Route profile
DTW→PHX
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Detroit to Phoenix, 1,671 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 50% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 7,221 flights. How this is calculated
DTW → PHX arrives on time 78.9% of the time; the return trip, PHX → DTW, arrives on time 83.2% of the time, a 4.4-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
DTW → PHX spends 26.1 minutes on the ground on a 1,671-mile trip: 17.4 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DTW and 8.8 minutes from touchdown to gate at PHX.
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 90% of 4,467 comparable routes.
81.4% on time on the best day (Tuesday) against 76.4% on the worst (Sunday).
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 PHX differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DTW to PHX is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 6 PM: 82.8% arrive on time, 13 points ahead of the 69.8% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 14.2 points.
DTW to PHX struggles most at 6 AM: 77.9% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 12.4 points behind the 90.3% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 12.9 points.
In January, DTW to PHX runs 10.4 points below routes of similar length, 68.3% on time to 78.7%. Against all other routes the gap is 10.8 points.
June is kinder to DTW to PHX than to routes of similar length: 78.7% on time against 71.8%, 6.9 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 6 points.
Frontier Airlines does better on DTW to PHX than on its routes of similar length: 76.7% on time here, 69.6% there, 7.1 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 5.5 points.
DTW to PHX against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 6 PM departures | 82.8% | routes of similar length | 69.8% | +13.0 pts | 431 here, 89,274 there |
| Hour: 6 AM departures | 77.9% | routes of similar length | 90.3% | −12.4 pts | 240 here, 104,803 there |
| Month: January | 68.3% | routes of similar length | 78.7% | −10.4 pts | 511 here, 104,231 there |
| Month: June | 78.7% | routes of similar length | 71.8% | +6.9 pts | 596 here, 130,660 there |
| Airline: Frontier Airlines | 76.7% | routes of similar length | 69.6% | +7.1 pts | 1,009 here, 62,209 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 1,671 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.
Why DTW → PHX flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
DTW → PHX cancelled 53 of 7,221 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 136. The reason filed most often was the airline, 77.4% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 176 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 53 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
41 cancellations, 77.4% of the total.
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
11 cancellations, 20.8% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
1 cancellation, 1.9% of the total.
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.
53 coded cancellations were recorded on DTW → PHX; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
42 min late
against a median of 5 min early
Percentiles over 7,221 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at PHX after arriving from DTW.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 38% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 21% | High risk |
| 60 min | 13% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 7.4% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.5% | 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 0.73% of the time and diverts 0.24% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 7,151 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 7,221 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DTW → PHX flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 83.1% of the time, against 72.4% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 10.7 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 77.9% on time from 246 flights
- 7 AM: 81.4% on time from 632 flights
- 8 AM: 84.6% on time from 1,462 flights
- 9 AM to 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 81.8% on time from 1,007 flights
- 1 PM: 81.6% on time from 217 flights
- 2 PM: 79.7% on time from 134 flights
- 3 PM: too few flights to score
- 4 PM: 72.3% on time from 1,038 flights
- 5 PM: 78.2% on time from 615 flights
- 6 PM: 82.8% on time from 435 flights
- 7 PM: too few flights to score
- 8 PM: 72.7% on time from 946 flights
- 9 PM: 74.0% on time from 150 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why DTW → PHX 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 → PHX. 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 | 4,180 | 77.8% | 0.57% | -4 min | 7.6% |
| American Airlines | 1,751 | 82.2% | 0.63% | -10 min | 6.7% |
| Frontier Airlines | 1,026 | 76.7% | 1.46% | -6 min | 9.2% |
Delta Air Lines flew 60.1% of the 6,957 flights listed.
American Airlines arrived on time 5.5 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.
DL1070 (8:35 AM) arrived on time 85.3% of the time, 15.5 points more often than DL1135 (4:10 PM) at 69.8%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 5.0 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 68.3%
- Feb: 75.5%
- Mar: 82.5%
- Apr: 79.5%
- May: 78.1%
- Jun: 78.7%
- Jul: 76.0%
- Aug: 80.6%
- Sep: 85.0%
- Oct: 84.8%
- Nov: 80.0%
- Dec: 76.5%
January is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 16.7 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 79.1% from 186 flights
- August 2023: 78.9% from 176 flights
- September 2023: 80.6% from 196 flights
- October 2023: 78.2% from 188 flights
- November 2023: 84.8% from 178 flights
- December 2023: 90.4% from 188 flights
- January 2024: 66.9% from 169 flights
- February 2024: 87.2% from 156 flights
- March 2024: 82.2% from 192 flights
- April 2024: 81.0% from 210 flights
- May 2024: 70.1% from 195 flights
- June 2024: 80.9% from 185 flights
- July 2024: 75.4% from 208 flights
- August 2024: 79.0% from 199 flights
- September 2024: 88.9% from 189 flights
- October 2024: 89.3% from 205 flights
- November 2024: 83.9% from 192 flights
- December 2024: 82.8% from 205 flights
- January 2025: 79.8% from 169 flights
- February 2025: 64.5% from 156 flights
- March 2025: 78.0% from 211 flights
- April 2025: 76.6% from 210 flights
- May 2025: 83.6% from 208 flights
- June 2025: 80.5% from 216 flights
- July 2025: 75.6% from 238 flights
- August 2025: 83.8% from 186 flights
- September 2025: 85.6% from 183 flights
- October 2025: 86.4% from 216 flights
- November 2025: 71.9% from 197 flights
- December 2025: 58.3% from 220 flights
- January 2026: 58.8% from 183 flights
- February 2026: 74.7% from 159 flights
- March 2026: 87.3% from 216 flights
- April 2026: 81.0% from 211 flights
- May 2026: 80.1% from 217 flights
- June 2026: 74.7% from 199 flights
- July 2026: 74.4% from 209 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 76.5% against 80.4% in the 12 months before — declining by 3.9 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 7,221 DTW → PHX 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