Route profile
DEN→HOU
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Denver to Houston, 883 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 43% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 7,839 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
DEN → HOU arrives on time 74.3% of the time; the return trip, HOU → DEN, arrives on time 79.6% of the time, a 5.3-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
DEN → HOU spends 21.8 minutes on the ground on an 883-mile trip: 15.9 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DEN and 5.9 minutes from touchdown to gate at HOU.
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.
90.5% on time for 5–9 AM departures, against 56.6% 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 HOU differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DEN to HOU struggles most at 7 PM: 52.7% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 14.5 points behind the 67.2% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 15.1 points.
DEN to HOU is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 6 AM: 93.1% arrive on time, 2.6 points ahead of the 90.5% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 2.3 points.
Friday is the day DEN to HOU slips furthest against routes of similar length, 70.3% on time where they average 76.0%, 5.7 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 5.9 points.
In June, DEN to HOU runs 10.4 points below routes of similar length, 61.4% on time to 71.8%. Against all other routes the gap is 11.3 points.
Southwest Airlines’ flights on DEN to HOU arrive on time 74.0% of the time, 2.4 points below the 76.4% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 3.4 points.
DEN to HOU against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 7 PM departures | 52.7% | routes of similar length | 67.2% | −14.5 pts | 389 here, 172,319 there |
| Hour: 6 AM departures | 93.1% | routes of similar length | 90.5% | +2.6 pts | 783 here, 202,261 there |
| Weekday: Friday | 70.3% | routes of similar length | 76.0% | −5.7 pts | 1,206 here, 419,006 there |
| Month: June | 61.4% | routes of similar length | 71.8% | −10.4 pts | 635 here, 230,170 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 74.0% | routes of similar length | 76.4% | −2.4 pts | 7,310 here, 773,509 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 883 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 → HOU flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
DEN → HOU cancelled 75 of 7,839 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 105. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 66.7% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 157 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 75 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.
50 cancellations, 66.7% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
17 cancellations, 22.7% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
8 cancellations, 10.7% 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. With only one or two carriers on the route, the split mostly reflects how they file. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
75 coded cancellations were recorded on DEN → HOU; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
48 min late
against a median of 3 min early
Percentiles over 7,839 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at HOU after arriving from DEN.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 43% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 25% | High risk |
| 60 min | 16% | High risk |
| 90 min | 7.5% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.3% | 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 0.96% of the time and diverts 0.45% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 7,729 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 48 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 7,839 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DEN → HOU flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 90.5% of the time, against 56.6% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 33.9 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 92.5% on time from 427 flights
- 6 AM: 93.1% on time from 794 flights
- 7 AM: 89.2% on time from 657 flights
- 8 AM: 84.6% on time from 355 flights
- 9 AM: 83.2% on time from 482 flights
- 10 AM: 79.0% on time from 424 flights
- 11 AM: 79.4% on time from 356 flights
- 12 PM: 75.4% on time from 352 flights
- 1 PM: 73.8% on time from 461 flights
- 2 PM: 73.7% on time from 356 flights
- 3 PM: 67.0% on time from 307 flights
- 4 PM: 63.7% on time from 423 flights
- 5 PM: 60.5% on time from 535 flights
- 6 PM: 60.6% on time from 561 flights
- 7 PM: 52.7% on time from 392 flights
- 8 PM: 55.5% on time from 612 flights
- 9 PM: 63.3% on time from 279 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why DEN → HOU 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 → HOU. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on DEN → HOU, at 47.8%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 90.5% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 56.6%.
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 | 7,408 | 74.0% | 0.88% | -3 min | 7.7% |
| Frontier Airlines | 431 | 78.0% | 2.32% | -8 min | 7.9% |
Southwest Airlines flew 94.5% of the 7,839 flights listed. Frontier Airlines cancelled 2.32% of its flights here against 0.88% for Southwest Airlines.
Frontier Airlines arrived on time 4.0 percentage points more often than Southwest Airlines on this route.
Other ways to fly Denver to Houston
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DEN→IAH Denver to Houston | 14,972 | 76.8% | 0.83% | -4 min | 64 |
| DEN→HOU this route Denver to Houston | 7,839 | 74.3% | 0.96% | -3 min | 63 |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 7.8 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 76.2%
- Feb: 81.9%
- Mar: 77.5%
- Apr: 72.5%
- May: 69.2%
- Jun: 61.4%
- Jul: 65.0%
- Aug: 71.3%
- Sep: 82.2%
- Oct: 77.3%
- Nov: 79.7%
- Dec: 80.1%
June is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 20.8 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 64.2% from 246 flights
- August 2023: 72.4% from 233 flights
- September 2023: 74.1% from 190 flights
- October 2023: 68.9% from 212 flights
- November 2023: 85.3% from 240 flights
- December 2023: 81.5% from 265 flights
- January 2024: 68.0% from 232 flights
- February 2024: 82.6% from 207 flights
- March 2024: 76.0% from 236 flights
- April 2024: 74.3% from 221 flights
- May 2024: 64.7% from 218 flights
- June 2024: 67.5% from 241 flights
- July 2024: 65.4% from 252 flights
- August 2024: 71.6% from 226 flights
- September 2024: 90.8% from 207 flights
- October 2024: 87.7% from 213 flights
- November 2024: 74.5% from 218 flights
- December 2024: 81.1% from 240 flights
- January 2025: 75.8% from 218 flights
- February 2025: 77.4% from 195 flights
- March 2025: 86.9% from 199 flights
- April 2025: 71.2% from 188 flights
- May 2025: 74.2% from 184 flights
- June 2025: 57.0% from 194 flights
- July 2025: 54.3% from 203 flights
- August 2025: 69.8% from 192 flights
- September 2025: 81.0% from 189 flights
- October 2025: 75.3% from 198 flights
- November 2025: 78.6% from 208 flights
- December 2025: 77.3% from 226 flights
- January 2026: 86.2% from 197 flights
- February 2026: 85.8% from 184 flights
- March 2026: 69.7% from 196 flights
- April 2026: 71.6% from 177 flights
- May 2026: 69.3% from 180 flights
- June 2026: 58.4% from 202 flights
- July 2026: 75.7% from 212 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 74.9% against 75.4% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 7,839 DEN → HOU 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