Route profile
DFW→RDU
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Dallas–Fort Worth to Raleigh–Durham, 1,061 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 6,813 flights. How this is calculated
DFW → RDU arrives on time 69.5% of the time; the return trip, RDU → DFW, arrives on time 76.7% of the time, a 7.3-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
DFW → RDU spends 24.8 minutes on the ground on a 1,061-mile trip: 18.0 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DFW and 6.7 minutes from touchdown to gate at RDU.
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 93% of 3,357 comparable routes.
80.6% on time in a typical February, against 55.6% 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 RDU differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DFW to RDU struggles most at 1 PM: 61.9% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 13.5 points behind the 75.4% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 15.2 points.
Sunday is the day DFW to RDU slips furthest against routes of similar length, 64.1% on time where they average 73.2%, 9.1 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 10.7 points.
In June, DFW to RDU runs 16.1 points below routes of similar length, 55.6% on time to 71.7%. Against all other routes the gap is 17.1 points.
American Airlines’ flights on DFW to RDU arrive on time 68.4% of the time, 5.7 points below the 74.1% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 6.7 points.
DFW to RDU against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 1 PM departures | 61.9% | routes of similar length | 75.4% | −13.5 pts | 244 here, 161,275 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 64.1% | routes of similar length | 73.2% | −9.1 pts | 1,001 here, 420,922 there |
| Month: June | 55.6% | routes of similar length | 71.7% | −16.1 pts | 572 here, 229,175 there |
| Airline: American Airlines | 68.4% | routes of similar length | 74.1% | −5.7 pts | 6,046 here, 580,798 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 1,061 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 → RDU flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
DFW → RDU cancelled 141 of 6,813 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 48. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 92.9% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 52 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 141 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.
131 cancellations, 92.9% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
10 cancellations, 7.1% 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.
141 coded cancellations were recorded on DFW → RDU; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
67 min late
against a median of 1 min early
DFW → RDU has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 1 min early, but the worst tenth are 68 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 6,813 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at RDU after arriving from DFW.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 47% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 30% | High risk |
| 60 min | 21% | High risk |
| 90 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 7.2% | 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 2.07% of the time and diverts 0.22% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 6,657 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 67 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 6,813 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DFW → RDU flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 85.1% of the time, against 59.6% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 25.5 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 85.2% on time from 1,073 flights
- 8 AM: 81.7% on time from 190 flights
- 9 AM: 79.3% on time from 124 flights
- 10 AM: 74.5% on time from 280 flights
- 11 AM: 72.6% on time from 762 flights
- 12 PM: 66.1% on time from 176 flights
- 1 PM: 61.9% on time from 251 flights
- 2 PM: 66.3% on time from 830 flights
- 3 PM: 64.0% on time from 282 flights
- 4 PM: 69.1% on time from 380 flights
- 5 PM: 63.3% on time from 525 flights
- 6 PM: 62.6% on time from 710 flights
- 7 PM: 65.0% on time from 211 flights
- 8 PM: 56.7% on time from 718 flights
- 9 PM: 59.6% on time from 190 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why DFW → RDU 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 → RDU. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on DFW → RDU, at 51.4%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 85.1% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 59.6%.
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 | 6,186 | 68.4% | 2.05% | -1 min | 12.0% |
| Frontier Airlines | 538 | 82.0% | 1.49% | -7 min | 7.2% |
American Airlines flew 92.0% of the 6,724 flights listed.
Frontier Airlines arrived on time 13.6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA542 American Airlines | 8:40 PM | 862 | 58.1% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Thursday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 8.5 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 74.6%
- Feb: 80.6%
- Mar: 68.6%
- Apr: 68.0%
- May: 65.7%
- Jun: 55.6%
- Jul: 57.9%
- Aug: 66.1%
- Sep: 78.9%
- Oct: 75.1%
- Nov: 79.6%
- Dec: 71.2%
June is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 25.0 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 60.4% from 169 flights
- August 2023: 62.4% from 189 flights
- September 2023: 73.6% from 175 flights
- October 2023: 71.5% from 183 flights
- November 2023: 85.0% from 187 flights
- December 2023: 72.9% from 178 flights
- January 2024: 71.1% from 169 flights
- February 2024: 78.7% from 164 flights
- March 2024: 62.8% from 184 flights
- April 2024: 66.3% from 192 flights
- May 2024: 55.9% from 200 flights
- June 2024: 50.5% from 191 flights
- July 2024: 55.7% from 196 flights
- August 2024: 70.2% from 192 flights
- September 2024: 78.6% from 147 flights
- October 2024: 80.0% from 185 flights
- November 2024: 77.1% from 171 flights
- December 2024: 72.3% from 182 flights
- January 2025: 82.0% from 162 flights
- February 2025: 83.1% from 148 flights
- March 2025: 74.3% from 190 flights
- April 2025: 69.0% from 188 flights
- May 2025: 69.9% from 201 flights
- June 2025: 59.3% from 199 flights
- July 2025: 53.1% from 206 flights
- August 2025: 65.7% from 189 flights
- September 2025: 84.5% from 179 flights
- October 2025: 73.8% from 215 flights
- November 2025: 76.6% from 204 flights
- December 2025: 68.9% from 209 flights
- January 2026: 71.2% from 178 flights
- February 2026: 80.3% from 147 flights
- March 2026: 68.8% from 163 flights
- April 2026: 68.8% from 189 flights
- May 2026: 70.9% from 202 flights
- June 2026: 56.8% from 200 flights
- July 2026: 63.1% from 190 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 70.6% against 71.7% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 6,813 DFW → RDU 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