Route profile
DAL→AUS
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Dallas to Austin, 189 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 63% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 7,716 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
DAL → AUS arrives on time 79.5% of the time; the return trip, AUS → DAL, arrives on time 80.6% of the time.
DAL → AUS spends 18.7 minutes on the ground on a 189-mile trip: 12.7 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DAL and 6.0 minutes from touchdown to gate at AUS.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
On-time performance swings unusually widely by time of day here, wider than 96% of 4,023 comparable routes.
94.6% on time for 5–9 AM departures, against 60.7% for 9 PM–5 AM.
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 4,023 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where DAL to AUS differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DAL to AUS struggles most at 10 PM: 56.9% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 13.5 points behind the 70.4% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 14.8 points.
DAL to AUS is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 8 AM: 94.7% arrive on time, 8.6 points ahead of the 86.1% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 8.8 points.
DAL to AUS holds up on Tuesdays better than routes of similar length do: 86.1% on time to their 81.3%, a 4.8 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 4.5 points.
August is kinder to DAL to AUS than to routes of similar length: 84.2% on time against 77.0%, 7.2 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 7.7 points.
In May, DAL to AUS runs 6.1 points below routes of similar length, 68.8% on time to 74.9%. Against all other routes the gap is 6.5 points.
DAL to AUS against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 10 PM departures | 56.9% | routes of similar length | 70.4% | −13.5 pts | 153 here, 13,942 there |
| Hour: 8 AM departures | 94.7% | routes of similar length | 86.1% | +8.6 pts | 493 here, 27,323 there |
| Weekday: Tuesday | 86.1% | routes of similar length | 81.3% | +4.8 pts | 1,163 here, 58,144 there |
| Month: August | 84.2% | routes of similar length | 77.0% | +7.2 pts | 652 here, 32,388 there |
| Month: May | 68.8% | routes of similar length | 74.9% | −6.1 pts | 622 here, 34,015 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 189 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 DAL → AUS flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
DAL → AUS cancelled 94 of 7,716 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 82. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 73.4% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 112 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 94 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.
69 cancellations, 73.4% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
20 cancellations, 21.3% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
5 cancellations, 5.3% 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. 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.
94 coded cancellations were recorded on DAL → AUS; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
39 min late
against a median of 6 min early
Percentiles over 7,716 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at AUS after arriving from DAL.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 35% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 20% | High risk |
| 60 min | 13% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.0% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.4% | 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 1.22% of the time and diverts 0.04% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 7,619 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 39 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 7,716 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DAL → AUS flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 94.6% of the time, against 60.7% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 33.9 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 95.8% on time from 752 flights
- 7 AM: 92.8% on time from 589 flights
- 8 AM: 94.7% on time from 502 flights
- 9 AM: 90.7% on time from 412 flights
- 10 AM: 85.9% on time from 429 flights
- 11 AM: 82.3% on time from 511 flights
- 12 PM: 81.0% on time from 441 flights
- 1 PM: 78.1% on time from 464 flights
- 2 PM: 77.0% on time from 502 flights
- 3 PM: 69.0% on time from 601 flights
- 4 PM: 72.2% on time from 324 flights
- 5 PM: 71.9% on time from 357 flights
- 6 PM: 69.0% on time from 484 flights
- 7 PM: 66.0% on time from 322 flights
- 8 PM: 72.7% on time from 381 flights
- 9 PM: 61.9% on time from 490 flights
- 10 PM: 56.9% on time from 155 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why DAL → AUS 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 DAL → AUS. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on DAL → AUS, at 49.8%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 94.6% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 60.7%.
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 | 7,716 | 79.5% | 1.22% | -6 min | 6.2% |
Other ways to fly Dallas–Fort Worth to Austin
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DFW→AUS Dallas–Fort Worth to Austin | 14,944 | 70.6% | 2.54% | -2 min | 42 |
| DAL→AUS this route Dallas to Austin | 7,716 | 79.5% | 1.22% | -6 min | 70 |
DAL → AUS is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 79.5% on time, against 70.6% for DFW → AUS.
Flying to AUS from the Dallas–Fort Worth area? Compare DAL, DFW for AUS, with the same test for what counts as a real difference.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 12.0 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 84.7%
- Feb: 87.8%
- Mar: 78.9%
- Apr: 74.8%
- May: 68.8%
- Jun: 70.8%
- Jul: 74.9%
- Aug: 84.2%
- Sep: 86.0%
- Oct: 80.8%
- Nov: 80.6%
- Dec: 82.6%
May is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 19.0 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 78.3% from 244 flights
- August 2023: 87.5% from 257 flights
- September 2023: 88.9% from 237 flights
- October 2023: 78.8% from 248 flights
- November 2023: 84.8% from 243 flights
- December 2023: 88.2% from 249 flights
- January 2024: 78.1% from 224 flights
- February 2024: 88.4% from 199 flights
- March 2024: 79.1% from 225 flights
- April 2024: 74.5% from 224 flights
- May 2024: 66.1% from 232 flights
- June 2024: 73.8% from 193 flights
- July 2024: 72.3% from 196 flights
- August 2024: 83.9% from 205 flights
- September 2024: 81.9% from 199 flights
- October 2024: 86.5% from 215 flights
- November 2024: 83.2% from 198 flights
- December 2024: 76.1% from 200 flights
- January 2025: 87.8% from 206 flights
- February 2025: 86.8% from 190 flights
- March 2025: 84.0% from 200 flights
- April 2025: 76.3% from 200 flights
- May 2025: 74.7% from 205 flights
- June 2025: 74.6% from 194 flights
- July 2025: 73.8% from 197 flights
- August 2025: 80.0% from 190 flights
- September 2025: 86.7% from 189 flights
- October 2025: 77.2% from 207 flights
- November 2025: 72.4% from 183 flights
- December 2025: 82.2% from 185 flights
- January 2026: 89.0% from 196 flights
- February 2026: 88.1% from 187 flights
- March 2026: 73.6% from 201 flights
- April 2026: 73.5% from 200 flights
- May 2026: 66.0% from 204 flights
- June 2026: 64.1% from 194 flights
- July 2026: 74.4% from 200 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 77.1% against 80.9% in the 12 months before — declining by 3.8 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 7,716 DAL → AUS 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