Route profile
DFW→MKE
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Dallas–Fort Worth to Milwaukee, 853 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 1% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,540 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
DFW → MKE arrives on time 65.7% of the time; the return trip, MKE → DFW, arrives on time 72.7% of the time, a 7.0-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
DFW → MKE spends 22.9 minutes on the ground on an 853-mile trip: 18.0 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DFW and 4.9 minutes from touchdown to gate at MKE.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route's worst arrivals run unusually far past its typical one, a bigger gap than 98% of 4,598 comparable routes.
A typical arrival is 1 min late, but the worst tenth run 89 minutes worse than that.
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 4,598 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where DFW to MKE differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DFW to MKE struggles most at 3 PM: 45.9% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 25.2 points behind the 71.1% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 26.8 points.
Monday is the day DFW to MKE slips furthest against routes of similar length, 60.0% on time where they average 76.8%, 16.8 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 17.3 points.
In June, DFW to MKE runs 19.1 points below routes of similar length, 52.7% on time to 71.8%. Against all other routes the gap is 20 points.
American Airlines’ flights on DFW to MKE arrive on time 65.1% of the time, 9.2 points below the 74.3% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 10 points.
DFW to MKE against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 3 PM departures | 45.9% | routes of similar length | 71.1% | −25.2 pts | 170 here, 152,976 there |
| Weekday: Monday | 60.0% | routes of similar length | 76.8% | −16.8 pts | 483 here, 386,519 there |
| Month: June | 52.7% | routes of similar length | 71.8% | −19.1 pts | 260 here, 214,799 there |
| Airline: American Airlines | 65.1% | routes of similar length | 74.3% | −9.2 pts | 3,370 here, 388,725 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 853 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 → MKE flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
DFW → MKE cancelled 89 of 3,540 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 40. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 87.6% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 45 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 89 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.
78 cancellations, 87.6% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
10 cancellations, 11.2% 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, 1.1% 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. 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.
89 coded cancellations were recorded on DFW → MKE; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
90 min late
against a median of 1 min late
DFW → MKE has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 1 min late, but the worst tenth are 89 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 3,540 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at MKE after arriving from DFW.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 51% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 33% | Likely to miss |
| 60 min | 25% | High risk |
| 90 min | 15% | High risk |
| 120 min | 9.8% | 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 2.51% of the time and diverts 0.25% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,442 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 90 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,540 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DFW → MKE flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 82.0% of the time, against 49.3% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 32.7 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 81.8% on time from 874 flights
- 9 AM: 72.8% on time from 195 flights
- 10 AM to 1 PM: too few flights to score
- 2 PM: 64.1% on time from 887 flights
- 3 PM: 45.9% on time from 174 flights
- 4 PM to 6 PM: too few flights to score
- 7 PM: 51.0% on time from 366 flights
- 8 PM: 63.4% on time from 343 flights
- 9 PM: 55.6% on time from 488 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why DFW → MKE 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 → MKE. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on DFW → MKE, at 56.7%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 82.0% of the time and 3–6 PM departures 49.3%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 3,466 | 65.1% | 2.54% | 1 min | 15.9% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Monday the least, a gap of 9.4 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 69.2%
- Feb: 71.4%
- Mar: 61.6%
- Apr: 65.9%
- May: 58.6%
- Jun: 52.7%
- Jul: 53.3%
- Aug: 63.1%
- Sep: 77.5%
- Oct: 77.6%
- Nov: 70.9%
- Dec: 66.8%
June is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 24.9 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: too few flights to score (93)
- August 2023: too few flights to score (93)
- September 2023: too few flights to score (87)
- October 2023: too few flights to score (87)
- November 2023: too few flights to score (84)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (91)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (93)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (87)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (91)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (84)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (93)
- June 2024: too few flights to score (90)
- July 2024: too few flights to score (99)
- August 2024: 70.5% from 131 flights
- September 2024: 80.3% from 132 flights
- October 2024: 78.0% from 132 flights
- November 2024: too few flights to score (109)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (116)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (92)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- April 2025: too few flights to score (90)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- June 2025: too few flights to score (90)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (91)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (90)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (92)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (88)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (93)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (84)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (93)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (87)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (90)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (90)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (90)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 67.5% against 66.5% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,540 DFW → MKE 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