CLE → ORD Flight Reliability

Right now

Origin · CLENo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 08:51 UTC

Cleveland airport profile →

Destination · ORDNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 08:51 UTC

Chicago airport profile →

Route reliability

July 2023 – July 2026

Route Reliability Score

59/ 100Fair

Better than 33% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)

Calculated from 11,745 flights. How this is calculated

On-time arrivals

80.0%

9,168 of 11,464

Cancellation rate

2.28%

268 cancelled

Median arrival delay

-7 min

Average 8.0 min

Severe delays

7.8%

60+ minutes late

Delay when late

82 min

Average, when 15+ min late

Flights analyzed

11,745

5 carriers

CLE → ORD arrives on time 80.0% of the time; the return trip, ORD → CLE, arrives on time 74.5% of the time, a 5.5-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.

CLE → ORD spends 34.2 minutes on the ground on a 316-mile trip: 16.4 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at CLE and 17.8 minutes from touchdown to gate at ORD.

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026

Why CLE → ORD flights are cancelled

July 2023 – July 2026

CLE → ORD cancelled 268 of 11,745 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 44. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 61.6% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 71 scheduled flights.

Share of cancellations

Weather61.6%

Air traffic20.9%

Airline17.5%

Security0.0%

Of 268 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.

What each reason means

Extreme weather1 in 71

Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.

165 cancellations, 61.6% of the total.

The air traffic system1 in 210

Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.

56 cancellations, 20.9% of the total.

The airline1 in 250

Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.

47 cancellations, 17.5% of the total.

Security—

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.

268 coded cancellations were recorded on CLE → ORD; the section appears from 50.

When it goes wrong

July 2023 – July 2026

One arrival in ten is worse than

43 min late

against a median of 7 min early

Arrived an hour or more late7.8%

Typical delay when late82 min

Cancelled2.28%

Landed somewhere else0.11%

Percentiles over 11,745 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.

Will your connection be tight enough?

Layovers at ORD after arriving from CLE.

Connection buffer and chance of missing by layover length, CLE → ORD arrivals
Connection time	Chance of missing	Reads as
30 min	35%	Likely to miss
45 min	19%	High risk
60 min	13%	Some risk
90 min	7.7%	Some risk
120 min	5.1%	Some 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 2.28% of the time and diverts 0.11% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.

Chance of missing is the share of 11,464 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 43 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 11,745 operations.

Any other layover length: connection checker.

Best time to fly

CLE → ORD flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 88.5% of the time, against 61.6% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 26.9 percentage points.

By day and hour

On-time arrival rate for each weekday and scheduled departure hour, in local time at the departure airport (CLE).

Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 10.1 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 2.0 points.

On-time arrival rate for CLE to ORD by weekday and scheduled departure hour, local time. Each button reads out one slot.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
6 AM–7 AM
7 AM–8 AM
8 AM–9 AM
9 AM–10 AM
10 AM–11 AM
11 AM–12 PM
12 PM–1 PM
1 PM–2 PM
2 PM–3 PM
3 PM–4 PM
4 PM–5 PM
5 PM–6 PM
6 PM–7 PM
7 PM–8 PM

On-time rate, % · stronger color, fewer on time

50–59
60–69
70–79
80–89
90–99

Fewer than 120 flights, not scored

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · On time is arrival within 15 minutes of schedule. Cells round to whole percentages; the table shows one decimal.

No slot is named best or worst: too few reach 500 flights. Departures before 6 AM and after 8 PM (632 flights) are not drawn: no slot in those hours has enough flights to score.

View as tableHide table

On-time arrival rate (%) with flights beneath, by scheduled departure hour and weekday for CLE to ORD. A dash means fewer than 120 flights, which are not scored.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
6 AM–7 AM	93.5% on time221 flights	90.9% on time215 flights	91.7% on time219 flights	91.8% on time219 flights	88.0% on time223 flights	87.2% on time193 flights	90.0% on time216 flights
7 AM–8 AM	92.5% on time192 flights	91.6% on time180 flights	91.6% on time180 flights	88.0% on time184 flights	89.5% on time192 flights	84.3% on time187 flights	87.7% on time188 flights
8 AM–9 AM	84.0% on time128 flights	80.9% on time138 flights	84.0% on time125 flights	84.2% on time134 flights	82.0% on time130 flights	109 flights, too few to score	78.5% on time123 flights
9 AM–10 AM	88 flights, too few to score	85 flights, too few to score	92 flights, too few to score	89 flights, too few to score	87 flights, too few to score	70 flights, too few to score	91 flights, too few to score
10 AM–11 AM	88 flights, too few to score	81 flights, too few to score	85 flights, too few to score	98 flights, too few to score	94 flights, too few to score	90 flights, too few to score	97 flights, too few to score
11 AM–12 PM	86.2% on time140 flights	84.9% on time149 flights	89.9% on time140 flights	83.5% on time135 flights	84.8% on time136 flights	93.4% on time127 flights	87.0% on time134 flights
12 PM–1 PM	30 flights, too few to score	32 flights, too few to score	29 flights, too few to score	33 flights, too few to score	33 flights, too few to score	30 flights, too few to score	31 flights, too few to score
1 PM–2 PM	14 flights, too few to score	8 flights, too few to score	14 flights, too few to score	16 flights, too few to score	14 flights, too few to score	10 flights, too few to score	19 flights, too few to score
2 PM–3 PM	81.9% on time223 flights	81.6% on time210 flights	83.6% on time216 flights	81.1% on time215 flights	73.7% on time214 flights	80.6% on time173 flights	74.7% on time186 flights
3 PM–4 PM	37 flights, too few to score	27 flights, too few to score	31 flights, too few to score	36 flights, too few to score	38 flights, too few to score	35 flights, too few to score	36 flights, too few to score
4 PM–5 PM	79.0% on time127 flights	81.8% on time135 flights	75.8% on time129 flights	75.0% on time126 flights	74.6% on time132 flights	106 flights, too few to score	72.9% on time120 flights
5 PM–6 PM	71.2% on time120 flights	67.2% on time126 flights	65.6% on time128 flights	118 flights, too few to score	62.1% on time122 flights	93 flights, too few to score	59.3% on time121 flights
6 PM–7 PM	63.0% on time120 flights	113 flights, too few to score	111 flights, too few to score	115 flights, too few to score	67.8% on time122 flights	69.4% on time124 flights	52.6% on time120 flights
7 PM–8 PM	67.0% on time121 flights	82 flights, too few to score	83 flights, too few to score	59.3% on time123 flights	56.5% on time121 flights	52 flights, too few to score	62.9% on time121 flights

