Route profile
CMH→MDW
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Columbus to Chicago, 283 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 75% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 4,139 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
CMH → MDW arrives on time 82.7% of the time; the return trip, MDW → CMH, arrives on time 79.5% of the time, a 3.3-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
CMH → MDW spends 17.0 minutes on the ground on a 283-mile trip: 12.1 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at CMH and 4.9 minutes from touchdown to gate at MDW.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where CMH to MDW differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
CMH to MDW is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 1 PM: 93.0% arrive on time, 13.8 points ahead of the 79.2% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 15.9 points.
CMH to MDW holds up on Thursdays better than routes of similar length do: 82.6% on time to their 77.6%, a 5 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 5.8 points.
August is kinder to CMH to MDW than to routes of similar length: 88.1% on time against 79.1%, 9 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 11.6 points.
In March, CMH to MDW runs 5.3 points below routes of similar length, 74.3% on time to 79.6%.
Southwest Airlines does better on CMH to MDW than on its routes of similar length: 82.7% on time here, 80.1% there, 2.6 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 5.3 points.
CMH to MDW against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 1 PM departures | 93.0% | routes of similar length | 79.2% | +13.8 pts | 200 here, 34,311 there |
| Weekday: Thursday | 82.6% | routes of similar length | 77.6% | +5.0 pts | 622 here, 101,139 there |
| Month: August | 88.1% | routes of similar length | 79.1% | +9.0 pts | 385 here, 56,660 there |
| Month: March | 74.3% | routes of similar length | 79.6% | −5.3 pts | 280 here, 54,077 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 82.7% | routes of similar length | 80.1% | +2.6 pts | 4,084 here, 229,922 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 283 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.
Why CMH → MDW flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
CMH → MDW cancelled 52 of 4,139 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 80. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 80.8% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 99 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 52 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.
42 cancellations, 80.8% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
8 cancellations, 15.4% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
2 cancellations, 3.8% 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. With only one or two carriers on the route, the split mostly reflects how they file. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
52 coded cancellations were recorded on CMH → MDW; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
33 min late
against a median of 7 min early
Percentiles over 4,139 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at MDW after arriving from CMH.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 32% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 17% | High risk |
| 60 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.2% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.1% | 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 1.26% of the time and diverts 0.07% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 4,084 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 33 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 4,139 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
CMH → MDW flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 93.5% of the time, against 63.2% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 30.3 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 94.1% on time from 619 flights
- 7 AM: 94.2% on time from 212 flights
- 8 AM: 91.4% on time from 213 flights
- 9 AM: 86.7% on time from 183 flights
- 10 AM: 91.7% on time from 229 flights
- 11 AM: 92.4% on time from 146 flights
- 12 PM: 84.4% on time from 260 flights
- 1 PM: 93.0% on time from 202 flights
- 2 PM: 86.2% on time from 139 flights
- 3 PM: 76.1% on time from 340 flights
- 4 PM: 77.7% on time from 304 flights
- 5 PM: 74.8% on time from 143 flights
- 6 PM: 75.1% on time from 287 flights
- 7 PM: 75.9% on time from 285 flights
- 8 PM: 66.9% on time from 433 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why CMH → MDW 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 CMH → MDW. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on CMH → MDW, at 60.3%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 93.5% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 63.2%.
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 | 4,139 | 82.7% | 1.26% | -7 min | 5.3% |
Other ways to fly Columbus to Chicago
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CMH→ORD Columbus to Chicago | 12,181 | 77.6% | 1.58% | -6 min | 58 |
| CMH→MDW this route Columbus to Chicago | 4,139 | 82.7% | 1.26% | -7 min | 75 |
CMH → MDW is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 82.7% on time, against 77.6% for CMH → ORD.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 10.6 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 80.4%
- Feb: 87.2%
- Mar: 74.3%
- Apr: 83.9%
- May: 81.4%
- Jun: 79.8%
- Jul: 73.9%
- Aug: 88.1%
- Sep: 88.9%
- Oct: 87.2%
- Nov: 87.5%
- Dec: 82.3%
July is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 15.0 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 65.6% from 154 flights
- August 2023: 85.5% from 147 flights
- September 2023: 82.2% from 130 flights
- October 2023: 84.2% from 165 flights
- November 2023: 91.9% from 124 flights
- December 2023: 90.9% from 125 flights
- January 2024: too few flights to score (107)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (95)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (108)
- April 2024: 82.5% from 120 flights
- May 2024: 76.0% from 129 flights
- June 2024: too few flights to score (115)
- July 2024: too few flights to score (119)
- August 2024: too few flights to score (119)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (115)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (105)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (106)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (94)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (82)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (89)
- April 2025: too few flights to score (89)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (91)
- June 2025: 79.2% from 125 flights
- July 2025: 71.5% from 131 flights
- August 2025: 90.1% from 121 flights
- September 2025: too few flights to score (115)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (119)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (103)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (106)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (90)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (83)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (89)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (89)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (92)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (113)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (119)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 81.2% against 85.1% in the 12 months before — declining by 3.9 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 4,139 CMH → 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