Route profile
DFW→IAD
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Dallas–Fort Worth to Washington, 1,172 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 30% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 5,639 flights. How this is calculated
DFW → IAD arrives on time 77.0% of the time; the return trip, IAD → DFW, arrives on time 77.6% of the time.
DFW → IAD spends 25.7 minutes on the ground on a 1,172-mile trip: 18.7 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DFW and 7.0 minutes from touchdown to gate at IAD.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where DFW to IAD differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DFW to IAD struggles most at 1 PM: 57.4% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 17.7 points behind the 75.1% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 19.7 points.
DFW to IAD is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 5 PM: 75.6% arrive on time, 8.1 points ahead of the 67.5% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 5.8 points.
August is kinder to DFW to IAD than to routes of similar length: 78.8% on time against 74.4%, 4.4 points better.
American Airlines’ flights on DFW to IAD arrive on time 69.7% of the time, 5.1 points below the 74.8% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 5.4 points.
DFW to IAD against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 1 PM departures | 57.4% | routes of similar length | 75.1% | −17.7 pts | 148 here, 120,742 there |
| Hour: 5 PM departures | 75.6% | routes of similar length | 67.5% | +8.1 pts | 1,063 here, 128,290 there |
| Month: August | 78.8% | routes of similar length | 74.4% | +4.4 pts | 452 here, 171,134 there |
| Airline: American Airlines | 69.7% | routes of similar length | 74.8% | −5.1 pts | 2,386 here, 483,850 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 1,172 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 DFW → IAD flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
DFW → IAD cancelled 98 of 5,639 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 58. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 68.4% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 84 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 98 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.
67 cancellations, 68.4% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
27 cancellations, 27.6% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
4 cancellations, 4.1% 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.
98 coded cancellations were recorded on DFW → IAD; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
52 min late
against a median of 4 min early
Percentiles over 5,639 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at IAD after arriving from DFW.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 41% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 22% | High risk |
| 60 min | 15% | High risk |
| 90 min | 8.7% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 5.4% | 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 1.74% of the time and diverts 0.18% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 5,531 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 5,639 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DFW → IAD flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 88.8% of the time, against 63.2% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 25.6 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 88.7% on time from 1,166 flights
- 8 AM to 10 AM: too few flights to score
- 11 AM: 81.9% on time from 223 flights
- 12 PM: 78.4% on time from 1,611 flights
- 1 PM: 57.4% on time from 152 flights
- 2 PM to 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 75.6% on time from 1,083 flights
- 6 PM: 57.4% on time from 392 flights
- 7 PM: 66.5% on time from 637 flights
- 8 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why DFW → IAD 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 DFW → IAD. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on DFW → IAD, at 48.4%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 88.8% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 63.2%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 2,968 | 82.5% | 1.25% | -6 min | 7.2% |
| American Airlines | 2,447 | 69.7% | 2.29% | 1 min | 11.1% |
| Frontier Airlines | 211 | 84.0% | 2.37% | -8 min | 6.8% |
United Airlines flew 52.8% of the 5,626 flights listed. Frontier Airlines cancelled 2.37% of its flights here against 1.25% for United Airlines.
Frontier Airlines arrived on time 14.3 percentage points more often than American Airlines on this route.
Other ways to fly Dallas–Fort Worth to Washington
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DFW→DCA Dallas–Fort Worth to Washington | 10,254 | 74.5% | 2.56% | -4 min | 52 |
| DFW→IAD this route Dallas–Fort Worth to Washington | 5,639 | 77.0% | 1.74% | -4 min | 58 |
DFW → IAD is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 77.0% on time, against 74.5% for DFW → DCA.
Flying to IAD from the Dallas–Fort Worth area? Compare DFW, DAL for IAD, with the same test for what counts as a real difference.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
UA2639 (7:30 AM) arrived on time 89.0% of the time, 12.5 points more often than UA1240 (5:25 PM) at 76.5%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 8.1 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 78.9%
- Feb: 82.4%
- Mar: 74.8%
- Apr: 77.3%
- May: 70.2%
- Jun: 70.2%
- Jul: 69.0%
- Aug: 78.8%
- Sep: 82.3%
- Oct: 85.3%
- Nov: 80.5%
- Dec: 78.9%
July is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 16.3 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 73.0% from 149 flights
- August 2023: 84.8% from 153 flights
- September 2023: 71.8% from 159 flights
- October 2023: 88.8% from 146 flights
- November 2023: 85.7% from 147 flights
- December 2023: 82.0% from 140 flights
- January 2024: 68.3% from 142 flights
- February 2024: 82.4% from 136 flights
- March 2024: 72.1% from 138 flights
- April 2024: 77.9% from 133 flights
- May 2024: 62.4% from 140 flights
- June 2024: 71.1% from 138 flights
- July 2024: 69.1% from 143 flights
- August 2024: 73.8% from 145 flights
- September 2024: 85.7% from 147 flights
- October 2024: 88.6% from 176 flights
- November 2024: 82.4% from 145 flights
- December 2024: 78.6% from 132 flights
- January 2025: 80.8% from 132 flights
- February 2025: 79.5% from 124 flights
- March 2025: 75.3% from 165 flights
- April 2025: 69.3% from 141 flights
- May 2025: 69.9% from 157 flights
- June 2025: 71.0% from 187 flights
- July 2025: 67.7% from 172 flights
- August 2025: 77.5% from 166 flights
- September 2025: 88.5% from 185 flights
- October 2025: 79.1% from 173 flights
- November 2025: 73.2% from 143 flights
- December 2025: 76.1% from 138 flights
- January 2026: 88.8% from 140 flights
- February 2026: 84.9% from 139 flights
- March 2026: 76.7% from 149 flights
- April 2026: 84.1% from 152 flights
- May 2026: 76.5% from 175 flights
- June 2026: 68.8% from 196 flights
- July 2026: 67.0% from 196 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 78.0% against 76.7% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 5,639 DFW → IAD 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