By departure window

5–9 AM88.5%

9 AM–12 PM85.8%

12–3 PM80.0%

3–6 PM72.5%

6–9 PM61.6%

9 PM–5 AM—

By departure hour

12 AM

3 AM

6 AM

9 AM

12 PM

3 PM

6 PM

9 PM

Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.

Why CLE → ORD runs late

July 2023 – July 2026

Air traffic control36.6%

airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control

Late-arriving aircraft30.6%

the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late

The airline29.1%

crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control

Weather3.6%

weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically

Security0.1%

screening or terminal security incidents

Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for CLE → ORD. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.

How this route holds up in bad weather

July 2023 – July 2026

The harder-hit end is ORD, where the flight lands. Its figure counts departures from ORD, so it says more about how that airport copes than about this route. Bad weather cancels 5.5 times the normal rate at ORD against 2.3 times at CLE. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: CLE 3.8% against 1.6%, ORD 6.5% against 1.2%. Flights that did leave ORD in bad weather arrived on time 55.7% of the time, against 77.1% in normal hours.

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026

Departures from CLE and ORD in hours of bad weather and in normal hours
Departures from	CLE	ORD
Cancelled in bad weather	3.8%	6.5%
Cancelled in normal hours	1.6%	1.2%
Arrived on time, bad weather	69.9%	55.7%
Arrived on time, normal hours	82.6%	77.1%
Departures in bad weather	17,314	104,455

Of the carriers on this route, United Airlines (2.0% cancelled against 4.2% for the other carriers at CLE) cancelled the fewest departures from CLE in bad weather and Republic Airways (7.7% cancelled against 3.3% for the other carriers at CLE) the most. One more carrier flies this route but has too few bad-weather departures from CLE to compare.

This route’s airlines in bad weather at CLE

All departures from CLE

Cancellation rates in bad weather at CLE for the airlines that fly CLE to ORD, against the other carriers at CLE in the same months
Airline	Bad-weather departures	Cancelled	Other carriers
United Airlines	3,762	2.0%below the others	4.2%
SkyWest Airlines	744	3.0%about level	4.2%
American Airlines	1,937	3.2%about level	3.7%
Republic Airways	2,064	7.7%above the others	3.3%

These are airport figures, not route figures: every scheduled departure from CLE and ORD, to any destination, in hours the weather report called bad. The airline rows count each carrier’s departures from CLE on every route.

Weather source and limits. In full: CLE (airlines), ORD, What Weather Costs Each Airport, Who Cancels More When the Weather Turns, Airports That Change Places When Weather Turns.

Airlines on this route

Carriers with at least 200 flights, by the airline that operated each one.

Airlines on this route
Carrier	Flights	On time	Cancelled	Median delay	Severe
United Airlines	6,065	82.9%	1.19%	-7 min	5.8%
Envoy Air	1,971	76.5%	2.94%	-6 min	9.0%
SkyWest Airlines	1,400	68.6%	3.86%	-2 min	15.2%
American Airlines	1,198	81.4%	3.34%	-11 min	8.1%
Republic Airways	1,111	82.5%	3.96%	-11 min	6.9%

United Airlines flew 51.6% of the 11,745 flights listed. Republic Airways cancelled 3.96% of its flights here against 1.19% for United Airlines.

United Airlines arrived on time 14.3 percentage points more often than SkyWest Airlines on this route.

Flights on this route

Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.

Flights on this route
Flight	Scheduled	Operations	On time
UA1673 United Airlines	6:00 PM	860	60.6%
UA609 United Airlines	11:00 AM	826	90.0%

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

Mon81.8%

Tue81.7%

Wed81.2%

Thu78.9%

Fri77.7%

Sat82.2%

Sun76.8%

Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 5.4 percentage points.

By month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

July is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 13.4 percentage points.

Reliability over time

July 2023 – July 2026

24

25

26

Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 75.4% against 81.9% in the 12 months before — declining by 6.5 percentage points.

Data and methodology

Calculated by FlyerIntel from 11,745 CLE → 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

Analysis last recomputed September 26, 2026

CLE airport ORD airport Return direction ORD → CLE

CLE→ORD

Right now

Route reliability

Why CLE → ORD flights are cancelled

Share of cancellations

What each reason means

When it goes wrong

Will your connection be tight enough?

Best time to fly

By day and hour

By departure window

By departure hour

Why CLE → ORD runs late

How this route holds up in bad weather

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

This route’s airlines in bad weather at CLE

Airlines on this route

Flights on this route

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

By month

Reliability over time

Data and methodology