Route profile
DTW→MDW
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Detroit to Chicago, 228 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 5,693 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
DTW → MDW arrives on time 80.0% of the time; the return trip, MDW → DTW, arrives on time 78.3% of the time.
DTW → MDW spends 23.4 minutes on the ground on a 228-mile trip: 18.0 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DTW and 5.4 minutes from touchdown to gate at MDW.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Every airline on this route performs about the same, a narrower carrier gap than 99% of 2,692 comparable routes.
Southwest Airlines (80.1% on time) and SkyWest Airlines (79.9%) are close together here.
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 2,692 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where DTW to MDW differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DTW to MDW is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 5 PM: 86.0% arrive on time, 16.9 points ahead of the 69.1% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 16.2 points.
DTW to MDW struggles most at 8 AM: 81.2% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 4.9 points behind the 86.1% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 4.7 points.
DTW to MDW holds up on Fridays better than routes of similar length do: 79.3% on time to their 74.4%, a 4.9 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 3.1 points.
October is kinder to DTW to MDW than to routes of similar length: 89.3% on time against 81.2%, 8.1 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 6.3 points.
In January, DTW to MDW runs 7.5 points below routes of similar length, 72.0% on time to 79.5%. Against all other routes the gap is 7.1 points.
DTW to MDW against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 5 PM departures | 86.0% | routes of similar length | 69.1% | +16.9 pts | 235 here, 46,811 there |
| Hour: 8 AM departures | 81.2% | routes of similar length | 86.1% | −4.9 pts | 1,132 here, 49,075 there |
| Weekday: Friday | 79.3% | routes of similar length | 74.4% | +4.9 pts | 827 here, 100,318 there |
| Month: October | 89.3% | routes of similar length | 81.2% | +8.1 pts | 549 here, 58,304 there |
| Month: January | 72.0% | routes of similar length | 79.5% | −7.5 pts | 415 here, 49,494 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 228 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
37 min late
against a median of 4 min early
Percentiles over 5,693 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at MDW after arriving from DTW.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 40% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 19% | High risk |
| 60 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.9% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.6% | 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 0.81% of the time and diverts 0.30% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 5,630 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 37 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 5,693 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DTW → MDW flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 84.0% of the time, against 70.4% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 13.6 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 87.7% on time from 389 flights
- 7 AM: 88.5% on time from 412 flights
- 8 AM: 81.2% on time from 1,149 flights
- 9 AM to 10 AM: too few flights to score
- 11 AM: 82.8% on time from 136 flights
- 12 PM: 81.1% on time from 873 flights
- 1 PM: 81.0% on time from 519 flights
- 2 PM to 3 PM: too few flights to score
- 4 PM: 78.8% on time from 596 flights
- 5 PM: 86.0% on time from 239 flights
- 6 PM: 78.9% on time from 419 flights
- 7 PM: 66.9% on time from 377 flights
- 8 PM: 62.8% on time from 300 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why DTW → MDW 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 → MDW. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 3,437 | 80.1% | 1.05% | -4 min | 5.0% |
| SkyWest Airlines | 2,256 | 79.9% | 0.44% | -3 min | 7.8% |
Southwest Airlines flew 60.4% of the 5,693 flights listed.
Carriers on this route performed within a couple of percentage points of each other.
Other ways to fly Detroit to Chicago
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DTW→ORD Detroit to Chicago | 17,417 | 77.7% | 1.93% | -6 min | 56 |
| DTW→MDW this route Detroit to Chicago | 5,693 | 80.0% | 0.81% | -4 min | 71 |
DTW → MDW is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 80.0% on time, against 77.7% for DTW → ORD.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 7.4 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 72.0%
- Feb: 83.6%
- Mar: 77.3%
- Apr: 83.2%
- May: 79.6%
- Jun: 72.6%
- Jul: 71.0%
- Aug: 78.8%
- Sep: 88.2%
- Oct: 89.3%
- Nov: 84.5%
- Dec: 79.5%
July is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 18.3 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 73.9% from 207 flights
- August 2023: 80.4% from 228 flights
- September 2023: 88.7% from 205 flights
- October 2023: 88.3% from 214 flights
- November 2023: 85.1% from 169 flights
- December 2023: 90.0% from 163 flights
- January 2024: 66.0% from 171 flights
- February 2024: 90.7% from 161 flights
- March 2024: 83.0% from 176 flights
- April 2024: 85.5% from 172 flights
- May 2024: 77.6% from 177 flights
- June 2024: 72.8% from 173 flights
- July 2024: 74.6% from 175 flights
- August 2024: 78.3% from 184 flights
- September 2024: 90.0% from 180 flights
- October 2024: 93.9% from 181 flights
- November 2024: 86.1% from 167 flights
- December 2024: 75.9% from 166 flights
- January 2025: 76.2% from 173 flights
- February 2025: 76.4% from 158 flights
- March 2025: 73.1% from 176 flights
- April 2025: 83.1% from 174 flights
- May 2025: 85.0% from 180 flights
- June 2025: 81.8% from 154 flights
- July 2025: 70.5% from 153 flights
- August 2025: 77.1% from 160 flights
- September 2025: 85.3% from 150 flights
- October 2025: 85.1% from 154 flights
- November 2025: too few flights to score (99)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (89)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (87)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (80)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (89)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (86)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (87)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (86)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (89)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 75.6% against 81.1% in the 12 months before — declining by 5.5 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 5,693 DTW → MDW 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