Route profile
CLT→ORD
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Charlotte to Chicago, 599 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 20% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 13,785 flights. How this is calculated
CLT → ORD arrives on time 74.2% of the time; the return trip, ORD → CLT, arrives on time 75.9% of the time.
CLT → ORD spends 35.6 minutes on the ground on a 599-mile trip: 20.0 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at CLT and 15.6 minutes from touchdown to gate at ORD.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
The airline matters unusually much on this route, a wider carrier-to-carrier gap than 99% of 2,692 comparable routes.
Republic Airways arrived on time 84.1% of the time, against 54.9% for Frontier Airlines, flying the exact same route.
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 2,692 in the comparison.
Why CLT → ORD flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
CLT → ORD cancelled 228 of 13,785 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 60. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 77.2% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 78 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 228 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
176 cancellations, 77.2% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
33 cancellations, 14.5% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
19 cancellations, 8.3% of the total.
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.
228 coded cancellations were recorded on CLT → ORD; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
59 min late
against a median of 5 min early
CLT → ORD has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 5 min early, but the worst tenth are 64 minutes worse than that. If the trip has something unmissable at the end of it, the median is the wrong number to plan against.
Percentiles over 13,785 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at ORD after arriving from CLT.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 42% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 25% | High risk |
| 60 min | 17% | High risk |
| 90 min | 9.8% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 6.5% | 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 1.65% of the time and diverts 0.30% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 13,515 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 59 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 13,785 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
CLT → ORD flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 85.6% of the time, against 60.5% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 25.1 percentage points.
By day and hour
On-time arrival rate for each weekday and scheduled departure hour, in local time at the departure airport (CLT).
Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 11.1 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 2.7 points.
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On-time rate, % · stronger color, fewer on time
- 40–49
- 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 11 PM (29 flights) are not drawn: no slot in those hours has enough flights to score.
View as tableHide table
| Hour | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 AM–7 AM | 87.1% on time150 flights | 88.7% on time155 flights | 89.6% on time155 flights | 93.2% on time149 flights | 91.0% on time147 flights | 87.3% on time145 flights | 88.0% on time160 flights |
| 7 AM–8 AM | 84.2% on time140 flights | 84.1% on time142 flights | 86.9% on time147 flights | 80.9% on time141 flights | 76.3% on time139 flights | 84.0% on time133 flights | 80.6% on time136 flights |
| 8 AM–9 AM | 40 flights, too few to score | 39 flights, too few to score | 35 flights, too few to score | 43 flights, too few to score | 41 flights, too few to score | 39 flights, too few to score | 40 flights, too few to score |
| 9 AM–10 AM | 86.8% on time168 flights | 89.5% on time152 flights | 88.7% on time155 flights | 84.8% on time172 flights | 88.0% on time172 flights | 81.9% on time160 flights | 81.1% on time166 flights |
| 10 AM–11 AM | 84.1% on time155 flights | 87.0% on time147 flights | 87.6% on time147 flights | 83.6% on time152 flights | 82.5% on time155 flights | 88.7% on time139 flights | 84.8% on time151 flights |
| 11 AM–12 PM | 84.4% on time162 flights | 88.2% on time154 flights | 83.3% on time150 flights | 84.8% on time166 flights | 83.4% on time158 flights | 88.0% on time144 flights | 78.5% on time167 flights |
| 12 PM–1 PM | 22 flights, too few to score | 19 flights, too few to score | 23 flights, too few to score | 16 flights, too few to score | 24 flights, too few to score | 12 flights, too few to score | 19 flights, too few to score |
| 1 PM–2 PM | 70.7% on time187 flights | 79.4% on time190 flights | 81.0% on time191 flights | 78.2% on time188 flights | 79.2% on time185 flights | 77.0% on time169 flights | 74.9% on time182 flights |
| 2 PM–3 PM | 77.8% on time131 flights | 80.0% on time121 flights | 73.3% on time122 flights | 71.5% on time131 flights | 71.7% on time128 flights | 118 flights, too few to score | 76.0% on time132 flights |
| 3 PM–4 PM | 60 flights, too few to score | 36 flights, too few to score | 47 flights, too few to score | 44 flights, too few to score | 56 flights, too few to score | 55 flights, too few to score | 47 flights, too few to score |
| 4 PM–5 PM | 61.7% on time157 flights | 72.2% on time158 flights | 65.1% on time156 flights | 57.3% on time161 flights | 63.9% on time162 flights | 69.6% on time162 flights | 57.3% on time166 flights |
| 5 PM–6 PM | 57.8% on time175 flights | 66.5% on time162 flights | 50.3% on time172 flights | 49.3% on time150 flights | 49.7% on time173 flights | 64.1% on time158 flights | 57.4% on time155 flights |
| 6 PM–7 PM | 57.9% on time164 flights | 64.6% on time167 flights | 58.8% on time162 flights | 53.9% on time170 flights | 52.2% on time165 flights | 64.7% on time160 flights | 47.1% on time174 flights |
| 7 PM–8 PM | 16 flights, too few to score | 20 flights, too few to score | 22 flights, too few to score | 11 flights, too few to score | 19 flights, too few to score | 11 flights, too few to score | 13 flights, too few to score |
| 8 PM–9 PM | 62.4% on time129 flights | 117 flights, too few to score | 118 flights, too few to score | 65.7% on time139 flights | 63.6% on time127 flights | 67.5% on time121 flights | 66.7% on time142 flights |
| 9 PM–10 PM | 7 flights, too few to score | 12 flights, too few to score | 8 flights, too few to score | 2 flights, too few to score | 10 flights, too few to score | 4 flights, too few to score | 5 flights, too few to score |
| 10 PM–11 PM | 71.0% on time159 flights | 119 flights, too few to score | 78.4% on time130 flights | 60.8% on time158 flights | 66.2% on time150 flights | 71.4% on time133 flights | 65.2% on time162 flights |
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 89.3% on time from 1,061 flights
- 7 AM: 82.4% on time from 978 flights
- 8 AM: 82.8% on time from 277 flights
- 9 AM: 85.8% on time from 1,145 flights
- 10 AM: 85.4% on time from 1,046 flights
- 11 AM: 84.3% on time from 1,101 flights
- 12 PM: 80.5% on time from 135 flights
- 1 PM: 77.2% on time from 1,292 flights
- 2 PM: 75.5% on time from 883 flights
- 3 PM: 63.0% on time from 345 flights
- 4 PM: 63.9% on time from 1,122 flights
- 5 PM: 56.4% on time from 1,145 flights
- 6 PM: 56.9% on time from 1,162 flights
- 7 PM: too few flights to score
- 8 PM: 67.5% on time from 893 flights
- 9 PM: too few flights to score
- 10 PM: 69.3% on time from 1,011 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why CLT → ORD 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 CLT → ORD. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on CLT → ORD, at 42.2%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 85.6% of the time and 3–6 PM departures 60.5%.
