Route profile
DTW→IAH
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Detroit to Houston, 1,075 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 54% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 7,040 flights. How this is calculated
DTW → IAH arrives on time 78.9% of the time; the return trip, IAH → DTW, arrives on time 80.2% of the time.
DTW → IAH spends 28.1 minutes on the ground on a 1,075-mile trip: 16.7 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DTW and 11.4 minutes from touchdown to gate at IAH.
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 95% of 5,368 comparable routes.
79.2% on time over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), against 78.9% 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.
What sets this route apart
Where DTW to IAH differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DTW to IAH is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 9 PM: 76.1% arrive on time, 10.9 points ahead of the 65.2% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 6.6 points.
DTW to IAH holds up on Sundays better than routes of similar length do: 78.1% on time to their 73.0%, a 5.1 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 3.3 points.
March is kinder to DTW to IAH than to routes of similar length: 81.0% on time against 75.2%, 5.8 points better.
In May, DTW to IAH runs 4.8 points below routes of similar length, 69.2% on time to 74.0%. Against all other routes the gap is 6.1 points.
Spirit Airlines does better on DTW to IAH than on its routes of similar length: 78.5% on time here, 73.7% there, 4.8 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 3.3 points.
DTW to IAH against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 9 PM departures | 76.1% | routes of similar length | 65.2% | +10.9 pts | 330 here, 78,626 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 78.1% | routes of similar length | 73.0% | +5.1 pts | 1,019 here, 426,683 there |
| Month: March | 81.0% | routes of similar length | 75.2% | +5.8 pts | 559 here, 256,176 there |
| Month: May | 69.2% | routes of similar length | 74.0% | −4.8 pts | 559 here, 239,925 there |
| Airline: Spirit Airlines | 78.5% | routes of similar length | 73.7% | +4.8 pts | 1,460 here, 197,267 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 1,075 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 → IAH flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
DTW → IAH cancelled 82 of 7,040 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 86. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 52.4% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 164 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 82 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.
43 cancellations, 52.4% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
33 cancellations, 40.2% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
6 cancellations, 7.3% 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.
82 coded cancellations were recorded on DTW → IAH; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
41 min late
against a median of 7 min early
Percentiles over 7,040 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at IAH after arriving from DTW.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 36% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 20% | High risk |
| 60 min | 13% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 7.0% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.5% | 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 1.16% of the time and diverts 0.24% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 6,941 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 41 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 7,040 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DTW → IAH flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 87.4% of the time, against 71.2% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 16.2 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 85.9% on time from 200 flights
- 7 AM: 86.4% on time from 188 flights
- 8 AM: 84.3% on time from 2,102 flights
- 9 AM to 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 81.3% on time from 919 flights
- 1 PM: 83.3% on time from 248 flights
- 2 PM: 73.7% on time from 181 flights
- 3 PM: 72.6% on time from 343 flights
- 4 PM: 71.9% on time from 1,167 flights
- 5 PM: 77.1% on time from 188 flights
- 6 PM: too few flights to score
- 7 PM: 69.2% on time from 121 flights
- 8 PM: 71.8% on time from 746 flights
- 9 PM: 76.1% on time from 337 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why DTW → IAH runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
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 → IAH. 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 | 4,045 | 77.7% | 0.94% | -6 min | 7.5% |
| Spirit Airlines | 1,484 | 78.5% | 1.42% | -10 min | 7.6% |
| United Airlines | 1,278 | 84.8% | 1.72% | -9 min | 4.5% |
Delta Air Lines flew 59.4% of the 6,807 flights listed.
United Airlines arrived on time 7.1 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.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 5.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 73.5%
- Feb: 83.2%
- Mar: 81.0%
- Apr: 79.1%
- May: 69.2%
- Jun: 72.9%
- Jul: 72.1%
- Aug: 79.6%
- Sep: 85.2%
- Oct: 88.3%
- Nov: 85.1%
- Dec: 77.7%
May is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 19.1 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 76.6% from 180 flights
- August 2023: 78.6% from 223 flights
- September 2023: 79.9% from 206 flights
- October 2023: 86.6% from 234 flights
- November 2023: 89.3% from 178 flights
- December 2023: 92.5% from 159 flights
- January 2024: 73.7% from 160 flights
- February 2024: 90.3% from 154 flights
- March 2024: 84.2% from 172 flights
- April 2024: 77.8% from 187 flights
- May 2024: 60.3% from 212 flights
- June 2024: 80.1% from 227 flights
- July 2024: 56.5% from 209 flights
- August 2024: 75.2% from 239 flights
- September 2024: 82.5% from 228 flights
- October 2024: 87.5% from 224 flights
- November 2024: 83.8% from 216 flights
- December 2024: 79.3% from 223 flights
- January 2025: 75.0% from 208 flights
- February 2025: 75.4% from 175 flights
- March 2025: 83.4% from 193 flights
- April 2025: 80.2% from 173 flights
- May 2025: 74.9% from 176 flights
- June 2025: 65.7% from 180 flights
- July 2025: 80.6% from 199 flights
- August 2025: 86.0% from 202 flights
- September 2025: 94.5% from 181 flights
- October 2025: 91.7% from 168 flights
- November 2025: 82.5% from 191 flights
- December 2025: 61.4% from 170 flights
- January 2026: 70.9% from 130 flights
- February 2026: 85.1% from 149 flights
- March 2026: 75.9% from 203 flights
- April 2026: 79.4% from 181 flights
- May 2026: 73.9% from 182 flights
- June 2026: 71.1% from 173 flights
- July 2026: 75.3% from 175 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 79.2% against 78.9% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 7,040 DTW → IAH 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