DTW → ORD Flight Reliability

Right now

Origin · DTWNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 07:53 UTC

Detroit airport profile →

Destination · ORDNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 07:51 UTC

Chicago airport profile →

Route reliability

July 2023 – July 2026

Route Reliability Score

56/ 100Fair

Better than 26% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)

Calculated from 17,417 flights. How this is calculated

On-time arrivals

77.7%

13,259 of 17,058

Cancellation rate

1.93%

336 cancelled

Median arrival delay

-6 min

Average 10.5 min

Severe delays

9.0%

60+ minutes late

Delay when late

85 min

Average, when 15+ min late

Flights analyzed

17,417

6 carriers

DTW → ORD arrives on time 77.7% of the time; the return trip, ORD → DTW, arrives on time 76.7% of the time.

DTW → ORD spends 37.9 minutes on the ground on a 235-mile trip: 19.3 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DTW and 18.6 minutes from touchdown to gate at ORD.

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

Why DTW → ORD flights are cancelled

July 2023 – July 2026

DTW → ORD cancelled 336 of 17,417 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 52. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 61.3% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 85 scheduled flights.

Share of cancellations

Weather61.3%

Air traffic20.2%

Airline18.5%

Security0.0%

Of 336 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.

What each reason means

Extreme weather1 in 85

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

206 cancellations, 61.3% of the total.

The air traffic system1 in 256

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

68 cancellations, 20.2% of the total.

The airline1 in 281

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

62 cancellations, 18.5% 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.

336 coded cancellations were recorded on DTW → ORD; the section appears from 50.

When it goes wrong

July 2023 – July 2026

One arrival in ten is worse than

52 min late

against a median of 6 min early

Arrived an hour or more late9.0%

Typical delay when late85 min

Cancelled1.93%

Landed somewhere else0.13%

Percentiles over 17,417 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.

Will your connection be tight enough?

Layovers at ORD after arriving from DTW.

Connection buffer and chance of missing by layover length, DTW → ORD arrivals
Connection time	Chance of missing	Reads as
30 min	37%	Likely to miss
45 min	22%	High risk
60 min	15%	Some risk
90 min	8.9%	Some risk
120 min	6.2%	Some 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 1.93% of the time and diverts 0.13% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.

Chance of missing is the share of 17,058 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 52 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 17,417 operations.

Any other layover length: connection checker.

Best time to fly

DTW → ORD flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 85.5% of the time, against 64.3% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 21.2 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 8.7 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 2.0 points.

On-time arrival rate for DTW to ORD 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

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

50–59
60–69
70–79
80–89
90–99

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 9 PM (574 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 ORD. A dash means fewer than 120 flights, which are not scored.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
6 AM–7 AM	86.3% on time261 flights	86.9% on time230 flights	88.1% on time239 flights	86.1% on time238 flights	86.2% on time251 flights	88.0% on time243 flights	85.0% on time247 flights
7 AM–8 AM	79.2% on time278 flights	81.4% on time283 flights	86.2% on time288 flights	79.7% on time287 flights	77.0% on time286 flights	80.4% on time186 flights	84.1% on time276 flights
8 AM–9 AM	79.6% on time163 flights	81.3% on time172 flights	85.1% on time166 flights	78.2% on time158 flights	76.4% on time161 flights	84.6% on time199 flights	76.0% on time156 flights
9 AM–10 AM	82.6% on time228 flights	83.8% on time228 flights	89.6% on time232 flights	81.7% on time228 flights	78.3% on time230 flights	80.5% on time193 flights	84.1% on time223 flights
10 AM–11 AM	99 flights, too few to score	105 flights, too few to score	90 flights, too few to score	100 flights, too few to score	102 flights, too few to score	97 flights, too few to score	87 flights, too few to score
11 AM–12 PM	88.7% on time178 flights	89.9% on time171 flights	89.0% on time184 flights	82.1% on time175 flights	90.3% on time170 flights	91.4% on time142 flights	86.1% on time170 flights
12 PM–1 PM	80.8% on time197 flights	75.4% on time209 flights	80.3% on time203 flights	82.1% on time196 flights	77.6% on time203 flights	78.0% on time184 flights	77.2% on time196 flights
1 PM–2 PM	107 flights, too few to score	85 flights, too few to score	102 flights, too few to score	105 flights, too few to score	102 flights, too few to score	109 flights, too few to score	99 flights, too few to score
2 PM–3 PM	79.0% on time128 flights	84.4% on time141 flights	81.4% on time132 flights	82.3% on time126 flights	78.6% on time131 flights	115 flights, too few to score	74.8% on time120 flights
3 PM–4 PM	81 flights, too few to score	69 flights, too few to score	73 flights, too few to score	73 flights, too few to score	79 flights, too few to score	74 flights, too few to score	76 flights, too few to score
4 PM–5 PM	77.4% on time151 flights	72.1% on time150 flights	78.2% on time145 flights	79.5% on time153 flights	72.4% on time146 flights	114 flights, too few to score	72.7% on time141 flights
5 PM–6 PM	67.2% on time193 flights	68.8% on time163 flights	63.4% on time166 flights	66.8% on time199 flights	61.7% on time202 flights	113 flights, too few to score	62.8% on time196 flights
6 PM–7 PM	62.2% on time234 flights	58.3% on time213 flights	55.9% on time220 flights	52.5% on time222 flights	52.3% on time225 flights	66.9% on time172 flights	58.9% on time220 flights
7 PM–8 PM	47 flights, too few to score	48 flights, too few to score	44 flights, too few to score	44 flights, too few to score	50 flights, too few to score	40 flights, too few to score	51 flights, too few to score
8 PM–9 PM	71.1% on time160 flights	78.2% on time149 flights	71.7% on time150 flights	74.2% on time156 flights	66.9% on time158 flights	78.9% on time132 flights	73.2% on time161 flights

