DTW → LGA Flight Reliability

Right now

Origin · DTWNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 07:53 UTC

Detroit airport profile →

Destination · LGANo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 07:51 UTC

New York airport profile →

Route reliability

July 2023 – July 2026

Route Reliability Score

57/ 100Fair

Better than 29% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)

Calculated from 12,501 flights. How this is calculated

On-time arrivals

80.0%

9,663 of 12,080

Cancellation rate

3.11%

389 cancelled

Median arrival delay

-9 min

Average 5.3 min

Severe delays

7.8%

60+ minutes late

Delay when late

73 min

Average, when 15+ min late

Flights analyzed

12,501

3 carriers

DTW → LGA arrives on time 80.0% of the time; the return trip, LGA → DTW, arrives on time 80.9% of the time.

DTW → LGA spends 27.5 minutes on the ground on a 502-mile trip: 19.6 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DTW and 7.9 minutes from touchdown to gate at LGA.

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026

What stands out

This route holds up about the same all year, a steadier seasonal pattern than 92% of 3,357 comparable routes.

85.2% on time in its best month (October) against 74.3% in its worst (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.

Why DTW → LGA flights are cancelled

July 2023 – July 2026

DTW → LGA cancelled 389 of 12,501 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 32. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 56.6% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 57 scheduled flights.

Share of cancellations

Weather56.6%

Air traffic24.4%

Airline19.0%

Security0.0%

Of 389 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.

What each reason means

Extreme weather1 in 57

Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.

220 cancellations, 56.6% of the total.

The air traffic system1 in 132

Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.

95 cancellations, 24.4% of the total.

The airline1 in 169

Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.

74 cancellations, 19.0% of the total.

Security—

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.

389 coded cancellations were recorded on DTW → LGA; the section appears from 50.

When it goes wrong

July 2023 – July 2026

One arrival in ten is worse than

46 min late

against a median of 9 min early

Arrived an hour or more late7.8%

Typical delay when late73 min

Cancelled3.11%

Landed somewhere else0.26%

Percentiles over 12,501 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.

Will your connection be tight enough?

Layovers at LGA after arriving from DTW.

Connection buffer and chance of missing by layover length, DTW → LGA arrivals
Connection time	Chance of missing	Reads as
30 min	32%	Likely to miss
45 min	19%	High risk
60 min	13%	Some risk
90 min	7.7%	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 3.11% of the time and diverts 0.26% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.

Chance of missing is the share of 12,080 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 46 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 12,501 operations.

Any other layover length: connection checker.

Best time to fly

DTW → LGA flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 89.1% of the time, against 71.0% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 18.1 percentage points.

By day and hour

On-time arrival rate for each weekday and scheduled departure hour, in local time at the departure airport (DTW).

Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 7.6 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 2.6 points.

On-time arrival rate for DTW to LGA by weekday and scheduled departure hour, local time. Each button reads out one slot.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
6 AM–7 AM
7 AM–8 AM
8 AM–9 AM
9 AM–10 AM
10 AM–11 AM
11 AM–12 PM
12 PM–1 PM
1 PM–2 PM
2 PM–3 PM
3 PM–4 PM
4 PM–5 PM
5 PM–6 PM
6 PM–7 PM
7 PM–8 PM
8 PM–9 PM
9 PM–10 PM

On-time rate, % · stronger color, fewer on time

60–64
65–69
70–74
75–79
80–84
85–89
90–94

Fewer than 120 flights, not scored

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · On time is arrival within 15 minutes of schedule. Cells round to whole percentages; the table shows one decimal.

No slot is named best or worst: too few reach 500 flights. Departures before 6 AM and after 10 PM (152 flights) are not drawn: no slot in those hours has enough flights to score.

