DEN → DFW Flight Reliability

Right now

Origin · DENNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 07:53 UTC

Denver airport profile →

Destination · DFWNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 07:53 UTC

Dallas–Fort Worth airport profile →

Route reliability

July 2023 – July 2026

Route Reliability Score

51/ 100Fair

Better than 17% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)

Calculated from 18,869 flights. How this is calculated

On-time arrivals

74.5%

13,748 of 18,457

Cancellation rate

1.82%

343 cancelled

Median arrival delay

-5 min

Average 14.0 min

Severe delays

10.1%

60+ minutes late

Delay when late

82 min

Average, when 15+ min late

Flights analyzed

18,869

3 carriers

DEN → DFW arrives on time 74.5% of the time; the return trip, DFW → DEN, arrives on time 70.4% of the time, a 4.1-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.

DEN → DFW spends 32.1 minutes on the ground on a 641-mile trip: 18.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DEN and 13.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at DFW.

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026

Why DEN → DFW flights are cancelled

July 2023 – July 2026

DEN → DFW cancelled 343 of 18,869 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 55. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 79.0% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 70 scheduled flights.

Share of cancellations

Weather79.0%

Airline19.8%

Air traffic1.2%

Security0.0%

Of 343 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.

What each reason means

Extreme weather1 in 70

Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.

271 cancellations, 79.0% of the total.

The airline1 in 277

Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.

68 cancellations, 19.8% of the total.

The air traffic system1 in 4,717

Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.

4 cancellations, 1.2% of the total.

Security—

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.

343 coded cancellations were recorded on DEN → DFW; the section appears from 50.

When it goes wrong

July 2023 – July 2026

One arrival in ten is worse than

60 min late

against a median of 5 min early

Arrived an hour or more late10.1%

Typical delay when late82 min

Cancelled1.82%

Landed somewhere else0.37%

DEN → DFW has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 5 min early, but the worst tenth are 65 minutes worse than that. If the trip has something unmissable at the end of it, the median is the wrong number to plan against.

Percentiles over 18,869 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.

Will your connection be tight enough?

Layovers at DFW after arriving from DEN.

Connection buffer and chance of missing by layover length, DEN → DFW arrivals
Connection time	Chance of missing	Reads as
30 min	40%	Likely to miss
45 min	25%	High risk
60 min	17%	High risk
90 min	9.9%	Some risk
120 min	6.4%	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 1.82% of the time and diverts 0.37% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.

Chance of missing is the share of 18,457 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 60 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 18,869 operations.

Any other layover length: connection checker.

Best time to fly

DEN → DFW flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 83.2% of the time, against 62.6% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 20.6 percentage points.

By day and hour

On-time arrival rate for each weekday and scheduled departure hour, in local time at the departure airport (DEN).

Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 9.5 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 1.8 points.

On-time arrival rate for DEN to DFW by weekday and scheduled departure hour, local time. Each button reads out one slot.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
5 AM–6 AM
6 AM–7 AM
7 AM–8 AM
8 AM–9 AM
9 AM–10 AM
10 AM–11 AM
11 AM–12 PM
12 PM–1 PM
1 PM–2 PM
2 PM–3 PM
3 PM–4 PM
4 PM–5 PM
5 PM–6 PM
6 PM–7 PM
7 PM–8 PM
8 PM–9 PM

On-time rate, % · stronger color, fewer on time

40–49
50–59
60–69
70–79
80–89

Fewer than 120 flights, not scored

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · On time is arrival within 15 minutes of schedule. Cells round to whole percentages; the table shows one decimal.

No slot is named best or worst: too few reach 500 flights. Departures before 5 AM and after 9 PM (455 flights) are not drawn: no slot in those hours has enough flights to score.

