Route profile
DAL→RDU
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Dallas to Raleigh–Durham, 1,052 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 40% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 1,270 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
DAL → RDU arrives on time 72.7% of the time; the return trip, RDU → DAL, arrives on time 73.8% of the time.
DAL → RDU spends 18.6 minutes on the ground on a 1,052-mile trip: 13.9 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DAL and 4.6 minutes from touchdown to gate at RDU.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Reliability on this route has fallen unusually sharply over the past year, a bigger swing than 96% of 5,368 comparable routes.
63.6% on time over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), against 76.6% in the 12 months before (2024-08 to 2025-07), a change of 13.0 points.
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 5,368 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where DAL to RDU differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DAL to RDU struggles most at 3 PM: 57.3% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 12.8 points behind the 70.1% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 15.4 points.
DAL to RDU is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 9 AM: 92.4% arrive on time, 9.1 points ahead of the 83.3% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 8.1 points.
Thursday is the day DAL to RDU slips furthest against routes of similar length, 64.8% on time where they average 75.8%, 11 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 12 points.
In July, DAL to RDU runs 11.7 points below routes of similar length, 56.3% on time to 68.0%. Against all other routes the gap is 13.4 points.
Southwest Airlines’ flights on DAL to RDU arrive on time 72.7% of the time, 2.5 points below the 75.2% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 4.7 points.
DAL to RDU against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 3 PM departures | 57.3% | routes of similar length | 70.1% | −12.8 pts | 246 here, 170,111 there |
| Hour: 9 AM departures | 92.4% | routes of similar length | 83.3% | +9.1 pts | 198 here, 142,547 there |
| Weekday: Thursday | 64.8% | routes of similar length | 75.8% | −11.0 pts | 162 here, 423,989 there |
| Month: July | 56.3% | routes of similar length | 68.0% | −11.7 pts | 144 here, 313,055 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 72.7% | routes of similar length | 75.2% | −2.5 pts | 1,256 here, 644,055 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 1,052 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
42 min late
against a median of 1 min late
Percentiles over 1,270 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at RDU after arriving from DAL.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 51% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 26% | High risk |
| 60 min | 15% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.5% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.4% | 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 1.02% of the time and diverts 0.08% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 1,256 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 42 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 1,270 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DAL → RDU flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 87.3% of the time, against 59.9% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 27.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 8 AM: too few flights to score
- 9 AM: 92.4% on time from 199 flights
- 10 AM: 85.6% on time from 126 flights
- 11 AM: 81.3% on time from 136 flights
- 12 PM: too few flights to score
- 1 PM: 68.3% on time from 129 flights
- 2 PM: 64.9% on time from 229 flights
- 3 PM: 57.3% on time from 248 flights
- 4 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why DAL → RDU 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 → RDU. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on DAL → RDU, at 48.9%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 9 AM–12 PM departures arrived on time 87.3% of the time and 3–6 PM departures 59.9%.
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 | 1,270 | 72.7% | 1.02% | 1 min | 6.9% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 13.0 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 63.6% against 76.6% in the 12 months before — declining by 13.0 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 1,270 DAL → RDU 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