View as tableHide table

On-time arrival rate (%) with flights beneath, by scheduled departure hour and weekday for DTW to LGA. A dash means fewer than 120 flights, which are not scored.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
6 AM–7 AM	88.2% on time164 flights	92.3% on time167 flights	90.5% on time166 flights	83.9% on time164 flights	81.4% on time166 flights	54 flights, too few to score	52 flights, too few to score
7 AM–8 AM	93.9% on time236 flights	91.8% on time234 flights	92.2% on time230 flights	88.3% on time232 flights	84.0% on time232 flights	91.3% on time243 flights	90.8% on time256 flights
8 AM–9 AM	17 flights, too few to score	18 flights, too few to score	17 flights, too few to score	17 flights, too few to score	17 flights, too few to score	119 flights, too few to score	39 flights, too few to score
9 AM–10 AM	26 flights, too few to score	29 flights, too few to score	20 flights, too few to score	33 flights, too few to score	32 flights, too few to score	35 flights, too few to score	36 flights, too few to score
10 AM–11 AM	86.9% on time297 flights	81.8% on time295 flights	93.6% on time298 flights	89.5% on time299 flights	82.6% on time299 flights	90.1% on time194 flights	85.2% on time268 flights
11 AM–12 PM	39 flights, too few to score	41 flights, too few to score	37 flights, too few to score	34 flights, too few to score	36 flights, too few to score	36 flights, too few to score	40 flights, too few to score
12 PM–1 PM	79.3% on time171 flights	75.9% on time169 flights	82.8% on time171 flights	77.6% on time171 flights	72.3% on time169 flights	112 flights, too few to score	76.6% on time170 flights
1 PM–2 PM	17 flights, too few to score	17 flights, too few to score	18 flights, too few to score	18 flights, too few to score	19 flights, too few to score	35 flights, too few to score	17 flights, too few to score
2 PM–3 PM	73.7% on time220 flights	80.6% on time222 flights	83.1% on time220 flights	76.5% on time217 flights	71.2% on time220 flights	84.1% on time140 flights	72.9% on time231 flights
3 PM–4 PM	83 flights, too few to score	80 flights, too few to score	80 flights, too few to score	79 flights, too few to score	79 flights, too few to score	89 flights, too few to score	74 flights, too few to score
4 PM–5 PM	22 flights, too few to score	21 flights, too few to score	22 flights, too few to score	24 flights, too few to score	23 flights, too few to score	68 flights, too few to score	26 flights, too few to score
5 PM–6 PM	65.8% on time199 flights	70.9% on time201 flights	65.6% on time202 flights	60.8% on time200 flights	69.6% on time190 flights	27 flights, too few to score	61.8% on time176 flights
6 PM–7 PM	69.0% on time165 flights	78.6% on time163 flights	73.4% on time160 flights	69.1% on time158 flights	77.2% on time157 flights	19 flights, too few to score	74.1% on time177 flights
7 PM–8 PM	8 flights, too few to score	9 flights, too few to score	9 flights, too few to score	9 flights, too few to score	9 flights, too few to score	3 flights, too few to score	0 flights, too few to score
8 PM–9 PM	23 flights, too few to score	24 flights, too few to score	23 flights, too few to score	22 flights, too few to score	24 flights, too few to score	52 flights, too few to score	23 flights, too few to score
9 PM–10 PM	71.1% on time170 flights	78.3% on time170 flights	74.4% on time170 flights	70.4% on time168 flights	76.3% on time169 flights	77.6% on time122 flights	64.6% on time170 flights

By departure window

5–9 AM89.1%

9 AM–12 PM85.8%

12–3 PM77.4%

3–6 PM71.0%

6–9 PM73.0%

9 PM–5 AM72.9%

By departure hour

12 AM

3 AM

6 AM

9 AM

12 PM

3 PM

6 PM

9 PM

Why DTW → LGA runs late

July 2023 – July 2026

Air traffic control45.0%

airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control

The airline31.0%

crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control

Late-arriving aircraft19.7%

the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late

Weather3.9%

weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically

Security0.5%

screening or terminal security incidents

Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for DTW → LGA. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.

How this route holds up in bad weather

July 2023 – July 2026

The harder-hit end is LGA, where the flight lands. Its figure counts departures from LGA, so it says more about how that airport copes than about this route. Bad weather cancels 4.1 times the normal rate at LGA against 2.3 times at DTW. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: DTW 2.5% against 1.1%, LGA 9.0% against 2.2%. Flights that did leave LGA in bad weather arrived on time 63.6% of the time, against 80.9% in normal hours.

