Route profile
DTW→LAS
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Detroit to Las Vegas, 1,749 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 66% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 9,463 flights. How this is calculated
DTW → LAS arrives on time 78.7% of the time; the return trip, LAS → DTW, arrives on time 82.3% of the time, a 3.6-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
DTW → LAS spends 25.3 minutes on the ground on a 1,749-mile trip: 16.4 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DTW and 8.9 minutes from touchdown to gate at LAS.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where DTW to LAS differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DTW to LAS struggles most at 6 AM: 78.0% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 11.9 points behind the 89.9% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 12.8 points.
DTW to LAS is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 9 PM: 79.7% arrive on time, 11.7 points ahead of the 68.0% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 10.2 points.
In February, DTW to LAS runs 6.4 points below routes of similar length, 74.8% on time to 81.2%. Against all other routes the gap is 6.7 points.
May is kinder to DTW to LAS than to routes of similar length: 79.7% on time against 75.6%, 4.1 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 4.5 points.
Spirit Airlines does better on DTW to LAS than on its routes of similar length: 82.7% on time here, 76.8% there, 5.9 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 7.5 points.
DTW to LAS against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 6 AM departures | 78.0% | routes of similar length | 89.9% | −11.9 pts | 150 here, 93,870 there |
| Hour: 9 PM departures | 79.7% | routes of similar length | 68.0% | +11.7 pts | 474 here, 30,817 there |
| Month: February | 74.8% | routes of similar length | 81.2% | −6.4 pts | 636 here, 92,009 there |
| Month: May | 79.7% | routes of similar length | 75.6% | +4.1 pts | 788 here, 117,357 there |
| Airline: Spirit Airlines | 82.7% | routes of similar length | 76.8% | +5.9 pts | 2,363 here, 53,207 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 1,749 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.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
42 min late
against a median of 6 min early
Percentiles over 9,463 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at LAS after arriving from DTW.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 37% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 21% | High risk |
| 60 min | 13% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.7% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.7% | 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 0.51% of the time and diverts 0.11% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 9,405 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 42 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 9,463 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DTW → LAS flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 85.9% of the time, against 74.3% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 11.6 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 78.0% on time from 152 flights
- 7 AM: 88.0% on time from 463 flights
- 8 AM: 85.8% on time from 1,010 flights
- 9 AM: 85.2% on time from 623 flights
- 10 AM: 86.8% on time from 428 flights
- 11 AM: 85.9% on time from 150 flights
- 12 PM: 80.6% on time from 1,260 flights
- 1 PM: 71.9% on time from 284 flights
- 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 68.6% on time from 138 flights
- 4 PM: 75.2% on time from 1,175 flights
- 5 PM: too few flights to score
- 6 PM: 74.1% on time from 1,115 flights
- 7 PM: 76.7% on time from 344 flights
- 8 PM: 73.8% on time from 1,295 flights
- 9 PM: 79.7% on time from 476 flights
- 10 PM: 72.6% on time from 269 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why DTW → LAS 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 → LAS. 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 | 6,107 | 78.0% | 0.52% | -5 min | 7.1% |
| Spirit Airlines | 2,376 | 82.7% | 0.46% | -11 min | 6.1% |
| Southwest Airlines | 634 | 74.8% | 0.00% | -2 min | 4.0% |
| Frontier Airlines | 345 | 70.8% | 1.45% | -2 min | 12.4% |
Delta Air Lines flew 64.5% of the 9,462 flights listed. Frontier Airlines cancelled 1.45% of its flights here against 0.00% for Southwest Airlines.
Spirit Airlines arrived on time 11.9 percentage points more often than Frontier Airlines on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
DL334 (8:59 AM) arrived on time 84.3% of the time, 11.2 points more often than DL766 (4:25 PM) at 73.1%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 9.2 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 73.9%
- Feb: 74.8%
- Mar: 78.3%
- Apr: 81.4%
- May: 79.7%
- Jun: 72.2%
- Jul: 71.4%
- Aug: 77.4%
- Sep: 85.4%
- Oct: 85.7%
- Nov: 83.3%
- Dec: 79.6%
July is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 14.3 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 70.2% from 268 flights
- August 2023: 74.4% from 265 flights
- September 2023: 85.2% from 292 flights
- October 2023: 83.6% from 332 flights
- November 2023: 84.0% from 269 flights
- December 2023: 91.8% from 194 flights
- January 2024: 73.4% from 191 flights
- February 2024: 84.9% from 186 flights
- March 2024: 77.9% from 263 flights
- April 2024: 85.2% from 270 flights
- May 2024: 72.8% from 292 flights
- June 2024: 72.8% from 307 flights
- July 2024: 72.3% from 311 flights
- August 2024: 73.8% from 270 flights
- September 2024: 89.1% from 258 flights
- October 2024: 88.9% from 315 flights
- November 2024: 84.3% from 281 flights
- December 2024: 82.3% from 254 flights
- January 2025: 77.2% from 242 flights
- February 2025: 69.1% from 230 flights
- March 2025: 82.2% from 275 flights
- April 2025: 82.8% from 297 flights
- May 2025: 89.5% from 286 flights
- June 2025: 78.2% from 274 flights
- July 2025: 76.9% from 249 flights
- August 2025: 85.0% from 227 flights
- September 2025: 81.6% from 239 flights
- October 2025: 84.7% from 309 flights
- November 2025: 81.4% from 237 flights
- December 2025: 66.2% from 226 flights
- January 2026: 71.1% from 253 flights
- February 2026: 72.3% from 221 flights
- March 2026: 74.4% from 248 flights
- April 2026: 75.6% from 248 flights
- May 2026: 75.9% from 216 flights
- June 2026: 61.5% from 170 flights
- July 2026: 64.8% from 198 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 75.2% against 81.5% in the 12 months before — declining by 6.3 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 9,463 DTW → LAS 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