Route profile
DAL→CMH
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Dallas to Columbus, 919 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 36% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 1,386 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
DAL → CMH arrives on time 72.8% of the time; the return trip, CMH → DAL, arrives on time 77.9% of the time, a 5.1-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
DAL → CMH spends 18.3 minutes on the ground on a 919-mile trip: 13.4 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DAL and 5.0 minutes from touchdown to gate at CMH.
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 98% of 4,023 comparable routes.
85.0% on time for 9 AM–12 PM departures, against 49.3% for 6–9 PM.
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 CMH differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
Thursday is the day DAL to CMH slips furthest against routes of similar length, 65.6% on time where they average 76.5%, 10.9 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 11.2 points.
In June, DAL to CMH runs 12.3 points below routes of similar length, 59.3% on time to 71.6%. Against all other routes the gap is 13.4 points.
Southwest Airlines’ flights on DAL to CMH arrive on time 72.8% of the time, 3.5 points below the 76.3% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 4.6 points.
DAL to CMH against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weekday: Thursday | 65.6% | routes of similar length | 76.5% | −10.9 pts | 192 here, 420,589 there |
| Month: June | 59.3% | routes of similar length | 71.6% | −12.3 pts | 123 here, 233,186 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 72.8% | routes of similar length | 76.3% | −3.5 pts | 1,374 here, 771,472 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 919 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
46 min late
against a median of 1 min late
Percentiles over 1,386 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at CMH after arriving from DAL.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 51% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 27% | High risk |
| 60 min | 15% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 7.3% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.7% | 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 0.79% 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 1,374 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 46 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 1,386 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DAL → CMH flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 85.0% of the time, against 49.3% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 35.7 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 8 AM: too few flights to score
- 9 AM: 88.5% on time from 131 flights
- 10 AM to 12 PM: too few flights to score
- 1 PM: 81.9% on time from 157 flights
- 2 PM: 72.8% on time from 151 flights
- 3 PM: 72.7% on time from 210 flights
- 4 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why DAL → CMH 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 → CMH. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on DAL → CMH, at 54.8%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 9 AM–12 PM departures arrived on time 85.0% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 49.3%.
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 | 1,386 | 72.8% | 0.79% | 1 min | 7.6% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 14.5 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 71.0% against 71.9% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 1,386 DAL → CMH 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