Route profile
DFW→IND
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Dallas–Fort Worth to Indianapolis, 761 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 9% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 6,014 flights. How this is calculated
DFW → IND arrives on time 70.2% of the time; the return trip, IND → DFW, arrives on time 78.1% of the time, a 7.9-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
DFW → IND spends 25.8 minutes on the ground on a 761-mile trip: 18.0 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DFW and 7.8 minutes from touchdown to gate at IND.
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 99% of 4,023 comparable routes.
86.5% on time for 5–9 AM departures, against 49.1% for 9 PM–5 AM.
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 DFW to IND differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DFW to IND struggles most at 1 PM: 60.2% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 17.6 points behind the 77.8% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 16.9 points.
Sunday is the day DFW to IND slips furthest against routes of similar length, 64.6% on time where they average 74.7%, 10.1 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 10.2 points.
In June, DFW to IND runs 11.6 points below routes of similar length, 60.3% on time to 71.9%. Against all other routes the gap is 12.4 points.
American Airlines’ flights on DFW to IND arrive on time 69.4% of the time, 5.2 points below the 74.6% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 5.7 points.
DFW to IND against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 1 PM departures | 60.2% | routes of similar length | 77.8% | −17.6 pts | 181 here, 131,064 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 64.6% | routes of similar length | 74.7% | −10.1 pts | 850 here, 330,440 there |
| Month: June | 60.3% | routes of similar length | 71.9% | −11.6 pts | 509 here, 187,653 there |
| Airline: American Airlines | 69.4% | routes of similar length | 74.6% | −5.2 pts | 5,501 here, 335,514 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 761 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 → IND flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
DFW → IND cancelled 121 of 6,014 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 50. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 90.1% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 55 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 121 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.
109 cancellations, 90.1% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
11 cancellations, 9.1% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
1 cancellation, 0.8% 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.
121 coded cancellations were recorded on DFW → IND; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
66 min late
against a median of 1 min early
DFW → IND has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 1 min early, but the worst tenth are 67 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 6,014 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at IND after arriving from DFW.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 47% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 29% | High risk |
| 60 min | 20% | High risk |
| 90 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 6.7% | 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 2.01% of the time and diverts 0.17% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 5,883 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 66 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 6,014 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DFW → IND flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 86.5% of the time, against 49.1% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 37.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 86.5% on time from 1,042 flights
- 8 AM to 9 AM: too few flights to score
- 10 AM: 81.3% on time from 589 flights
- 11 AM: 75.5% on time from 426 flights
- 12 PM: too few flights to score
- 1 PM: 60.2% on time from 186 flights
- 2 PM: 75.1% on time from 304 flights
- 3 PM: 63.5% on time from 612 flights
- 4 PM: 61.5% on time from 331 flights
- 5 PM: 66.9% on time from 467 flights
- 6 PM: 62.0% on time from 478 flights
- 7 PM: 57.7% on time from 294 flights
- 8 PM: 57.5% on time from 837 flights
- 9 PM: 49.1% on time from 123 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why DFW → IND 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
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for DFW → IND. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on DFW → IND, at 53.3%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 86.5% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 49.1%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 5,627 | 69.4% | 2.06% | -1 min | 11.3% |
| Frontier Airlines | 268 | 78.0% | 1.49% | -9 min | 7.6% |
American Airlines flew 95.5% of the 5,895 flights listed.
Frontier Airlines arrived on time 8.6 percentage points more often than American 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA2800 American Airlines | 7:09 PM | 618 | 59.8% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 8.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 74.5%
- Feb: 79.9%
- Mar: 70.0%
- Apr: 70.5%
- May: 66.5%
- Jun: 60.3%
- Jul: 58.4%
- Aug: 65.4%
- Sep: 77.8%
- Oct: 77.9%
- Nov: 76.9%
- Dec: 71.6%
July is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 21.5 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 57.8% from 154 flights
- August 2023: 66.7% from 171 flights
- September 2023: 80.9% from 158 flights
- October 2023: 75.5% from 152 flights
- November 2023: 85.8% from 141 flights
- December 2023: 76.4% from 140 flights
- January 2024: 64.3% from 126 flights
- February 2024: 76.7% from 129 flights
- March 2024: 67.8% from 152 flights
- April 2024: 69.8% from 152 flights
- May 2024: 57.3% from 171 flights
- June 2024: 65.6% from 166 flights
- July 2024: 65.7% from 169 flights
- August 2024: 66.5% from 159 flights
- September 2024: 79.5% from 156 flights
- October 2024: 78.1% from 178 flights
- November 2024: 77.2% from 163 flights
- December 2024: 75.3% from 161 flights
- January 2025: 85.4% from 148 flights
- February 2025: 83.5% from 134 flights
- March 2025: 71.4% from 186 flights
- April 2025: 69.3% from 155 flights
- May 2025: 71.3% from 172 flights
- June 2025: 58.2% from 183 flights
- July 2025: 54.1% from 191 flights
- August 2025: 63.4% from 198 flights
- September 2025: 73.8% from 200 flights
- October 2025: 79.6% from 209 flights
- November 2025: 69.1% from 167 flights
- December 2025: 62.8% from 146 flights
- January 2026: 72.8% from 142 flights
- February 2026: 79.4% from 132 flights
- March 2026: 70.6% from 155 flights
- April 2026: 72.2% from 161 flights
- May 2026: 70.6% from 166 flights
- June 2026: 57.6% from 180 flights
- July 2026: 56.4% from 191 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 68.8% against 71.8% in the 12 months before — declining by 3.0 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 6,014 DFW → IND 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