 23.9 minutes on the ground on a 288-mile trip: 15.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at CLE and 8.1 minutes from touchdown to gate at IAD.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – August 2026
What stands out
This route stays close to typical even on its worst days, a smaller gap than 96% of 4,629 comparable routes.
A typical arrival is 8 min early, and the worst tenth are only 27 minutes worse than that.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – August 2026 · Ranked against every other route with the same kind of figure and at least 4,629 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where CLE to IAD differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – August 2026.
CLE to IAD is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 7 PM: 81.2% arrive on time, 11.5 points ahead of the 69.7% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 13.4 points.
CLE to IAD holds up on Fridays better than routes of similar length do: 88.5% on time to their 76.2%, a 12.3 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 12.3 points.
June is kinder to CLE to IAD than to routes of similar length: 88.8% on time against 73.8%, 15 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 16.1 points.
United Airlines does better on CLE to IAD than on its routes of similar length: 89.6% on time here, 78.2% there, 11.4 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 9.7 points.
CLE to IAD against comparable routes
July 2023 – August 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 7 PM departures | 81.2% | routes of similar length | 69.7% | +11.5 pts | 504 here, 43,340 there |
| Weekday: Friday | 88.5% | routes of similar length | 76.2% | +12.3 pts | 399 here, 118,011 there |
| Month: June | 88.8% | routes of similar length | 73.8% | +15.0 pts | 268 here, 62,089 there |
| Airline: United Airlines | 89.6% | routes of similar length | 78.2% | +11.4 pts | 2,031 here, 56,685 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 288 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 – August 2026
19 min late
against a median of 8 min early
Percentiles over 2,744 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at IAD after arriving from CLE.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 27% | High risk |
| 45 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 6.9% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.1% | Low 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 1.20% of the time and diverts 0.04% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 2,710 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 19 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 2,744 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
CLE → IAD flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 95.8% of the time, against 78.9% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 16.9 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 95.8% on time from 919 flights
- 7 AM to 9 AM: too few flights to score
- 10 AM: 94.4% on time from 522 flights
- 11 AM to 1 PM: too few flights to score
- 2 PM: 78.0% on time from 193 flights
- 3 PM: 78.9% on time from 342 flights
- 4 PM to 6 PM: too few flights to score
- 7 PM: 81.2% on time from 523 flights
- 8 PM: 77.4% on time from 161 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why CLE → IAD runs late
July 2023 – August 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
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for CLE → IAD. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on CLE → IAD, at 51.1%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 95.8% of the time and 3–6 PM departures 78.9%.
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 | 2,046 | 89.6% | 0.68% | -8 min | 3.8% |
| Republic Airways | 698 | 83.8% | 2.72% | -7 min | 5.3% |
United Airlines flew 74.6% of the 2,744 flights listed. Republic Airways cancelled 2.72% of its flights here against 0.68% for United Airlines.
United Airlines arrived on time 5.8 percentage points more often than Republic Airways on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 7.6 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 84.3%
- Feb: 90.8%
- Mar: 87.4%
- Apr: 91.5%
- May: 88.8%
- Jun: 88.8%
- Jul: 81.1%
- Aug: 86.9%
- Sep: 86.6%
- Oct: 96.0%
- Nov: 92.5%
- Dec: 83.6%
July is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 14.9 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – August 2026
- July 2023: too few flights to score (99)
- August 2023: too few flights to score (102)
- September 2023: too few flights to score (109)
- October 2023: too few flights to score (110)
- November 2023: too few flights to score (23)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (25)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (30)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (66)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (71)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (52)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (32)
- June 2024: too few flights to score (38)
- July 2024: too few flights to score (61)
- August 2024: too few flights to score (52)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (36)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (56)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (53)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (30)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (58)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (52)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (56)
- April 2025: too few flights to score (77)
- May 2025: 86.3% from 124 flights
- June 2025: too few flights to score (115)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (55)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (90)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (97)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (112)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (83)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (76)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (50)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (36)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (79)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (83)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (104)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (116)
- July 2026: 78.3% from 120 flights
- August 2026: too few flights to score (116)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-09 to 2026-08), on-time arrivals averaged 87.0% against 87.5% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 2,744 CLE → IAD flight records from the US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, covering July 2023 – August 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