Route profile
DTW→DEN
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Detroit to Denver, 1,123 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 72% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 9,392 flights. How this is calculated
DTW → DEN arrives on time 80.0% of the time; the return trip, DEN → DTW, arrives on time 77.8% of the time, a 2.3-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
DTW → DEN spends 26.9 minutes on the ground on a 1,123-mile trip: 16.2 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DTW and 10.7 minutes from touchdown to gate at DEN.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Every day of the week performs about the same on this route, steadier than 93% of 4,467 comparable routes.
82.7% on time on the best day (Tuesday) against 78.1% on the worst (Thursday).
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 4,467 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where DTW to DEN differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DTW to DEN struggles most at 6 PM: 57.6% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 10 points behind the 67.6% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 11 points.
DTW to DEN is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 12 PM: 85.9% arrive on time, 8.1 points ahead of the 77.8% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 6.5 points.
DTW to DEN holds up on Sundays better than routes of similar length do: 79.5% on time to their 73.3%, a 6.2 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 4.7 points.
September is kinder to DTW to DEN than to routes of similar length: 89.3% on time against 81.6%, 7.7 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 7 points.
Frontier Airlines does better on DTW to DEN than on its routes of similar length: 81.0% on time here, 73.0% there, 8 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 9.8 points.
DTW to DEN against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 6 PM departures | 57.6% | routes of similar length | 67.6% | −10.0 pts | 217 here, 161,612 there |
| Hour: 12 PM departures | 85.9% | routes of similar length | 77.8% | +8.1 pts | 1,184 here, 151,870 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 79.5% | routes of similar length | 73.3% | +6.2 pts | 1,404 here, 377,971 there |
| Month: September | 89.3% | routes of similar length | 81.6% | +7.7 pts | 787 here, 191,368 there |
| Airline: Frontier Airlines | 81.0% | routes of similar length | 73.0% | +8.0 pts | 1,234 here, 117,699 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 1,123 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 → DEN flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
DTW → DEN cancelled 52 of 9,392 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 181. The reason filed most often was the airline, 65.4% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 276 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 52 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.
34 cancellations, 65.4% of the total.
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
16 cancellations, 30.8% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
2 cancellations, 3.8% 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.
52 coded cancellations were recorded on DTW → DEN; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
38 min late
against a median of 6 min early
Percentiles over 9,392 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at DEN after arriving from DTW.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 37% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 19% | High risk |
| 60 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.9% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.2% | 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 0.55% of the time and diverts 0.35% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 9,307 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 38 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 9,392 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DTW → DEN flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 87.8% of the time, against 64.7% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 23.1 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 91.9% on time from 346 flights
- 6 AM: 90.0% on time from 450 flights
- 7 AM: 85.8% on time from 240 flights
- 8 AM: 86.8% on time from 1,794 flights
- 9 AM: 84.7% on time from 703 flights
- 10 AM: too few flights to score
- 11 AM: 86.8% on time from 243 flights
- 12 PM: 85.9% on time from 1,192 flights
- 1 PM: 82.6% on time from 416 flights
- 2 PM: 75.9% on time from 195 flights
- 3 PM: 77.3% on time from 675 flights
- 4 PM: 74.5% on time from 1,570 flights
- 5 PM: 58.9% on time from 260 flights
- 6 PM: 57.6% on time from 218 flights
- 7 PM: too few flights to score
- 8 PM: 72.1% on time from 362 flights
- 9 PM: 66.1% on time from 437 flights
- 10 PM: 66.2% on time from 134 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why DTW → DEN 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 → DEN. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
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 | 3,940 | 77.9% | 0.46% | -6 min | 6.4% |
| United Airlines | 2,247 | 84.7% | 0.76% | -9 min | 5.1% |
| Southwest Airlines | 1,956 | 78.3% | 0.31% | -4 min | 5.5% |
| Frontier Airlines | 1,246 | 81.0% | 0.88% | -9 min | 7.1% |
Delta Air Lines flew 42.0% of the 9,389 flights listed.
United Airlines arrived on time 6.8 percentage points more often than Delta Air Lines on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
DL1648 (12:45 PM) arrived on time 85.8% of the time, 17.7 points more often than DL2431 (4:20 PM) at 68.1%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 4.6 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 74.7%
- Feb: 78.2%
- Mar: 82.8%
- Apr: 79.1%
- May: 78.0%
- Jun: 73.1%
- Jul: 73.7%
- Aug: 78.8%
- Sep: 89.3%
- Oct: 88.5%
- Nov: 85.8%
- Dec: 80.1%
June is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 16.2 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 69.3% from 247 flights
- August 2023: 75.7% from 269 flights
- September 2023: 88.5% from 264 flights
- October 2023: 88.3% from 291 flights
- November 2023: 90.7% from 257 flights
- December 2023: 94.2% from 241 flights
- January 2024: 78.0% from 235 flights
- February 2024: 87.0% from 216 flights
- March 2024: 88.0% from 243 flights
- April 2024: 76.5% from 248 flights
- May 2024: 74.4% from 260 flights
- June 2024: 72.5% from 257 flights
- July 2024: 72.7% from 268 flights
- August 2024: 76.0% from 271 flights
- September 2024: 89.9% from 268 flights
- October 2024: 92.7% from 274 flights
- November 2024: 80.1% from 237 flights
- December 2024: 83.1% from 243 flights
- January 2025: 78.3% from 207 flights
- February 2025: 69.2% from 198 flights
- March 2025: 83.7% from 243 flights
- April 2025: 71.1% from 238 flights
- May 2025: 72.7% from 255 flights
- June 2025: 71.2% from 279 flights
- July 2025: 73.2% from 288 flights
- August 2025: 84.4% from 281 flights
- September 2025: 89.5% from 257 flights
- October 2025: 84.4% from 258 flights
- November 2025: 86.1% from 227 flights
- December 2025: 62.9% from 242 flights
- January 2026: 67.9% from 218 flights
- February 2026: 77.6% from 215 flights
- March 2026: 77.5% from 279 flights
- April 2026: 88.8% from 258 flights
- May 2026: 86.0% from 281 flights
- June 2026: 75.4% from 285 flights
- July 2026: 78.8% from 294 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 80.2% against 78.6% in the 12 months before — improving by 1.6 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 9,392 DTW → DEN 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