Route profile
DAL→IND
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Dallas to Indianapolis, 755 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 44% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 2,134 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
DAL → IND arrives on time 75.6% of the time; the return trip, IND → DAL, arrives on time 79.9% of the time, a 4.3-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
DAL → IND spends 17.9 minutes on the ground on a 755-mile trip: 12.9 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DAL and 5.0 minutes from touchdown to gate at IND.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Reliability here swings unusually widely by season, a wider month-to-month spread than 92% of 3,357 comparable routes.
88.5% on time in a typical February, against 63.8% in July.
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 3,357 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where DAL to IND differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DAL to IND struggles most at 8 PM: 57.7% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 9.5 points behind the 67.2% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 9.7 points.
DAL to IND is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 8 AM: 90.3% arrive on time, 4.1 points ahead of the 86.2% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 4.4 points.
Wednesday is the day DAL to IND slips furthest against routes of similar length, 73.1% on time where they average 80.5%, 7.4 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 7.7 points.
In June, DAL to IND runs 7 points below routes of similar length, 64.8% on time to 71.8%. Against all other routes the gap is 7.9 points.
DAL to IND against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 8 PM departures | 57.7% | routes of similar length | 67.2% | −9.5 pts | 312 here, 111,717 there |
| Hour: 8 AM departures | 90.3% | routes of similar length | 86.2% | +4.1 pts | 422 here, 155,912 there |
| Weekday: Wednesday | 73.1% | routes of similar length | 80.5% | −7.4 pts | 286 here, 312,151 there |
| Month: June | 64.8% | routes of similar length | 71.8% | −7.0 pts | 179 here, 188,472 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 755 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
49 min late
against a median of 2 min early
Percentiles over 2,134 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at IND after arriving from DAL.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 45% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 24% | High risk |
| 60 min | 16% | High risk |
| 90 min | 7.9% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.4% | 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 0.84% of the time and diverts 0.00% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 2,116 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 49 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 2,134 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DAL → IND flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 90.8% of the time, against 60.7% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 30.1 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 90.3% on time from 422 flights
- 9 AM: 89.0% on time from 274 flights
- 10 AM to 5 PM: too few flights to score
- 6 PM: 65.8% on time from 188 flights
- 7 PM: 60.7% on time from 364 flights
- 8 PM: 57.7% on time from 314 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why DAL → IND 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 → IND. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on DAL → IND, at 60.5%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 90.8% of the time and 6–9 PM 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 | 2,134 | 75.6% | 0.84% | -2 min | 8.1% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Friday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 7.2 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 75.9%
- Feb: 88.5%
- Mar: 72.8%
- Apr: 75.1%
- May: 70.5%
- Jun: 64.8%
- Jul: 63.8%
- Aug: 78.8%
- Sep: 81.6%
- Oct: 80.2%
- Nov: 80.1%
- Dec: 81.4%
July is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 24.7 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 73.9% against 79.0% in the 12 months before — declining by 5.1 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 2,134 DAL → IND 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