By departure window

5–9 AM83.3%

9 AM–12 PM85.5%

12–3 PM78.7%

3–6 PM70.6%

6–9 PM64.3%

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 → ORD runs late

July 2023 – July 2026

The airline41.4%

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

Air traffic control25.8%

airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control

Late-arriving aircraft25.4%

the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late

Weather7.2%

weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically

Security0.2%

screening or terminal security incidents

Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for DTW → ORD. 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 ORD, where the flight lands. Its figure counts departures from ORD, so it says more about how that airport copes than about this route. Bad weather cancels 5.5 times the normal rate at ORD against 2.3 times at DTW. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: DTW 2.5% against 1.1%, ORD 6.5% against 1.2%. Flights that did leave ORD in bad weather arrived on time 55.7% of the time, against 77.1% in normal hours.

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026

Departures from DTW and ORD in hours of bad weather and in normal hours
Departures from	DTW	ORD
Cancelled in bad weather	2.5%	6.5%
Cancelled in normal hours	1.1%	1.2%
Arrived on time, bad weather	66.5%	55.7%
Arrived on time, normal hours	81.6%	77.1%
Departures in bad weather	53,809	104,455

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 SkyWest Airlines (3.7% cancelled against 2.3% for the other carriers at DTW) the most. One more carrier flies this route but has too few bad-weather departures from DTW to compare.

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 ORD, 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%
United Airlines	1,025	1.4%below the others	2.5%
American Airlines	2,327	3.1%above the others	2.4%
Republic Airways	2,294	3.8%above the others	2.6%
SkyWest Airlines	11,156	3.7%above the others	2.3%

These are airport figures, not route figures: every scheduled departure from DTW and ORD, 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), ORD, 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
SkyWest Airlines	6,835	78.8%	2.00%	-7 min	9.2%
Delta Air Lines	4,598	77.8%	1.26%	-6 min	9.1%
Envoy Air	2,065	78.3%	3.20%	-7 min	8.3%
United Airlines	1,881	70.9%	1.33%	0 min	8.0%
Republic Airways	1,274	85.2%	2.51%	-12 min	7.2%
American Airlines	569	69.5%	2.99%	-3 min	16.7%

SkyWest Airlines flew 39.7% of the 17,222 flights listed. Envoy Air cancelled 3.20% of its flights here against 1.26% for Delta Air Lines.

Republic Airways arrived on time 15.7 percentage points more often than American Airlines on this route.

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
UA426 United Airlines	9:00 AM	997	67.3%
DL1665 Delta Air Lines	8:00 PM	707	71.7%
OO4754 SkyWest Airlines	6:00 AM	666	88.7%
DL2358 Delta Air Lines	3:50 PM	613	77.4%

OO4754 (6:00 AM) arrived on time 88.7% of the time, 21.4 points more often than UA426 (9:00 AM) at 67.3%.

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

Mon77.7%

Tue78.9%

Wed79.9%

Thu76.9%

Fri74.4%

Sat80.5%

Sun76.3%

Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 6.1 percentage points.

By month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

January is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 16.8 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 72.5% against 79.3% in the 12 months before — declining by 6.8 percentage points.

Data and methodology

Calculated by FlyerIntel from 17,417 DTW → ORD 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 ORD airport Return direction ORD → DTW

DTW→ORD

Right now

Route reliability

Why DTW → ORD 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 → ORD 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

Flights on this route

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

By month

Reliability over time

Data and methodology