Route profile
DAL→DCA
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Dallas to Washington, 1,184 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 19% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 5,311 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
DAL → DCA arrives on time 71.4% of the time; the return trip, DCA → DAL, arrives on time 75.3% of the time, a 3.9-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
DAL → DCA spends 19.6 minutes on the ground on a 1,184-mile trip: 13.5 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DAL and 6.1 minutes from touchdown to gate at DCA.
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.
92.2% on time for 5–9 AM departures, against 55.9% 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 DCA differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DAL to DCA struggles most at 5 PM: 50.3% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 17.6 points behind the 67.9% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 19.5 points.
DAL to DCA is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 6 AM: 95.1% arrive on time, 4.7 points ahead of the 90.4% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 4.3 points.
Friday is the day DAL to DCA slips furthest against routes of similar length, 65.3% on time where they average 75.7%, 10.4 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 10.9 points.
In February, DAL to DCA runs 14.6 points below routes of similar length, 66.0% on time to 80.6%. Against all other routes the gap is 15.5 points.
Southwest Airlines’ flights on DAL to DCA arrive on time 71.4% of the time, 4.4 points below the 75.8% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 6 points.
DAL to DCA against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 5 PM departures | 50.3% | routes of similar length | 67.9% | −17.6 pts | 386 here, 125,253 there |
| Hour: 6 AM departures | 95.1% | routes of similar length | 90.4% | +4.7 pts | 529 here, 158,867 there |
| Weekday: Friday | 65.3% | routes of similar length | 75.7% | −10.4 pts | 787 here, 310,461 there |
| Month: February | 66.0% | routes of similar length | 80.6% | −14.6 pts | 397 here, 157,895 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 71.4% | routes of similar length | 75.8% | −4.4 pts | 5,199 here, 451,193 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 1,184 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 → DCA flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
DAL → DCA cancelled 83 of 5,311 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 64. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 69.9% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 92 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 83 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.
58 cancellations, 69.9% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
13 cancellations, 15.7% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
12 cancellations, 14.5% 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.
83 coded cancellations were recorded on DAL → DCA; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
58 min late
against a median of 1 min early
Percentiles over 5,311 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at DCA after arriving from DAL.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 48% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 28% | High risk |
| 60 min | 18% | High risk |
| 90 min | 9.5% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 5.6% | 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 1.56% of the time and diverts 0.55% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 5,199 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 5,311 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DAL → DCA flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 92.2% of the time, against 55.9% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 36.3 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 95.1% on time from 540 flights
- 7 AM: 89.6% on time from 586 flights
- 8 AM: too few flights to score
- 9 AM: 82.3% on time from 298 flights
- 10 AM: 81.1% on time from 672 flights
- 11 AM: 76.1% on time from 135 flights
- 12 PM: too few flights to score
- 1 PM: 66.7% on time from 204 flights
- 2 PM: 68.9% on time from 767 flights
- 3 PM: too few flights to score
- 4 PM: 60.0% on time from 698 flights
- 5 PM: 50.3% on time from 395 flights
- 6 PM: 56.4% on time from 352 flights
- 7 PM: 51.9% on time from 398 flights
- 8 PM: 62.2% on time from 222 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why DAL → DCA 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 → DCA. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on DAL → DCA, at 38.6%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 92.2% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 55.9%.
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 | 5,311 | 71.4% | 1.56% | -1 min | 9.7% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 15.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 80.8%
- Feb: 66.0%
- Mar: 65.2%
- Apr: 69.9%
- May: 64.5%
- Jun: 62.5%
- Jul: 63.4%
- Aug: 76.6%
- Sep: 79.4%
- Oct: 77.4%
- Nov: 79.0%
- Dec: 74.8%
June is historically the weakest month and January the strongest, a spread of 18.3 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 69.5% from 143 flights
- August 2023: 77.2% from 147 flights
- September 2023: 77.4% from 140 flights
- October 2023: 84.4% from 147 flights
- November 2023: 81.7% from 142 flights
- December 2023: 77.0% from 149 flights
- January 2024: 77.0% from 147 flights
- February 2024: 81.8% from 137 flights
- March 2024: 70.7% from 141 flights
- April 2024: 75.0% from 138 flights
- May 2024: 64.5% from 143 flights
- June 2024: 72.6% from 135 flights
- July 2024: 73.0% from 143 flights
- August 2024: 76.3% from 141 flights
- September 2024: 83.3% from 138 flights
- October 2024: 82.9% from 147 flights
- November 2024: 81.2% from 139 flights
- December 2024: 68.7% from 149 flights
- January 2025: 89.1% from 148 flights
- February 2025: 51.1% from 132 flights
- March 2025: 70.5% from 149 flights
- April 2025: 70.5% from 143 flights
- May 2025: 66.0% from 145 flights
- June 2025: 56.9% from 146 flights
- July 2025: 63.6% from 150 flights
- August 2025: 76.4% from 146 flights
- September 2025: 77.5% from 142 flights
- October 2025: 64.8% from 146 flights
- November 2025: 74.1% from 139 flights
- December 2025: 78.5% from 149 flights
- January 2026: 77.0% from 146 flights
- February 2026: 64.3% from 132 flights
- March 2026: 54.5% from 151 flights
- April 2026: 64.3% from 143 flights
- May 2026: 62.9% from 145 flights
- June 2026: 58.5% from 146 flights
- July 2026: 47.1% from 147 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 66.6% against 71.7% in the 12 months before — declining by 5.1 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 5,311 DAL → DCA 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