Route profile
CLT→MDW
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Charlotte to Chicago, 584 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 47% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 2,394 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
CLT → MDW arrives on time 74.9% of the time; the return trip, MDW → CLT, arrives on time 73.8% of the time.
CLT → MDW spends 23.2 minutes on the ground on a 584-mile trip: 18.0 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at CLT and 5.1 minutes from touchdown to gate at MDW.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Which day you fly matters unusually much here, a wider weekday spread than 92% of 4,467 comparable routes.
79.8% on time on a typical Tuesday, against 65.7% on a Sunday.
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 4,467 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where CLT to MDW differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
CLT to MDW struggles most at 8 PM: 54.5% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 13.2 points behind the 67.7% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 12.9 points.
Saturday is the day CLT to MDW slips furthest against routes of similar length, 69.9% on time where they average 79.8%, 9.9 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 9.2 points.
In May, CLT to MDW runs 11.9 points below routes of similar length, 63.5% on time to 75.4%. Against all other routes the gap is 11.8 points.
Southwest Airlines’ flights on CLT to MDW arrive on time 74.9% of the time, 3 points below the 77.9% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 2.5 points.
CLT to MDW against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 8 PM departures | 54.5% | routes of similar length | 67.7% | −13.2 pts | 244 here, 88,545 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 69.9% | routes of similar length | 79.8% | −9.9 pts | 209 here, 238,421 there |
| Month: May | 63.5% | routes of similar length | 75.4% | −11.9 pts | 189 here, 163,276 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 74.9% | routes of similar length | 77.9% | −3.0 pts | 2,353 here, 460,276 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 584 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
41 min late
against a median of 1 min early
Percentiles over 2,394 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at MDW after arriving from CLT.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 47% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 24% | High risk |
| 60 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.1% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.8% | 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 1.04% of the time and diverts 0.67% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 2,353 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 41 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 2,394 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
CLT → MDW flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 87.7% of the time, against 60.6% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 27.1 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 92.9% on time from 299 flights
- 7 AM: 86.6% on time from 461 flights
- 8 AM: 82.0% on time from 164 flights
- 9 AM to 12 PM: too few flights to score
- 1 PM: 75.4% on time from 138 flights
- 2 PM to 5 PM: too few flights to score
- 6 PM: 62.9% on time from 248 flights
- 7 PM: 63.0% on time from 398 flights
- 8 PM: 54.5% on time from 247 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why CLT → MDW 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
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 CLT → MDW. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on CLT → MDW, at 50.2%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 87.7% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 60.6%.
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 | 2,394 | 74.9% | 1.04% | -1 min | 6.1% |
Other ways to fly Charlotte to Chicago
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CLT→ORD Charlotte to Chicago | 13,785 | 74.2% | 1.65% | -5 min | 53 |
| CLT→MDW this route Charlotte to Chicago | 2,394 | 74.9% | 1.04% | -1 min | 65 |
CLT → MDW is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 74.9% on time, against 74.2% for CLT → ORD.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 14.1 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 77.4%
- Feb: 83.8%
- Mar: 75.8%
- Apr: 77.5%
- May: 63.5%
- Jun: 69.9%
- Jul: 67.6%
- Aug: 74.4%
- Sep: 86.4%
- Oct: 80.1%
- Nov: 78.4%
- Dec: 71.7%
May is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 22.9 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 76.4% against 73.1% in the 12 months before — improving by 3.3 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 2,394 CLT → MDW 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