View as tableHide table

On-time arrival rate (%) with flights beneath, by scheduled departure hour and weekday for DEN to DFW. A dash means fewer than 120 flights, which are not scored.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
5 AM–6 AM	85.2% on time213 flights	85.9% on time158 flights	88.1% on time152 flights	88.0% on time206 flights	81.0% on time219 flights	84.0% on time177 flights	86.7% on time200 flights
6 AM–7 AM	85.0% on time235 flights	86.3% on time189 flights	84.7% on time188 flights	85.3% on time235 flights	84.8% on time229 flights	82.7% on time179 flights	83.4% on time221 flights
7 AM–8 AM	80.8% on time279 flights	87.9% on time232 flights	86.1% on time239 flights	83.9% on time266 flights	84.0% on time266 flights	80.9% on time175 flights	84.3% on time241 flights
8 AM–9 AM	76.6% on time160 flights	82.1% on time164 flights	80.3% on time156 flights	80.2% on time183 flights	78.9% on time161 flights	72.2% on time162 flights	74.5% on time196 flights
9 AM–10 AM	87.5% on time322 flights	84.2% on time310 flights	83.7% on time307 flights	84.2% on time304 flights	79.9% on time317 flights	78.7% on time271 flights	80.8% on time287 flights
10 AM–11 AM	78.4% on time180 flights	80.0% on time179 flights	79.9% on time186 flights	84.8% on time177 flights	77.3% on time178 flights	76.9% on time198 flights	75.6% on time181 flights
11 AM–12 PM	25 flights, too few to score	19 flights, too few to score	14 flights, too few to score	14 flights, too few to score	18 flights, too few to score	28 flights, too few to score	7 flights, too few to score
12 PM–1 PM	72.1% on time168 flights	78.0% on time193 flights	72.9% on time190 flights	73.8% on time165 flights	67.1% on time174 flights	63.5% on time175 flights	65.4% on time160 flights
1 PM–2 PM	80.4% on time182 flights	78.2% on time181 flights	80.5% on time185 flights	74.3% on time179 flights	79.9% on time179 flights	75.9% on time176 flights	77.0% on time190 flights
2 PM–3 PM	72.6% on time171 flights	71.1% on time160 flights	69.8% on time161 flights	71.1% on time156 flights	70.7% on time170 flights	65.4% on time166 flights	70.3% on time161 flights
3 PM–4 PM	70.1% on time151 flights	66 flights, too few to score	74.0% on time150 flights	68.8% on time147 flights	70.4% on time145 flights	48 flights, too few to score	60.0% on time136 flights
4 PM–5 PM	55.9% on time150 flights	60.0% on time140 flights	56.6% on time137 flights	58.5% on time171 flights	52.3% on time156 flights	62.9% on time147 flights	57.2% on time183 flights
5 PM–6 PM	67.3% on time172 flights	62.9% on time168 flights	67.4% on time152 flights	67.3% on time149 flights	66.9% on time164 flights	62.2% on time152 flights	59.6% on time144 flights
6 PM–7 PM	54.8% on time173 flights	60.6% on time148 flights	62.4% on time171 flights	56.6% on time213 flights	58.3% on time184 flights	43.4% on time133 flights	50.2% on time227 flights
7 PM–8 PM	35 flights, too few to score	35 flights, too few to score	33 flights, too few to score	36 flights, too few to score	23 flights, too few to score	33 flights, too few to score	31 flights, too few to score
8 PM–9 PM	71.3% on time145 flights	71.7% on time161 flights	70.8% on time159 flights	70.9% on time151 flights	70.6% on time155 flights	73.1% on time146 flights	73.3% on time149 flights

By departure window

5–9 AM83.2%

9 AM–12 PM81.2%

12–3 PM73.1%

3–6 PM63.2%

6–9 PM62.6%

9 PM–5 AM64.7%

By departure hour

12 AM

3 AM

6 AM

9 AM

12 PM

3 PM

6 PM

9 PM

Why DEN → DFW runs late

July 2023 – July 2026

Late-arriving aircraft46.4%

the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late

The airline30.4%

crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control

Air traffic control18.9%

airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control

Weather4.1%

weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically

Security0.1%

screening or terminal security incidents

Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for DEN → DFW. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.

Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on DEN → DFW, at 46.4%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 83.2% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 62.6%.

