Route profile
DEN→BWI
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Denver to Baltimore, 1,491 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 52% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 9,367 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
DEN → BWI arrives on time 75.8% of the time; the return trip, BWI → DEN, arrives on time 76.6% of the time.
DEN → BWI spends 23.1 minutes on the ground on a 1,491-mile trip: 17.6 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DEN and 5.6 minutes from touchdown to gate at BWI.
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 96% of 4,023 comparable routes.
90.2% on time for 5–9 AM departures, against 56.2% 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 DEN to BWI differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DEN to BWI struggles most at 7 PM: 50.6% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 16.3 points behind the 66.9% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 17.2 points.
DEN to BWI is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 9 AM: 86.4% arrive on time, 3.5 points ahead of the 82.9% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 2.1 points.
Tuesday is the day DEN to BWI slips furthest against routes of similar length, 76.8% on time where they average 80.7%, 3.9 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 4.8 points.
In August, DEN to BWI runs 6.6 points below routes of similar length, 69.9% on time to 76.5%. Against all other routes the gap is 6.6 points.
DEN to BWI against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 7 PM departures | 50.6% | routes of similar length | 66.9% | −16.3 pts | 441 here, 61,014 there |
| Hour: 9 AM departures | 86.4% | routes of similar length | 82.9% | +3.5 pts | 1,261 here, 87,325 there |
| Weekday: Tuesday | 76.8% | routes of similar length | 80.7% | −3.9 pts | 1,300 here, 196,441 there |
| Month: August | 69.9% | routes of similar length | 76.5% | −6.6 pts | 823 here, 120,577 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 1,491 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 DEN → BWI flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
DEN → BWI cancelled 96 of 9,367 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 98. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 62.5% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 156 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 96 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.
60 cancellations, 62.5% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
27 cancellations, 28.1% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
9 cancellations, 9.4% 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. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
96 coded cancellations were recorded on DEN → BWI; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
42 min late
against a median of 3 min early
Percentiles over 9,367 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at BWI after arriving from DEN.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 43% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 23% | High risk |
| 60 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.3% | 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 0.42% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 9,232 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 9,367 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DEN → BWI flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 90.2% of the time, against 56.2% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 34.0 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM: 71.9% on time from 121 flights
- 1 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 94.8% on time from 814 flights
- 6 AM: 90.8% on time from 272 flights
- 7 AM: 87.0% on time from 551 flights
- 8 AM: 85.5% on time from 445 flights
- 9 AM: 86.4% on time from 1,275 flights
- 10 AM: 77.8% on time from 469 flights
- 11 AM: 81.8% on time from 316 flights
- 12 PM: 77.3% on time from 213 flights
- 1 PM: 71.9% on time from 410 flights
- 2 PM: 71.3% on time from 511 flights
- 3 PM: 61.6% on time from 364 flights
- 4 PM: 58.4% on time from 320 flights
- 5 PM: 63.6% on time from 1,402 flights
- 6 PM: 61.7% on time from 513 flights
- 7 PM: 50.6% on time from 445 flights
- 8 PM to 10 PM: too few flights to score
- 11 PM: 82.9% on time from 812 flights
Why DEN → BWI 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 DEN → BWI. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on DEN → BWI, at 46.2%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 90.2% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 56.2%.
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 | 6,117 | 74.0% | 1.14% | -1 min | 6.5% |
| United Airlines | 2,891 | 80.5% | 0.86% | -6 min | 6.0% |
| Frontier Airlines | 359 | 69.7% | 0.28% | 0 min | 11.2% |
Southwest Airlines flew 65.3% of the 9,367 flights listed.
United Airlines arrived on time 10.8 percentage points more often than Frontier Airlines on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| UA1362 United Airlines | 9:40 AM | 1,091 | 87.6% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 7.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 77.1%
- Feb: 78.7%
- Mar: 79.6%
- Apr: 81.1%
- May: 71.9%
- Jun: 67.9%
- Jul: 66.0%
- Aug: 69.9%
- Sep: 78.9%
- Oct: 83.9%
- Nov: 83.0%
- Dec: 79.0%
July is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 17.9 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 64.7% from 275 flights
- August 2023: 65.2% from 276 flights
- September 2023: 71.5% from 258 flights
- October 2023: 79.7% from 282 flights
- November 2023: 83.9% from 274 flights
- December 2023: 72.4% from 269 flights
- January 2024: 69.5% from 237 flights
- February 2024: 72.6% from 201 flights
- March 2024: 80.0% from 222 flights
- April 2024: 82.4% from 250 flights
- May 2024: 72.8% from 298 flights
- June 2024: 70.7% from 305 flights
- July 2024: 73.0% from 322 flights
- August 2024: 72.4% from 282 flights
- September 2024: 85.8% from 267 flights
- October 2024: 85.5% from 275 flights
- November 2024: 82.4% from 247 flights
- December 2024: 86.7% from 248 flights
- January 2025: 76.4% from 206 flights
- February 2025: 81.3% from 184 flights
- March 2025: 80.5% from 235 flights
- April 2025: 78.2% from 249 flights
- May 2025: 68.4% from 268 flights
- June 2025: 68.1% from 305 flights
- July 2025: 60.7% from 317 flights
- August 2025: 71.9% from 282 flights
- September 2025: 79.2% from 265 flights
- October 2025: 86.6% from 269 flights
- November 2025: 82.6% from 239 flights
- December 2025: 78.6% from 240 flights
- January 2026: 86.9% from 201 flights
- February 2026: 82.8% from 185 flights
- March 2026: 78.3% from 212 flights
- April 2026: 83.2% from 203 flights
- May 2026: 75.1% from 207 flights
- June 2026: 64.2% from 248 flights
- July 2026: 65.2% from 264 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 77.5% against 76.6% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 9,367 DEN → BWI 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