DFW → PHX Flight Reliability

Right now

Origin · DFWNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 07:53 UTC

Dallas–Fort Worth airport profile →

Destination · PHXNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 07:51 UTC

Phoenix airport profile →

Route reliability

July 2023 – July 2026

Route Reliability Score

48/ 100Fair

Better than 11% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)

Calculated from 16,011 flights. How this is calculated

On-time arrivals

71.1%

11,163 of 15,706

Cancellation rate

1.76%

282 cancelled

Median arrival delay

-1 min

Average 15.6 min

Severe delays

10.7%

60+ minutes late

Delay when late

73 min

Average, when 15+ min late

Flights analyzed

16,011

3 carriers

DFW → PHX arrives on time 71.1% of the time; the return trip, PHX → DFW, arrives on time 80.0% of the time, an 8.9-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.

DFW → PHX spends 27.6 minutes on the ground on an 868-mile trip: 19.2 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DFW and 8.4 minutes from touchdown to gate at PHX.

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026

What stands out

This route has stayed remarkably steady year over year, a smaller swing than 98% of 5,368 comparable routes.

72.4% on time over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), against 72.5% in the 12 months before (2024-08 to 2025-07), virtually unchanged.

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 5,368 in the comparison.

Why DFW → PHX flights are cancelled

July 2023 – July 2026

DFW → PHX cancelled 282 of 16,011 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 57. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 86.9% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 65 scheduled flights.

Share of cancellations

Weather86.9%

Airline11.0%

Air traffic2.1%

Security0.0%

Of 282 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.

What each reason means

Extreme weather1 in 65

Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.

245 cancellations, 86.9% of the total.

The airline1 in 516

Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.

31 cancellations, 11.0% of the total.

The air traffic system1 in 2,669

Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.

6 cancellations, 2.1% of the total.

Security—

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.

282 coded cancellations were recorded on DFW → PHX; the section appears from 50.

When it goes wrong

July 2023 – July 2026

One arrival in ten is worse than

63 min late

against a median of 1 min early

Arrived an hour or more late10.7%

Typical delay when late73 min

Cancelled1.76%

Landed somewhere else0.14%

DFW → PHX has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 1 min early, 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 16,011 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.

Will your connection be tight enough?

Layovers at PHX after arriving from DFW.

Connection buffer and chance of missing by layover length, DFW → PHX arrivals
Connection time	Chance of missing	Reads as
30 min	47%	Likely to miss
45 min	28%	High risk
60 min	19%	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 1.76% of the time and diverts 0.14% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.

Chance of missing is the share of 15,706 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 63 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 16,011 operations.

Any other layover length: connection checker.

Best time to fly

DFW → PHX flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 82.7% of the time, against 60.5% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 22.2 percentage points.

By day and hour

On-time arrival rate for each weekday and scheduled departure hour, in local time at the departure airport (DFW).

Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 8.8 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 2.3 points.

On-time arrival rate for DFW to PHX by weekday and scheduled departure hour, local time. Each button reads out one slot.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
7 AM–8 AM
8 AM–9 AM
9 AM–10 AM
10 AM–11 AM
11 AM–12 PM
12 PM–1 PM
1 PM–2 PM
2 PM–3 PM
3 PM–4 PM
4 PM–5 PM
5 PM–6 PM
6 PM–7 PM
7 PM–8 PM
8 PM–9 PM
9 PM–10 PM
10 PM–11 PM

On-time rate, % · stronger color, fewer on time

50–59
60–69
70–79
80–89

Fewer than 120 flights, not scored

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · On time is arrival within 15 minutes of schedule. Cells round to whole percentages; the table shows one decimal.

No slot is named best or worst: too few reach 500 flights. Departures before 7 AM and after 11 PM (383 flights) are not drawn: no slot in those hours has enough flights to score.

