Route profile
DFW→RNO
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Dallas–Fort Worth to Reno, 1,345 miles.
Right now
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
FlyerIntel does not currently have live operational data for this airport.
Route reliability
July 2023 – July 2026
Better than 16% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,939 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
DFW → RNO arrives on time 71.9% of the time; the return trip, RNO → DFW, arrives on time 80.4% of the time, an 8.5-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
DFW → RNO spends 24.5 minutes on the ground on a 1,345-mile trip: 19.2 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DFW and 5.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at RNO.
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.
85.9% on time in a typical September, against 59.2% 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 RNO differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DFW to RNO struggles most at 8 PM: 56.3% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 9.1 points behind the 65.4% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 11.1 points.
DFW to RNO is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 9 PM: 73.7% arrive on time, 7.6 points ahead of the 66.1% those routes manage at that hour.
Sunday is the day DFW to RNO slips furthest against routes of similar length, 66.7% on time where they average 75.0%, 8.3 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 8.1 points.
In April, DFW to RNO runs 14.3 points below routes of similar length, 65.2% on time to 79.5%. Against all other routes the gap is 14.7 points.
American Airlines’ flights on DFW to RNO arrive on time 71.9% of the time, 3.3 points below the 75.2% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 3.2 points.
DFW to RNO against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 8 PM departures | 56.3% | routes of similar length | 65.4% | −9.1 pts | 183 here, 63,186 there |
| Hour: 9 PM departures | 73.7% | routes of similar length | 66.1% | +7.6 pts | 198 here, 38,413 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 66.7% | routes of similar length | 75.0% | −8.3 pts | 562 here, 250,999 there |
| Month: April | 65.2% | routes of similar length | 79.5% | −14.3 pts | 325 here, 142,155 there |
| Airline: American Airlines | 71.9% | routes of similar length | 75.2% | −3.3 pts | 3,835 here, 352,840 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 1,345 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 → RNO flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
DFW → RNO cancelled 84 of 3,939 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 47. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 94.0% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 50 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 84 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.
79 cancellations, 94.0% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
5 cancellations, 6.0% 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.
84 coded cancellations were recorded on DFW → RNO; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
54 min late
against a median of 2 min early
Percentiles over 3,939 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at RNO after arriving from DFW.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 45% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 27% | High risk |
| 60 min | 18% | High risk |
| 90 min | 8.6% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.9% | Low 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 2.13% of the time and diverts 0.51% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,835 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 54 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,939 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DFW → RNO flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 85.1% of the time, against 58.8% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 26.3 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 85.1% on time from 996 flights
- 9 AM to 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 74.1% on time from 1,034 flights
- 1 PM to 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 64.9% on time from 187 flights
- 6 PM: too few flights to score
- 7 PM: 62.6% on time from 452 flights
- 8 PM: 56.3% on time from 194 flights
- 9 PM: 73.7% on time from 201 flights
- 10 PM: 60.2% on time from 552 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why DFW → RNO 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 → RNO. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on DFW → RNO, at 45.4%: 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 6–9 PM departures 58.8%.
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 | 3,939 | 71.9% | 2.13% | -2 min | 8.9% |
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA1273 American Airlines | 10:30 PM | 767 | 62.4% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 9.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 71.9%
- Feb: 75.4%
- Mar: 77.4%
- Apr: 65.2%
- May: 62.9%
- Jun: 62.8%
- Jul: 59.2%
- Aug: 67.2%
- Sep: 85.9%
- Oct: 85.9%
- Nov: 80.4%
- Dec: 79.7%
July is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 26.7 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: too few flights to score (104)
- August 2023: 69.4% from 122 flights
- September 2023: too few flights to score (91)
- October 2023: too few flights to score (90)
- November 2023: too few flights to score (80)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (93)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (97)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (96)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (107)
- May 2024: 54.6% from 121 flights
- June 2024: 66.1% from 120 flights
- July 2024: 55.1% from 121 flights
- August 2024: too few flights to score (117)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (119)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (118)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (96)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (101)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (98)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (84)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (105)
- April 2025: too few flights to score (116)
- May 2025: 67.8% from 123 flights
- June 2025: too few flights to score (119)
- July 2025: 59.0% from 121 flights
- August 2025: too few flights to score (99)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (91)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (92)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (95)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (102)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (100)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (101)
- March 2026: 82.8% from 124 flights
- April 2026: too few flights to score (109)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (115)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (116)
- July 2026: 66.4% from 120 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 70.7% against 73.7% in the 12 months before — declining by 3.0 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,939 DFW → RNO 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