How this route holds up in bad weather

July 2023 – July 2026

The harder-hit end is DFW, where the flight lands. Its figure counts departures from DFW, so it says more about how that airport copes than about this route. Bad weather cancels 7.0 times the normal rate at DFW against 4.0 times at DEN. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: DEN 2.8% against 0.7%, DFW 10.4% against 1.5%. Flights that did leave DEN in bad weather arrived on time 51.5% of the time, against 78.8% in normal hours.

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026

Departures from DEN and DFW in hours of bad weather and in normal hours
Departures from	DEN	DFW
Cancelled in bad weather	2.8%	10.4%
Cancelled in normal hours	0.7%	1.5%
Arrived on time, bad weather	51.5%	56.4%
Arrived on time, normal hours	78.8%	74.4%
Departures in bad weather	92,610	72,822

United Airlines (1.5% cancelled against 3.5% for the other carriers at DEN) cancelled fewer departures from DEN in bad weather than the other carriers there did in the same months. None of the route’s other carriers was clearly worse.

This route’s airlines in bad weather at DEN

All departures from DEN

Cancellation rates in bad weather at DEN for the airlines that fly DEN to DFW, against the other carriers at DEN in the same months
Airline	Bad-weather departures	Cancelled	Other carriers
United Airlines	30,853	1.5%below the others	3.5%
American Airlines	2,591	2.8%about level	2.8%
Frontier Airlines	6,740	3.1%about level	2.8%

These are airport figures, not route figures: every scheduled departure from DEN and DFW, to any destination, in hours the weather report called bad. The airline rows count each carrier’s departures from DEN on every route.

Weather source and limits. In full: DEN (airlines), DFW, What Weather Costs Each Airport, Who Cancels More When the Weather Turns, Airports That Change Places When Weather Turns.

Airlines on this route

Carriers with at least 200 flights, by the airline that operated each one.

Airlines on this route
Carrier	Flights	On time	Cancelled	Median delay	Severe
American Airlines	9,379	73.8%	2.57%	-5 min	11.0%
United Airlines	5,760	77.7%	0.76%	-5 min	8.7%
Frontier Airlines	3,583	71.0%	1.62%	-3 min	10.0%

American Airlines flew 50.1% of the 18,722 flights listed. American Airlines cancelled 2.57% of its flights here against 0.76% for United Airlines.

United Airlines arrived on time 6.7 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.

Flights on this route
Flight	Scheduled	Operations	On time
AA420 American Airlines	2:48 PM	1,081	68.4%
AA2612 American Airlines	5:00 AM	907	88.7%
UA578 United Airlines	1:45 PM	824	79.8%
F92632 Frontier Airlines	9:05 PM	681	63.1%
AA1523 American Airlines	9:11 AM	658	82.1%
UA1565 United Airlines	5:30 PM	654	67.3%

AA2612 (5:00 AM) arrived on time 88.7% of the time, 25.6 points more often than F92632 (9:05 PM) at 63.1%.

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

Mon74.9%

Tue77.0%

Wed76.5%

Thu75.2%

Fri74.0%

Sat71.9%

Sun71.9%

Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Saturday the least, a gap of 5.1 percentage points.

By month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

June is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 17.4 percentage points.

Reliability over time

July 2023 – July 2026

24

25

26

Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 75.5% against 73.7% in the 12 months before — improving by 1.8 percentage points.

Data and methodology

Calculated by FlyerIntel from 18,869 DEN → DFW 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

Analysis last recomputed September 26, 2026

DEN airport DFW airport Return direction DFW → DEN

DEN→DFW

Right now

Route reliability

Why DEN → DFW flights are cancelled

Share of cancellations

What each reason means

When it goes wrong

Will your connection be tight enough?

Best time to fly

By day and hour

By departure window

By departure hour

Why DEN → DFW runs late

How this route holds up in bad weather

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

This route’s airlines in bad weather at DEN

Airlines on this route

Flights on this route

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

By month

Reliability over time

Data and methodology