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026

Departures from DTW and LGA in hours of bad weather and in normal hours
Departures from	DTW	LGA
Cancelled in bad weather	2.5%	9.0%
Cancelled in normal hours	1.1%	2.2%
Arrived on time, bad weather	66.5%	63.6%
Arrived on time, normal hours	81.6%	80.9%
Departures in bad weather	53,809	56,339

Of the carriers on this route, Delta Air Lines (1.6% cancelled against 3.3% for the other carriers at DTW) cancelled the fewest departures from DTW in bad weather and Republic Airways (3.8% cancelled against 2.6% for the other carriers at DTW) the most.

This route’s airlines in bad weather at DTW

All departures from DTW

Cancellation rates in bad weather at DTW for the airlines that fly DTW to LGA, against the other carriers at DTW in the same months
Airline	Bad-weather departures	Cancelled	Other carriers
Delta Air Lines	25,101	1.6%below the others	3.3%
Spirit Airlines	4,380	3.3%above the others	2.3%
Republic Airways	2,294	3.8%above the others	2.6%

These are airport figures, not route figures: every scheduled departure from DTW and LGA, to any destination, in hours the weather report called bad. The airline rows count each carrier’s departures from DTW on every route.

Weather source and limits. In full: DTW (airlines), LGA, What Weather Costs Each Airport, Who Cancels More When the Weather Turns, Airports That Change Places When Weather Turns.

Airlines on this route

Carriers with at least 200 flights, by the airline that operated each one.

Airlines on this route
Carrier	Flights	On time	Cancelled	Median delay	Severe
Delta Air Lines	6,109	78.6%	2.14%	-8 min	8.1%
Spirit Airlines	3,266	80.3%	3.70%	-11 min	8.2%
Republic Airways	2,983	83.0%	4.56%	-10 min	6.7%

Delta Air Lines flew 49.4% of the 12,358 flights listed. Republic Airways cancelled 4.56% of its flights here against 2.14% for Delta Air Lines.

Republic Airways arrived on time 4.4 percentage points more often than Delta Air Lines on this route.

Other ways to fly Detroit to New York

Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.

Other ways to fly Detroit to New York
Route	Flights	On time	Cancelled	Median delay	Score
DTW→LGA this route Detroit to New York	12,501	80.0%	3.11%	-9 min	57
DTW→EWR Detroit to Newark	10,363	78.5%	3.50%	-10 min	49

DTW → LGA is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 80.0% on time, against 78.5% for DTW → EWR.

Flights on this route

Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.

Flights on this route
Flight	Scheduled	Operations	On time
DL2603 Delta Air Lines	9:50 PM	902	73.9%
DL2589 Delta Air Lines	10:00 AM	826	84.7%
YX4477 Republic Airways	6:00 AM	808	88.8%
DL2602 Delta Air Lines	2:07 PM	772	74.6%
DL2604 Delta Air Lines	5:59 PM	696	65.4%
DL1487 Delta Air Lines	7:00 AM	613	88.9%

DL1487 (7:00 AM) arrived on time 88.9% of the time, 23.5 points more often than DL2604 (5:59 PM) at 65.4%.

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

Mon79.3%

Tue81.1%

Wed83.1%

Thu78.6%

Fri77.4%

Sat84.6%

Sun76.8%

Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 7.8 percentage points.

By month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

July is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 10.9 percentage points.

Reliability over time

July 2023 – July 2026

24

25

26

Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 75.2% against 80.3% in the 12 months before — declining by 5.1 percentage points.

Data and methodology

Calculated by FlyerIntel from 12,501 DTW → LGA 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

Analysis last recomputed September 26, 2026

DTW airport LGA airport Return direction LGA → DTW

DTW→LGA

Right now

Route reliability

What stands out

Why DTW → LGA flights are cancelled

Share of cancellations

What each reason means

When it goes wrong

Will your connection be tight enough?

Best time to fly

By day and hour

By departure window

By departure hour

Why DTW → LGA runs late

How this route holds up in bad weather

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

This route’s airlines in bad weather at DTW

Airlines on this route

Other ways to fly Detroit to New York

Flights on this route

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

By month

Reliability over time

Data and methodology