Route profile
DTW→BNA
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Detroit to Nashville, 456 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 80% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 7,146 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
DTW → BNA arrives on time 82.2% of the time; the return trip, BNA → DTW, arrives on time 82.5% of the time.
DTW → BNA spends 23.3 minutes on the ground on a 456-mile trip: 15.3 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DTW and 8.0 minutes from touchdown to gate at BNA.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where DTW to BNA differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DTW to BNA is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 8 PM: 78.4% arrive on time, 11 points ahead of the 67.4% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 11 points.
DTW to BNA holds up on Mondays better than routes of similar length do: 82.4% on time to their 77.6%, a 4.8 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 5.2 points.
August is kinder to DTW to BNA than to routes of similar length: 86.4% on time against 77.7%, 8.7 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 9.9 points.
In December, DTW to BNA runs 3.5 points below routes of similar length, 75.4% on time to 78.9%.
Southwest Airlines does better on DTW to BNA than on its routes of similar length: 81.7% on time here, 78.2% there, 3.5 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 4.3 points.
DTW to BNA against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 8 PM departures | 78.4% | routes of similar length | 67.4% | +11.0 pts | 1,010 here, 75,143 there |
| Weekday: Monday | 82.4% | routes of similar length | 77.6% | +4.8 pts | 1,039 here, 232,985 there |
| Month: August | 86.4% | routes of similar length | 77.7% | +8.7 pts | 596 here, 130,011 there |
| Month: December | 75.4% | routes of similar length | 78.9% | −3.5 pts | 578 here, 123,393 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 81.7% | routes of similar length | 78.2% | +3.5 pts | 2,398 here, 456,593 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 456 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 DTW → BNA flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
DTW → BNA cancelled 68 of 7,146 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 105. The reason filed most often was the airline, 52.9% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 199 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 68 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
36 cancellations, 52.9% of the total.
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
32 cancellations, 47.1% 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. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
68 coded cancellations were recorded on DTW → BNA; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
33 min late
against a median of 7 min early
Percentiles over 7,146 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at BNA after arriving from DTW.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 33% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 17% | High risk |
| 60 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.8% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.6% | 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 0.95% of the time and diverts 0.27% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 7,059 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 33 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 7,146 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DTW → BNA flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 91.0% of the time, against 66.4% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 24.6 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 93.9% on time from 883 flights
- 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 88.9% on time from 1,149 flights
- 9 AM: too few flights to score
- 10 AM: 86.5% on time from 133 flights
- 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 87.0% on time from 1,035 flights
- 1 PM: 78.8% on time from 278 flights
- 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 73.9% on time from 327 flights
- 4 PM: 76.2% on time from 960 flights
- 5 PM: 71.3% on time from 183 flights
- 6 PM: 73.6% on time from 302 flights
- 7 PM: 71.6% on time from 235 flights
- 8 PM: 78.4% on time from 1,016 flights
- 9 PM: 65.4% on time from 264 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why DTW → BNA runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
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 DTW → BNA. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 4,223 | 82.9% | 1.16% | -8 min | 5.5% |
| Southwest Airlines | 2,419 | 81.7% | 0.58% | -5 min | 3.8% |
| Spirit Airlines | 474 | 78.5% | 1.05% | -6 min | 6.6% |
Delta Air Lines flew 59.3% of the 7,116 flights listed.
Delta Air Lines arrived on time 4.4 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.
DL2682 (8:25 AM) arrived on time 88.2% of the time, 12.3 points more often than DL2126 (8:40 PM) at 75.9%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 6.7 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 78.2%
- Feb: 85.0%
- Mar: 85.1%
- Apr: 86.7%
- May: 77.5%
- Jun: 76.9%
- Jul: 76.1%
- Aug: 86.4%
- Sep: 88.8%
- Oct: 87.8%
- Nov: 84.7%
- Dec: 75.4%
December is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 13.4 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 79.0% from 179 flights
- August 2023: 85.8% from 179 flights
- September 2023: 88.4% from 173 flights
- October 2023: 89.9% from 180 flights
- November 2023: 85.6% from 160 flights
- December 2023: 90.7% from 172 flights
- January 2024: 76.8% from 165 flights
- February 2024: 95.3% from 149 flights
- March 2024: 91.0% from 177 flights
- April 2024: 91.6% from 178 flights
- May 2024: 73.9% from 185 flights
- June 2024: 76.4% from 179 flights
- July 2024: 75.3% from 206 flights
- August 2024: 83.4% from 211 flights
- September 2024: 87.9% from 199 flights
- October 2024: 92.1% from 202 flights
- November 2024: 90.6% from 191 flights
- December 2024: 78.2% from 207 flights
- January 2025: 82.2% from 193 flights
- February 2025: 81.3% from 172 flights
- March 2025: 88.1% from 219 flights
- April 2025: 83.6% from 216 flights
- May 2025: 81.8% from 212 flights
- June 2025: 77.4% from 213 flights
- July 2025: 73.7% from 209 flights
- August 2025: 90.0% from 211 flights
- September 2025: 90.0% from 201 flights
- October 2025: 82.3% from 232 flights
- November 2025: 78.2% from 201 flights
- December 2025: 59.5% from 206 flights
- January 2026: 74.7% from 167 flights
- February 2026: 79.2% from 154 flights
- March 2026: 76.4% from 199 flights
- April 2026: 85.5% from 201 flights
- May 2026: 76.5% from 226 flights
- June 2026: 76.7% from 210 flights
- July 2026: 76.8% from 212 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 78.9% against 83.3% in the 12 months before — declining by 4.4 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 7,146 DTW → BNA 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