View as tableHide table

On-time arrival rate (%) with flights beneath, by scheduled departure hour and weekday for DFW to PHX. A dash means fewer than 120 flights, which are not scored.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
7 AM–8 AM	80.1% on time159 flights	88.3% on time172 flights	87.6% on time196 flights	84.5% on time164 flights	89.1% on time166 flights	87.5% on time165 flights	88.4% on time156 flights
8 AM–9 AM	73.8% on time161 flights	77.3% on time164 flights	80.4% on time165 flights	81.9% on time162 flights	77.2% on time162 flights	80.6% on time169 flights	76.5% on time164 flights
9 AM–10 AM	50 flights, too few to score	57 flights, too few to score	62 flights, too few to score	56 flights, too few to score	50 flights, too few to score	51 flights, too few to score	59 flights, too few to score
10 AM–11 AM	80.7% on time204 flights	79.9% on time174 flights	80.3% on time157 flights	78.4% on time206 flights	82.1% on time200 flights	80.6% on time178 flights	77.1% on time191 flights
11 AM–12 PM	30 flights, too few to score	38 flights, too few to score	34 flights, too few to score	53 flights, too few to score	34 flights, too few to score	53 flights, too few to score	40 flights, too few to score
12 PM–1 PM	81.5% on time174 flights	83.0% on time175 flights	82.0% on time174 flights	82.0% on time164 flights	74.3% on time174 flights	74.4% on time170 flights	79.9% on time171 flights
1 PM–2 PM	69 flights, too few to score	56 flights, too few to score	58 flights, too few to score	63 flights, too few to score	64 flights, too few to score	70 flights, too few to score	60 flights, too few to score
2 PM–3 PM	79.5% on time167 flights	80.9% on time164 flights	75.7% on time170 flights	83.9% on time171 flights	81.7% on time172 flights	78.9% on time172 flights	71.9% on time169 flights
3 PM–4 PM	62.1% on time183 flights	70.0% on time163 flights	64.0% on time166 flights	61.4% on time156 flights	64.5% on time184 flights	66.9% on time166 flights	61.2% on time168 flights
4 PM–5 PM	69.2% on time145 flights	65.5% on time143 flights	69.8% on time142 flights	71.3% on time160 flights	64.9% on time149 flights	69.9% on time147 flights	69.4% on time162 flights
5 PM–6 PM	65.3% on time151 flights	61.6% on time154 flights	72.7% on time145 flights	59.4% on time142 flights	58.2% on time144 flights	66.1% on time167 flights	61.5% on time147 flights
6 PM–7 PM	59.7% on time189 flights	70.6% on time161 flights	68.2% on time159 flights	60.1% on time182 flights	60.1% on time183 flights	63.3% on time170 flights	57.3% on time182 flights
7 PM–8 PM	53.3% on time139 flights	66.4% on time127 flights	66.7% on time136 flights	58.4% on time138 flights	59.4% on time141 flights	61.9% on time140 flights	53.7% on time138 flights
8 PM–9 PM	101 flights, too few to score	107 flights, too few to score	97 flights, too few to score	114 flights, too few to score	114 flights, too few to score	93 flights, too few to score	116 flights, too few to score
9 PM–10 PM	66.9% on time168 flights	77.3% on time132 flights	66.7% on time140 flights	68.0% on time176 flights	63.5% on time171 flights	73.5% on time164 flights	58.9% on time176 flights
10 PM–11 PM	57.8% on time194 flights	115 flights, too few to score	73.3% on time121 flights	63.8% on time191 flights	62.1% on time192 flights	60.3% on time134 flights	56.9% on time214 flights

By departure window

5–9 AM82.7%

9 AM–12 PM78.4%

12–3 PM78.4%

3–6 PM65.4%

6–9 PM60.5%

9 PM–5 AM63.8%

By departure hour

12 AM

3 AM

6 AM

9 AM

12 PM

3 PM

6 PM

9 PM

Why DFW → PHX runs late

July 2023 – July 2026

Late-arriving aircraft51.7%

the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late

The airline30.3%

crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control

Air traffic control10.5%

airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control

Weather7.3%

weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically

Security0.2%

screening or terminal security incidents

Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for DFW → PHX. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.

Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on DFW → PHX, at 51.7%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 82.7% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 60.5%.

How this route holds up in bad weather

July 2023 – July 2026

The harder-hit end is the one the flight leaves from, where a cancellation keeps it from departing at all. Bad weather cancels 7.0 times the normal rate at DFW against 3.9 times at PHX. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: DFW 10.4% against 1.5%, PHX 2.5% against 0.6%. Flights that did leave PHX in bad weather arrived on time 53.7% of the time, against 80.6% in normal hours.

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026

Departures from DFW and PHX in hours of bad weather and in normal hours
Departures from	DFW	PHX
Cancelled in bad weather	10.4%	2.5%
Cancelled in normal hours	1.5%	0.6%
Arrived on time, bad weather	56.4%	53.7%
Arrived on time, normal hours	74.4%	80.6%
Departures in bad weather	72,822	6,215

Frontier Airlines (5.9% cancelled against 10.5% for the other carriers at DFW) and Spirit Airlines (5.4% cancelled against 9.9% for the other carriers at DFW) cancelled fewer departures from DFW in bad weather than the other carriers there did in the same months. None of the route’s other carriers was clearly worse.

This route’s airlines in bad weather at DFW

All departures from DFW

Cancellation rates in bad weather at DFW for the airlines that fly DFW to PHX, against the other carriers at DFW in the same months
Airline	Bad-weather departures	Cancelled	Other carriers
Frontier Airlines	2,192	5.9%below the others	10.5%
Spirit Airlines	1,826	5.4%below the others	9.9%
American Airlines	38,491	10.0%about level	10.9%

These are airport figures, not route figures: every scheduled departure from DFW and PHX, to any destination, in hours the weather report called bad. The airline rows count each carrier’s departures from DFW on every route.

Weather source and limits. In full: DFW (airlines), PHX, What Weather Costs Each Airport, Who Cancels More When the Weather Turns, Airports That Change Places When Weather Turns.

Airlines on this route

Carriers with at least 200 flights, by the airline that operated each one.

Airlines on this route
Carrier	Flights	On time	Cancelled	Median delay	Severe
American Airlines	13,744	71.2%	1.80%	-1 min	10.7%
Frontier Airlines	1,626	71.5%	1.85%	-4 min	11.4%
Spirit Airlines	628	67.6%	0.64%	4 min	9.8%

American Airlines flew 85.9% of the 15,998 flights listed. Frontier Airlines cancelled 1.85% of its flights here against 0.64% for Spirit Airlines.

Frontier Airlines arrived on time 3.9 percentage points more often than Spirit Airlines on this route.

Flights on this route

Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.

Flights on this route
Flight	Scheduled	Operations	On time
AA520 American Airlines	8:40 AM	773	77.5%

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

Mon68.9%

Tue74.7%

Wed73.7%

Thu70.8%

Fri70.1%

Sat72.0%

Sun67.9%

Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 6.8 percentage points.

By month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

July is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 19.2 percentage points.

Reliability over time

July 2023 – July 2026

24

25

26

Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 72.4% against 72.5% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.

Data and methodology

Calculated by FlyerIntel from 16,011 DFW → PHX 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

Analysis last recomputed September 26, 2026

DFW airport PHX airport Return direction PHX → DFW

DFW→PHX

Right now

Route reliability

What stands out

Why DFW → PHX flights are cancelled

Share of cancellations

What each reason means

When it goes wrong

Will your connection be tight enough?

Best time to fly

By day and hour

By departure window

By departure hour

Why DFW → PHX runs late

How this route holds up in bad weather

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

This route’s airlines in bad weather at DFW

Airlines on this route

Flights on this route

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

By month

Reliability over time

Data and methodology