Route profile
CLT→DAL
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Charlotte to Dallas, 926 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 52% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 1,160 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
CLT → DAL arrives on time 74.5% of the time; the return trip, DAL → CLT, arrives on time 67.1% of the time, a 7.4-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
CLT → DAL spends 22.9 minutes on the ground on a 926-mile trip: 17.5 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at CLT and 5.4 minutes from touchdown to gate at DAL.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Reliability on this route has improved unusually sharply over the past year, a bigger swing than 94% of 5,368 comparable routes.
80.7% on time over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), against 69.3% in the 12 months before (2024-08 to 2025-07), a change of 11.4 points.
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 CLT to DAL differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
CLT to DAL struggles most at 5 PM: 59.1% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 8.8 points behind the 67.9% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 10.7 points.
In July, CLT to DAL runs 12.9 points below routes of similar length, 55.6% on time to 68.5%. Against all other routes the gap is 14.1 points.
CLT to DAL against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 5 PM departures | 59.1% | routes of similar length | 67.9% | −8.8 pts | 193 here, 173,942 there |
| Month: July | 55.6% | routes of similar length | 68.5% | −12.9 pts | 126 here, 319,992 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 926 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
45 min late
against a median of 2 min early
Percentiles over 1,160 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at DAL after arriving from CLT.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 45% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 24% | High risk |
| 60 min | 15% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.4% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 2.6% | 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 0.60% of the time and diverts 0.43% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 1,148 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 45 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 1,160 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
CLT → DAL flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 87.8% of the time, against 63.1% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 24.7 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 88.0% on time from 143 flights
- 7 AM to 9 AM: too few flights to score
- 10 AM: 70.6% on time from 120 flights
- 11 AM to 3 PM: too few flights to score
- 4 PM: 71.2% on time from 127 flights
- 5 PM: 59.1% on time from 194 flights
- 6 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why CLT → DAL 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
screening or terminal security incidents
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for CLT → DAL. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on CLT → DAL, at 49.2%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 87.8% of the time and 3–6 PM departures 63.1%.
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 | 1,160 | 74.5% | 0.60% | -2 min | 6.6% |
Other ways to fly Charlotte to Dallas–Fort Worth
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CLT→DFW Charlotte to Dallas–Fort Worth | 12,367 | 74.3% | 1.92% | -3 min | 54 |
| CLT→DAL this route Charlotte to Dallas | 1,160 | 74.5% | 0.60% | -2 min | 67 |
CLT → DAL is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 74.5% on time, against 74.3% for CLT → DFW.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 10.7 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 80.7% against 69.3% in the 12 months before — improving by 11.4 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 1,160 CLT → DAL 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