Route profile
DAL→CLT
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Dallas to Charlotte, 926 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 18% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 1,160 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
DAL → CLT arrives on time 67.1% of the time; the return trip, CLT → DAL, arrives on time 74.5% of the time, a 7.4-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
DAL → CLT spends 24.4 minutes on the ground on a 926-mile trip: 14.2 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DAL and 10.2 minutes from touchdown to gate at CLT.
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 94% of 4,467 comparable routes.
73.6% on time on a typical Wednesday, against 58.8% on a Thursday.
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 DAL to CLT differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DAL to CLT struggles most at 4 PM: 52.1% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 16.4 points behind the 68.5% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 18.6 points.
Thursday is the day DAL to CLT slips furthest against routes of similar length, 58.8% on time where they average 76.4%, 17.6 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 18 points.
In July, DAL to CLT runs 25.2 points below routes of similar length, 43.3% on time to 68.5%. Against all other routes the gap is 26.4 points.
Southwest Airlines’ flights on DAL to CLT arrive on time 67.1% of the time, 9.1 points below the 76.2% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 10.3 points.
DAL to CLT against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 4 PM departures | 52.1% | routes of similar length | 68.5% | −16.4 pts | 194 here, 153,837 there |
| Weekday: Thursday | 58.8% | routes of similar length | 76.4% | −17.6 pts | 160 here, 428,570 there |
| Month: July | 43.3% | routes of similar length | 68.5% | −25.2 pts | 127 here, 319,991 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 67.1% | routes of similar length | 76.2% | −9.1 pts | 1,148 here, 771,242 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 926 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
58 min late
against a median of 4 min late
Percentiles over 1,160 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at CLT after arriving from DAL.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 57% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 32% | Likely to miss |
| 60 min | 19% | High risk |
| 90 min | 9.4% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 5.7% | 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 0.52% of the time and diverts 0.52% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 1,148 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 58 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 1,160 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DAL → CLT flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 83.8% of the time, against 60.5% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 23.3 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 1 PM: too few flights to score
- 2 PM: 64.3% on time from 204 flights
- 3 PM: 66.3% on time from 290 flights
- 4 PM: 52.1% on time from 194 flights
- 5 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why DAL → CLT 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
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for DAL → CLT. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on DAL → CLT, at 50.9%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 9 AM–12 PM departures arrived on time 83.8% of the time and 3–6 PM departures 60.5%.
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 | 1,160 | 67.1% | 0.52% | 4 min | 9.8% |
Other ways to fly Dallas–Fort Worth to Charlotte
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DFW→CLT Dallas–Fort Worth to Charlotte | 12,365 | 72.1% | 1.84% | -3 min | 49 |
| DAL→CLT this route Dallas to Charlotte | 1,160 | 67.1% | 0.52% | 4 min | 52 |
Flying to CLT from the Dallas–Fort Worth area? Compare DAL, DFW for CLT, with the same test for what counts as a real difference.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 14.8 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 59.1% against 70.0% in the 12 months before — declining by 10.9 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 1,160 DAL → CLT 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