Route profile
DFW→PDX
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Dallas–Fort Worth to Portland, 1,616 miles.
Right now
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Weather conditions are strongly associated with delays and cancellations.
Route reliability
July 2023 – July 2026
Better than 7% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 7,371 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
DFW → PDX arrives on time 67.9% of the time; the return trip, PDX → DFW, arrives on time 78.4% of the time, a 10.5-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
DFW → PDX spends 25.6 minutes on the ground on a 1,616-mile trip: 20.3 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DFW and 5.2 minutes from touchdown to gate at PDX.
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 95% of 3,357 comparable routes.
81.3% on time in a typical February, against 55.3% in June.
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 PDX differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DFW to PDX struggles most at 7 AM: 57.3% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 30.6 points behind the 87.9% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 30.5 points.
Saturday is the day DFW to PDX slips furthest against routes of similar length, 66.8% on time where they average 78.8%, 12 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 12.3 points.
In May, DFW to PDX runs 17.6 points below routes of similar length, 57.3% on time to 74.9%. Against all other routes the gap is 18 points.
American Airlines’ flights on DFW to PDX arrive on time 66.7% of the time, 9 points below the 75.7% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 8.4 points.
DFW to PDX against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 7 AM departures | 57.3% | routes of similar length | 87.9% | −30.6 pts | 321 here, 138,956 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 66.8% | routes of similar length | 78.8% | −12.0 pts | 995 here, 209,769 there |
| Month: May | 57.3% | routes of similar length | 74.9% | −17.6 pts | 607 here, 136,252 there |
| Airline: American Airlines | 66.7% | routes of similar length | 75.7% | −9.0 pts | 5,572 here, 284,226 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 1,616 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 → PDX flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
DFW → PDX cancelled 143 of 7,371 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 52. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 80.4% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 64 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 143 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.
115 cancellations, 80.4% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
28 cancellations, 19.6% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
0 cancellations, 0.0% 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.
143 coded cancellations were recorded on DFW → PDX; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
65 min late
against a median of 1 min late
DFW → PDX has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 1 min late, but the worst tenth are 64 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 7,371 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at PDX after arriving from DFW.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 51% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 31% | Likely to miss |
| 60 min | 21% | High risk |
| 90 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 6.3% | 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 1.94% 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 7,215 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 65 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 7,371 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DFW → PDX flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 77.0% of the time, against 46.5% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 30.5 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 57.3% on time from 325 flights
- 8 AM: 82.5% on time from 869 flights
- 9 AM: 77.2% on time from 274 flights
- 10 AM: 79.1% on time from 916 flights
- 11 AM: 66.3% on time from 199 flights
- 12 PM to 1 PM: too few flights to score
- 2 PM: 64.0% on time from 185 flights
- 3 PM: 70.0% on time from 630 flights
- 4 PM: 69.3% on time from 764 flights
- 5 PM: 67.9% on time from 665 flights
- 6 PM: 60.9% on time from 413 flights
- 7 PM: 62.0% on time from 834 flights
- 8 PM: 58.5% on time from 734 flights
- 9 PM: 52.1% on time from 217 flights
- 10 PM: 41.8% on time from 268 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why DFW → PDX 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 → PDX. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on DFW → PDX, at 49.3%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 9 AM–12 PM departures arrived on time 77.0% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 46.5%.
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 | 5,696 | 66.7% | 2.04% | 1 min | 12.0% |
| Alaska Airlines | 1,566 | 72.6% | 1.34% | -1 min | 8.4% |
American Airlines flew 78.4% of the 7,262 flights listed.
Alaska Airlines arrived on time 5.9 percentage points more often than American Airlines on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 6.6 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 68.9%
- Feb: 81.3%
- Mar: 72.5%
- Apr: 72.0%
- May: 57.3%
- Jun: 55.3%
- Jul: 60.4%
- Aug: 61.9%
- Sep: 74.6%
- Oct: 74.7%
- Nov: 75.6%
- Dec: 70.5%
June is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 26.0 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 57.9% from 202 flights
- August 2023: 68.0% from 207 flights
- September 2023: 81.5% from 172 flights
- October 2023: 83.1% from 176 flights
- November 2023: 85.6% from 174 flights
- December 2023: 86.1% from 180 flights
- January 2024: 64.2% from 175 flights
- February 2024: 83.5% from 164 flights
- March 2024: 71.6% from 178 flights
- April 2024: 71.6% from 182 flights
- May 2024: 49.3% from 225 flights
- June 2024: 57.4% from 254 flights
- July 2024: 56.3% from 261 flights
- August 2024: 68.5% from 245 flights
- September 2024: 73.5% from 216 flights
- October 2024: 85.4% from 205 flights
- November 2024: 72.0% from 200 flights
- December 2024: 62.7% from 220 flights
- January 2025: 75.3% from 183 flights
- February 2025: 83.7% from 155 flights
- March 2025: 67.6% from 180 flights
- April 2025: 72.0% from 180 flights
- May 2025: 60.2% from 202 flights
- June 2025: 51.8% from 226 flights
- July 2025: 59.2% from 229 flights
- August 2025: 49.8% from 240 flights
- September 2025: 69.9% from 199 flights
- October 2025: 58.0% from 224 flights
- November 2025: 70.2% from 202 flights
- December 2025: 65.3% from 213 flights
- January 2026: 66.7% from 168 flights
- February 2026: 76.6% from 158 flights
- March 2026: 78.3% from 186 flights
- April 2026: 72.3% from 193 flights
- May 2026: 63.1% from 203 flights
- June 2026: 56.8% from 195 flights
- July 2026: 69.3% from 199 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 65.7% against 68.7% in the 12 months before — declining by 3.0 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 7,371 DFW → PDX 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