How this route holds up in bad weather
July 2023 – July 2026
Bad weather raises cancellations by a similar amount at both ends of CLT to ORD: 4.6 times the normal rate at CLT and 5.5 times at ORD. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: CLT 5.7% against 1.2%, 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 | CLT | ORD |
|---|---|---|
| Cancelled in bad weather | 5.7% | 6.5% |
| Cancelled in normal hours | 1.2% | 1.2% |
| Arrived on time, bad weather | 63.5% | 55.7% |
| Arrived on time, normal hours | 75.9% | 77.1% |
| Departures in bad weather | 55,311 | 104,455 |
United Airlines (2.7% cancelled against 5.3% for the other carriers at CLT) and American Airlines (5.3% cancelled against 6.4% for the other carriers at CLT) cancelled fewer departures from CLT in bad weather than the other carriers there did in the same months. None of the route’s other carriers was clearly worse. One more carrier flies this route but has too few bad-weather departures from CLT to compare.
This route’s airlines in bad weather at CLT
All departures from CLT| Airline | Bad-weather departures | Cancelled | Other carriers |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 1,105 | 2.7%below the others | 5.3% |
| Republic Airways | 947 | 5.1%about level | 6.3% |
| American Airlines | 33,044 | 5.3%below the others | 6.4% |
| Spirit Airlines | 1,090 | 6.1%about level | 5.7% |
| Frontier Airlines | 812 | 6.7%about level | 6.0% |
These are airport figures, not route figures: every scheduled departure from CLT and ORD, to any destination, in hours the weather report called bad. The airline rows count each carrier’s departures from CLT on every route.
Weather source and limits. In full: CLT (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.
| Carrier | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Severe |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 9,571 | 73.5% | 1.64% | -4 min | 10.0% |
| United Airlines | 2,843 | 76.3% | 1.23% | -5 min | 9.3% |
| Republic Airways | 530 | 84.1% | 2.26% | -15 min | 7.0% |
| Frontier Airlines | 329 | 54.9% | 2.74% | 10 min | 24.1% |
| Spirit Airlines | 290 | 73.4% | 1.03% | -2 min | 7.3% |
| SkyWest Airlines | 221 | 80.9% | 5.43% | -9 min | 5.3% |
American Airlines flew 69.4% of the 13,784 flights listed. SkyWest Airlines cancelled 5.43% of its flights here against 1.03% for Spirit Airlines.
Republic Airways arrived on time 29.2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA536 American Airlines | 4:24 PM | 740 | 63.5% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 7.8 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 76.7%
- Feb: 81.1%
- Mar: 73.7%
- Apr: 72.5%
- May: 72.0%
- Jun: 67.8%
- Jul: 61.9%
- Aug: 67.6%
- Sep: 80.0%
- Oct: 82.5%
- Nov: 78.8%
- Dec: 80.7%
July is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 20.6 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 60.1% from 382 flights
- August 2023: 67.3% from 396 flights
- September 2023: 81.6% from 396 flights
- October 2023: 86.8% from 420 flights
- November 2023: 82.6% from 387 flights
- December 2023: 89.8% from 383 flights
- January 2024: 72.9% from 346 flights
- February 2024: 87.5% from 330 flights
- March 2024: 77.0% from 369 flights
- April 2024: 74.5% from 361 flights
- May 2024: 61.7% from 404 flights
- June 2024: 64.6% from 402 flights
- July 2024: 58.5% from 401 flights
- August 2024: 64.3% from 396 flights
- September 2024: 77.5% from 379 flights
- October 2024: 83.5% from 405 flights
- November 2024: 80.1% from 356 flights
- December 2024: 79.0% from 377 flights
- January 2025: 84.8% from 373 flights
- February 2025: 76.8% from 343 flights
- March 2025: 77.5% from 382 flights
- April 2025: 73.5% from 368 flights
- May 2025: 77.1% from 356 flights
- June 2025: 67.8% from 340 flights
- July 2025: 57.4% from 347 flights
- August 2025: 71.9% from 331 flights
- September 2025: 80.8% from 337 flights
- October 2025: 76.2% from 346 flights
- November 2025: 73.2% from 348 flights
- December 2025: 72.6% from 355 flights
- January 2026: 71.1% from 331 flights
- February 2026: 78.7% from 308 flights
- March 2026: 66.1% from 364 flights
- April 2026: 69.8% from 403 flights
- May 2026: 77.6% from 413 flights
- June 2026: 70.9% from 417 flights
- July 2026: 70.5% from 433 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 73.1% against 75.1% in the 12 months before — declining by 2.0 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 13,785 CLT → 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
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