Route profile
DAL→SLC
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Dallas to Salt Lake City, 999 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 56% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 2,153 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
DAL → SLC arrives on time 75.9% of the time; the return trip, SLC → DAL, arrives on time 78.0% of the time, a 2.2-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
DAL → SLC spends 18.6 minutes on the ground on a 999-mile trip: 12.6 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DAL and 6.0 minutes from touchdown to gate at SLC.
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 99% of 4,023 comparable routes.
91.1% on time for 5–9 AM departures, against 53.8% for 9 PM–5 AM.
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 SLC differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DAL to SLC struggles most at 9 PM: 53.4% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 12.4 points behind the 65.8% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 16.1 points.
DAL to SLC is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 6 PM: 74.7% arrive on time, 7.2 points ahead of the 67.5% those routes manage at that hour.
In April, DAL to SLC runs 7.5 points below routes of similar length, 71.8% on time to 79.3%. Against all other routes the gap is 8.1 points.
DAL to SLC against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 9 PM departures | 53.4% | routes of similar length | 65.8% | −12.4 pts | 178 here, 85,890 there |
| Hour: 6 PM departures | 74.7% | routes of similar length | 67.5% | +7.2 pts | 178 here, 193,345 there |
| Month: April | 71.8% | routes of similar length | 79.3% | −7.5 pts | 177 here, 256,313 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 999 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
44 min late
against a median of 1 min early
Percentiles over 2,153 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SLC after arriving from DAL.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 46% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 23% | High risk |
| 60 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.0% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.0% | 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 0.74% of the time and diverts 0.14% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 2,134 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 44 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 2,153 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DAL → SLC flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 91.1% of the time, against 53.8% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 37.3 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 90.1% on time from 205 flights
- 9 AM: 88.6% on time from 442 flights
- 10 AM: too few flights to score
- 11 AM: 86.6% on time from 151 flights
- 12 PM: 80.9% on time from 131 flights
- 1 PM to 5 PM: too few flights to score
- 6 PM: 74.7% on time from 180 flights
- 7 PM: 61.6% on time from 228 flights
- 8 PM: 59.3% on time from 248 flights
- 9 PM: 53.4% on time from 180 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why DAL → SLC 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 → SLC. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on DAL → SLC, at 53.7%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 91.1% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 53.8%.
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 | 2,153 | 75.9% | 0.74% | -1 min | 6.1% |
Other ways to fly Dallas–Fort Worth to Salt Lake City
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DFW→SLC Dallas–Fort Worth to Salt Lake City | 12,038 | 71.8% | 1.77% | -2 min | 48 |
| DAL→SLC this route Dallas to Salt Lake City | 2,153 | 75.9% | 0.74% | -1 min | 68 |
DAL → SLC is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 75.9% on time, against 71.8% for DFW → SLC.
Flying to SLC from the Dallas–Fort Worth area? Compare DAL, DFW for SLC, with the same test for what counts as a real difference.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 7.9 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 77.1%
- Feb: 82.4%
- Mar: 73.8%
- Apr: 71.8%
- May: 69.4%
- Jun: 64.2%
- Jul: 72.4%
- Aug: 78.3%
- Sep: 80.5%
- Oct: 81.3%
- Nov: 86.2%
- Dec: 76.2%
June is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 22.0 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 71.6% against 79.6% in the 12 months before — declining by 8.0 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 2,153 DAL → SLC 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