Route profile
DEN→PIT
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Denver to Pittsburgh, 1,290 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 39% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 5,343 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
DEN → PIT arrives on time 73.5% of the time; the return trip, PIT → DEN, arrives on time 81.9% of the time, an 8.4-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
DEN → PIT spends 24.9 minutes on the ground on a 1,290-mile trip: 19.3 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DEN and 5.6 minutes from touchdown to gate at PIT.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Every day of the week performs about the same on this route, steadier than 93% of 4,467 comparable routes.
75.8% on time on the best day (Sunday) against 71.3% on the worst (Thursday).
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 4,467 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where DEN to PIT differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DEN to PIT struggles most at 8 PM: 51.5% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 13.6 points behind the 65.1% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 15.9 points.
Tuesday is the day DEN to PIT slips furthest against routes of similar length, 74.1% on time where they average 80.6%, 6.5 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 7.5 points.
In June, DEN to PIT runs 10.6 points below routes of similar length, 61.2% on time to 71.8%. Against all other routes the gap is 11.5 points.
Southwest Airlines’ flights on DEN to PIT arrive on time 67.7% of the time, 8.1 points below the 75.8% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 9.7 points.
DEN to PIT against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 8 PM departures | 51.5% | routes of similar length | 65.1% | −13.6 pts | 167 here, 70,998 there |
| Weekday: Tuesday | 74.1% | routes of similar length | 80.6% | −6.5 pts | 767 here, 244,397 there |
| Month: June | 61.2% | routes of similar length | 71.8% | −10.6 pts | 484 here, 144,531 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 67.7% | routes of similar length | 75.8% | −8.1 pts | 2,525 here, 390,883 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 1,290 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
52 min late
against a median of 1 min early
Percentiles over 5,343 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at PIT after arriving from DEN.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 46% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 26% | High risk |
| 60 min | 16% | High risk |
| 90 min | 8.3% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.8% | 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 0.51% of the time and diverts 0.13% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 5,309 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 52 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 5,343 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DEN → PIT flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 87.4% of the time, against 58.3% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 29.1 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 91.8% on time from 122 flights
- 7 AM: 83.3% on time from 162 flights
- 8 AM: too few flights to score
- 9 AM: 85.7% on time from 392 flights
- 10 AM: 82.0% on time from 1,321 flights
- 11 AM: 73.2% on time from 168 flights
- 12 PM: too few flights to score
- 1 PM: 74.1% on time from 360 flights
- 2 PM: 68.5% on time from 198 flights
- 3 PM: 59.9% on time from 144 flights
- 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 69.9% on time from 1,025 flights
- 6 PM: 62.5% on time from 575 flights
- 7 PM: 54.4% on time from 323 flights
- 8 PM: 51.5% on time from 173 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why DEN → PIT 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 → PIT. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on DEN → PIT, at 52.9%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 87.4% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 58.3%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 2,571 | 78.3% | 0.35% | -4 min | 6.8% |
| Southwest Airlines | 2,544 | 67.7% | 0.63% | 3 min | 10.5% |
| Frontier Airlines | 228 | 83.2% | 0.88% | -8 min | 8.0% |
United Airlines flew 48.1% of the 5,343 flights listed.
Frontier Airlines arrived on time 15.5 percentage points more often than Southwest Airlines on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Sunday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 4.5 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 74.7%
- Feb: 79.5%
- Mar: 75.2%
- Apr: 78.6%
- May: 69.2%
- Jun: 61.2%
- Jul: 66.0%
- Aug: 65.8%
- Sep: 78.1%
- Oct: 79.9%
- Nov: 83.1%
- Dec: 78.5%
June is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 21.9 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 68.5% from 150 flights
- August 2023: 64.6% from 163 flights
- September 2023: 74.2% from 153 flights
- October 2023: 77.9% from 146 flights
- November 2023: 84.1% from 151 flights
- December 2023: 74.8% from 159 flights
- January 2024: 67.5% from 124 flights
- February 2024: too few flights to score (108)
- March 2024: 78.5% from 133 flights
- April 2024: 80.8% from 146 flights
- May 2024: 74.4% from 165 flights
- June 2024: 70.1% from 177 flights
- July 2024: 74.5% from 186 flights
- August 2024: 72.5% from 178 flights
- September 2024: 86.4% from 176 flights
- October 2024: 83.6% from 166 flights
- November 2024: 80.8% from 125 flights
- December 2024: 83.0% from 136 flights
- January 2025: too few flights to score (110)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (97)
- March 2025: 78.5% from 121 flights
- April 2025: 74.4% from 126 flights
- May 2025: 60.3% from 136 flights
- June 2025: 51.8% from 169 flights
- July 2025: 56.9% from 185 flights
- August 2025: 60.0% from 176 flights
- September 2025: 73.1% from 167 flights
- October 2025: 78.1% from 178 flights
- November 2025: 84.1% from 158 flights
- December 2025: 78.3% from 138 flights
- January 2026: too few flights to score (106)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (92)
- March 2026: 68.3% from 121 flights
- April 2026: too few flights to score (117)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (119)
- June 2026: 61.2% from 139 flights
- July 2026: 64.1% from 146 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 73.7% against 72.7% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 5,343 DEN → PIT 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