Route profile
DTW→MSP
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Detroit to Minneapolis, 528 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 82% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 6,656 flights. How this is calculated
DTW → MSP arrives on time 81.9% of the time; the return trip, MSP → DTW, arrives on time 84.4% of the time, a 2.5-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
DTW → MSP spends 24.6 minutes on the ground on a 528-mile trip: 17.9 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DTW and 6.7 minutes from touchdown to gate at MSP.
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 97% of 4,467 comparable routes.
84.1% on time on the best day (Wednesday) against 80.5% on the worst (Friday).
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 MSP differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DTW to MSP is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 4 PM: 80.5% arrive on time, 9.2 points ahead of the 71.3% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 9.8 points.
DTW to MSP holds up on Sundays better than routes of similar length do: 81.0% on time to their 75.4%, a 5.6 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 6.2 points.
May is kinder to DTW to MSP than to routes of similar length: 83.6% on time against 76.3%, 7.3 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 8.4 points.
In August, DTW to MSP runs 5 points below routes of similar length, 72.6% on time to 77.6%. Against all other routes the gap is 3.9 points.
Spirit Airlines does better on DTW to MSP than on its routes of similar length: 83.3% on time here, 75.1% there, 8.2 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 8.1 points.
DTW to MSP against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 4 PM departures | 80.5% | routes of similar length | 71.3% | +9.2 pts | 1,042 here, 87,486 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 81.0% | routes of similar length | 75.4% | +5.6 pts | 967 here, 235,116 there |
| Month: May | 83.6% | routes of similar length | 76.3% | +7.3 pts | 512 here, 134,646 there |
| Month: August | 72.6% | routes of similar length | 77.6% | −5.0 pts | 616 here, 133,960 there |
| Airline: Spirit Airlines | 83.3% | routes of similar length | 75.1% | +8.2 pts | 803 here, 67,811 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 528 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
34 min late
against a median of 8 min early
Percentiles over 6,656 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at MSP after arriving from DTW.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 33% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 17% | High risk |
| 60 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.6% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.3% | 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 0.41% of the time and diverts 0.09% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 6,623 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 34 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 6,656 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DTW → MSP flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 89.3% of the time, against 69.0% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 20.3 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 89.4% on time from 1,243 flights
- 8 AM: 87.9% on time from 714 flights
- 9 AM: 89.4% on time from 601 flights
- 10 AM to 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 84.7% on time from 1,160 flights
- 1 PM to 3 PM: too few flights to score
- 4 PM: 80.5% on time from 1,043 flights
- 5 PM: too few flights to score
- 6 PM: 73.5% on time from 133 flights
- 7 PM: 68.1% on time from 842 flights
- 8 PM: 69.8% on time from 223 flights
- 9 PM: 73.0% on time from 226 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why DTW → MSP 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
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for DTW → MSP. 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 | 5,849 | 81.7% | 0.39% | -7 min | 5.7% |
| Spirit Airlines | 807 | 83.3% | 0.50% | -10 min | 5.0% |
Delta Air Lines flew 87.9% of the 6,656 flights listed.
Carriers on this route performed within a couple of percentage points of each other.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
DL1746 (7:00 AM) arrived on time 88.7% of the time, 25.9 points more often than DL1303 (7:55 PM) at 62.8%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 3.6 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 79.3%
- Feb: 85.5%
- Mar: 84.7%
- Apr: 84.6%
- May: 83.6%
- Jun: 78.7%
- Jul: 72.9%
- Aug: 72.6%
- Sep: 84.9%
- Oct: 89.3%
- Nov: 90.3%
- Dec: 82.6%
August is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 17.7 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 74.6% from 207 flights
- August 2023: 79.4% from 203 flights
- September 2023: 86.3% from 183 flights
- October 2023: 90.9% from 186 flights
- November 2023: 93.3% from 179 flights
- December 2023: 93.0% from 185 flights
- January 2024: 79.5% from 177 flights
- February 2024: 96.3% from 161 flights
- March 2024: 90.3% from 185 flights
- April 2024: 89.5% from 171 flights
- May 2024: 88.5% from 183 flights
- June 2024: 70.4% from 199 flights
- July 2024: 67.0% from 208 flights
- August 2024: 69.3% from 230 flights
- September 2024: 89.1% from 202 flights
- October 2024: 89.2% from 203 flights
- November 2024: 94.4% from 197 flights
- December 2024: 86.1% from 209 flights
- January 2025: 86.0% from 194 flights
- February 2025: 77.0% from 161 flights
- March 2025: 86.4% from 184 flights
- April 2025: 78.3% from 180 flights
- May 2025: 72.8% from 174 flights
- June 2025: 82.8% from 186 flights
- July 2025: 76.2% from 195 flights
- August 2025: 69.3% from 189 flights
- September 2025: 77.6% from 152 flights
- October 2025: 87.7% from 154 flights
- November 2025: 81.2% from 150 flights
- December 2025: 65.4% from 155 flights
- January 2026: 70.8% from 156 flights
- February 2026: 82.9% from 141 flights
- March 2026: 75.8% from 155 flights
- April 2026: 86.7% from 150 flights
- May 2026: 89.7% from 156 flights
- June 2026: 83.9% from 174 flights
- July 2026: 74.0% from 182 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 78.5% against 82.3% in the 12 months before — declining by 3.8 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 6,656 DTW → MSP 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