Route profile
DAL→BWI
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Dallas to Baltimore, 1,209 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 41% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 5,595 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
DAL → BWI arrives on time 75.5% of the time; the return trip, BWI → DAL, arrives on time 74.6% of the time.
DAL → BWI spends 18.7 minutes on the ground on a 1,209-mile trip: 13.2 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DAL and 5.5 minutes from touchdown to gate at BWI.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where DAL to BWI differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DAL to BWI struggles most at 4 PM: 57.3% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 11.6 points behind the 68.9% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 13.4 points.
DAL to BWI is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 6 AM: 93.1% arrive on time, 2.7 points ahead of the 90.4% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 2.3 points.
Wednesday is the day DAL to BWI slips furthest against routes of similar length, 74.7% on time where they average 79.8%, 5.1 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 6.1 points.
In June, DAL to BWI runs 8.5 points below routes of similar length, 63.2% on time to 71.7%. Against all other routes the gap is 9.5 points.
January is kinder to DAL to BWI than to routes of similar length: 81.9% on time against 77.3%, 4.6 points better.
DAL to BWI against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 4 PM departures | 57.3% | routes of similar length | 68.9% | −11.6 pts | 386 here, 116,622 there |
| Hour: 6 AM departures | 93.1% | routes of similar length | 90.4% | +2.7 pts | 1,038 here, 153,056 there |
| Weekday: Wednesday | 74.7% | routes of similar length | 79.8% | −5.1 pts | 787 here, 272,584 there |
| Month: June | 63.2% | routes of similar length | 71.7% | −8.5 pts | 475 here, 157,936 there |
| Month: January | 81.9% | routes of similar length | 77.3% | +4.6 pts | 381 here, 152,317 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 1,209 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 → BWI flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
DAL → BWI cancelled 88 of 5,595 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 64. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 69.3% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 92 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 88 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.
61 cancellations, 69.3% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
18 cancellations, 20.5% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
9 cancellations, 10.2% 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.
88 coded cancellations were recorded on DAL → BWI; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
41 min late
against a median of 1 min early
Percentiles over 5,595 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at BWI after arriving from DAL.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 47% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 24% | High risk |
| 60 min | 13% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.4% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.7% | 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 1.57% of the time and diverts 0.36% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 5,487 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 5,595 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DAL → BWI flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 90.7% of the time, against 61.6% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 29.1 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 93.1% on time from 1,055 flights
- 7 AM: 88.0% on time from 399 flights
- 8 AM: 87.3% on time from 424 flights
- 9 AM: 87.1% on time from 212 flights
- 10 AM: 83.4% on time from 172 flights
- 11 AM: 71.8% on time from 298 flights
- 12 PM: 73.8% on time from 262 flights
- 1 PM: 70.6% on time from 219 flights
- 2 PM: 74.3% on time from 292 flights
- 3 PM: 69.1% on time from 245 flights
- 4 PM: 57.3% on time from 394 flights
- 5 PM: 65.2% on time from 400 flights
- 6 PM: 62.3% on time from 327 flights
- 7 PM: 64.8% on time from 305 flights
- 8 PM: 59.3% on time from 498 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why DAL → BWI 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 → BWI. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on DAL → BWI, at 45.9%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 90.7% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 61.6%.
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 | 5,595 | 75.5% | 1.57% | -1 min | 6.5% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 7.8 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 81.9%
- Feb: 80.3%
- Mar: 76.1%
- Apr: 78.2%
- May: 72.5%
- Jun: 63.2%
- Jul: 64.1%
- Aug: 74.6%
- Sep: 82.8%
- Oct: 78.4%
- Nov: 81.7%
- Dec: 78.5%
June is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 19.6 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 63.1% from 149 flights
- August 2023: 72.1% from 151 flights
- September 2023: 78.9% from 144 flights
- October 2023: 79.1% from 163 flights
- November 2023: 80.3% from 147 flights
- December 2023: 81.6% from 152 flights
- January 2024: 73.4% from 132 flights
- February 2024: 84.3% from 121 flights
- March 2024: 83.2% from 145 flights
- April 2024: 83.8% from 137 flights
- May 2024: 72.9% from 135 flights
- June 2024: 66.9% from 163 flights
- July 2024: 70.5% from 173 flights
- August 2024: 72.2% from 168 flights
- September 2024: 84.7% from 163 flights
- October 2024: 77.2% from 162 flights
- November 2024: 85.6% from 161 flights
- December 2024: 74.8% from 164 flights
- January 2025: 87.7% from 141 flights
- February 2025: 77.5% from 131 flights
- March 2025: 81.6% from 153 flights
- April 2025: 75.0% from 144 flights
- May 2025: 75.0% from 146 flights
- June 2025: 57.9% from 163 flights
- July 2025: 63.3% from 173 flights
- August 2025: 79.2% from 161 flights
- September 2025: 84.3% from 159 flights
- October 2025: 78.8% from 165 flights
- November 2025: 78.9% from 148 flights
- December 2025: 79.3% from 165 flights
- January 2026: 84.3% from 136 flights
- February 2026: 79.3% from 121 flights
- March 2026: 63.4% from 148 flights
- April 2026: 76.1% from 143 flights
- May 2026: 69.5% from 145 flights
- June 2026: 64.7% from 157 flights
- July 2026: 58.7% from 166 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 74.5% against 75.8% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 5,595 DAL → BWI 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