Route profile
DFW→ONT
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Dallas–Fort Worth to Ontario, 1,188 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 7% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 7,290 flights. How this is calculated
DFW → ONT arrives on time 69.7% of the time; the return trip, ONT → DFW, arrives on time 80.0% of the time, a 10.2-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
DFW → ONT spends 26.8 minutes on the ground on a 1,188-mile trip: 20.0 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DFW and 6.9 minutes from touchdown to gate at ONT.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Reliability here swings unusually widely by season, a wider month-to-month spread than 96% of 3,357 comparable routes.
85.3% on time in a typical February, against 58.7% in July.
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 3,357 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where DFW to ONT differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DFW to ONT struggles most at 10 PM: 51.1% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 12.2 points behind the 63.3% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 20.6 points.
Sunday is the day DFW to ONT slips furthest against routes of similar length, 65.1% on time where they average 73.5%, 8.4 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 9.7 points.
In May, DFW to ONT runs 15.1 points below routes of similar length, 59.1% on time to 74.2%. Against all other routes the gap is 16.2 points.
February is kinder to DFW to ONT than to routes of similar length: 85.3% on time against 80.5%, 4.8 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 3.9 points.
American Airlines’ flights on DFW to ONT arrive on time 69.5% of the time, 5.4 points below the 74.9% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 5.6 points.
DFW to ONT against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 10 PM departures | 51.1% | routes of similar length | 63.3% | −12.2 pts | 934 here, 18,381 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 65.1% | routes of similar length | 73.5% | −8.4 pts | 1,078 here, 306,087 there |
| Month: May | 59.1% | routes of similar length | 74.2% | −15.1 pts | 606 here, 171,662 there |
| Month: February | 85.3% | routes of similar length | 80.5% | +4.8 pts | 455 here, 157,337 there |
| Airline: American Airlines | 69.5% | routes of similar length | 74.9% | −5.4 pts | 5,978 here, 470,195 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 1,188 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 → ONT flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
DFW → ONT cancelled 152 of 7,290 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 48. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 83.6% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 57 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 152 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.
127 cancellations, 83.6% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
23 cancellations, 15.1% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
2 cancellations, 1.3% 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.
152 coded cancellations were recorded on DFW → ONT; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
69 min late
against a median of 2 min early
DFW → ONT has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 2 min early, but the worst tenth are 71 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 7,290 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at ONT 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 | 7.1% | 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 2.09% of the time and diverts 0.12% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 7,129 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 69 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 7,290 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DFW → ONT flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 84.2% of the time, against 54.2% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 30.0 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 84.3% on time from 1,069 flights
- 9 AM: too few flights to score
- 10 AM: 80.3% on time from 854 flights
- 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 79.8% on time from 1,162 flights
- 1 PM to 3 PM: too few flights to score
- 4 PM: 67.0% on time from 223 flights
- 5 PM: 62.9% on time from 933 flights
- 6 PM: 60.8% on time from 255 flights
- 7 PM: 55.9% on time from 134 flights
- 8 PM: 57.3% on time from 161 flights
- 9 PM: 56.8% on time from 791 flights
- 10 PM: 51.1% on time from 959 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why DFW → ONT 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 → ONT. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on DFW → ONT, at 54.5%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 84.2% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 54.2%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 6,108 | 69.5% | 2.01% | -1 min | 11.9% |
| Frontier Airlines | 1,182 | 71.2% | 2.45% | -5 min | 10.7% |
American Airlines flew 83.8% of the 7,290 flights listed.
Carriers on this route performed within a couple of percentage points of each other.
Other ways to fly Dallas–Fort Worth to Los Angeles
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DFW→LAX Dallas–Fort Worth to Los Angeles | 20,660 | 72.8% | 1.51% | -4 min | 54 |
| DFW→ONT this route Dallas–Fort Worth to Ontario | 7,290 | 69.7% | 2.09% | -2 min | 43 |
DFW → LAX is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 72.8% on time, against 69.7% for DFW → ONT.
Flying to ONT from the Dallas–Fort Worth area? Compare DFW, DAL for ONT, with the same test for what counts as a real difference.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 7.5 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 75.2%
- Feb: 85.3%
- Mar: 75.6%
- Apr: 70.8%
- May: 59.1%
- Jun: 60.7%
- Jul: 58.7%
- Aug: 62.2%
- Sep: 71.5%
- Oct: 77.1%
- Nov: 73.5%
- Dec: 78.6%
July is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 26.6 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 61.7% from 210 flights
- August 2023: 58.8% from 232 flights
- September 2023: 66.7% from 226 flights
- October 2023: 73.0% from 201 flights
- November 2023: 81.2% from 181 flights
- December 2023: 85.1% from 175 flights
- January 2024: 75.1% from 176 flights
- February 2024: 87.1% from 163 flights
- March 2024: 70.4% from 204 flights
- April 2024: 77.7% from 210 flights
- May 2024: 48.8% from 218 flights
- June 2024: 67.0% from 209 flights
- July 2024: 57.0% from 212 flights
- August 2024: 70.2% from 209 flights
- September 2024: 75.1% from 209 flights
- October 2024: 89.2% from 212 flights
- November 2024: 68.4% from 191 flights
- December 2024: 77.7% from 191 flights
- January 2025: 76.4% from 156 flights
- February 2025: 81.1% from 144 flights
- March 2025: 71.9% from 181 flights
- April 2025: 66.7% from 227 flights
- May 2025: 62.2% from 214 flights
- June 2025: 54.0% from 219 flights
- July 2025: 50.0% from 224 flights
- August 2025: 57.8% from 212 flights
- September 2025: 73.2% from 183 flights
- October 2025: 68.6% from 207 flights
- November 2025: 70.9% from 188 flights
- December 2025: 73.9% from 201 flights
- January 2026: 74.0% from 168 flights
- February 2026: 87.2% from 152 flights
- March 2026: 85.1% from 184 flights
- April 2026: 68.0% from 180 flights
- May 2026: 66.8% from 197 flights
- June 2026: 61.2% from 210 flights
- July 2026: 66.4% from 214 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 70.5% against 69.5% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 7,290 DFW → ONT 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