Route profile
DTW→SLC
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Detroit to Salt Lake City, 1,481 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 89% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 4,773 flights. How this is calculated
DTW → SLC arrives on time 83.6% of the time; the return trip, SLC → DTW, arrives on time 87.0% of the time, a 3.4-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
DTW → SLC spends 24.6 minutes on the ground on a 1,481-mile trip: 16.9 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DTW and 7.7 minutes from touchdown to gate at SLC.
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.
85.6% on time on the best day (Tuesday) against 81.9% on the worst (Thursday).
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 SLC differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DTW to SLC is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 12 PM: 88.6% arrive on time, 10 points ahead of the 78.6% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 9.2 points.
DTW to SLC holds up on Sundays better than routes of similar length do: 82.4% on time to their 75.6%, a 6.8 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 7.6 points.
May is kinder to DTW to SLC than to routes of similar length: 84.3% on time against 74.7%, 9.6 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 9.1 points.
DTW to SLC against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 12 PM departures | 88.6% | routes of similar length | 78.6% | +10.0 pts | 1,061 here, 91,345 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 82.4% | routes of similar length | 75.6% | +6.8 pts | 663 here, 212,317 there |
| Month: May | 84.3% | routes of similar length | 74.7% | +9.6 pts | 394 here, 122,661 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 1,481 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
28 min late
against a median of 6 min early
Percentiles over 4,773 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SLC after arriving from DTW.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 34% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 16% | High risk |
| 60 min | 9.4% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.6% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.6% | 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 0.25% of the time and diverts 0.06% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 4,758 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 28 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 4,773 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DTW → SLC flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 92.3% of the time, against 72.9% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 19.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 90.5% on time from 148 flights
- 8 AM: 93.2% on time from 1,135 flights
- 9 AM to 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 88.6% on time from 1,065 flights
- 1 PM to 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 78.4% on time from 788 flights
- 6 PM: 79.1% on time from 221 flights
- 7 PM: too few flights to score
- 8 PM: 71.8% on time from 953 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why DTW → SLC 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 → SLC. 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 | 4,737 | 83.5% | 0.25% | -6 min | 4.8% |
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
DL698 (8:25 AM) arrived on time 93.2% of the time, 24.0 points more often than DL2117 (8:20 PM) at 69.2%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 3.7 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 76.5%
- Feb: 82.2%
- Mar: 83.4%
- Apr: 87.5%
- May: 84.3%
- Jun: 80.2%
- Jul: 78.2%
- Aug: 82.4%
- Sep: 90.5%
- Oct: 92.2%
- Nov: 91.6%
- Dec: 78.5%
January is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 15.7 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 78.9% from 148 flights
- August 2023: 87.1% from 142 flights
- September 2023: 84.7% from 124 flights
- October 2023: 90.3% from 124 flights
- November 2023: 93.3% from 120 flights
- December 2023: 96.8% from 124 flights
- January 2024: too few flights to score (119)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (110)
- March 2024: 93.5% from 124 flights
- April 2024: 91.7% from 120 flights
- May 2024: 80.6% from 124 flights
- June 2024: 79.9% from 144 flights
- July 2024: 76.1% from 148 flights
- August 2024: 75.4% from 142 flights
- September 2024: 94.3% from 123 flights
- October 2024: 93.5% from 124 flights
- November 2024: too few flights to score (119)
- December 2024: 83.1% from 124 flights
- January 2025: 85.0% from 120 flights
- February 2025: too few flights to score (108)
- March 2025: 88.5% from 122 flights
- April 2025: 85.8% from 120 flights
- May 2025: 85.4% from 124 flights
- June 2025: 82.1% from 151 flights
- July 2025: 81.9% from 167 flights
- August 2025: 84.6% from 149 flights
- September 2025: 92.7% from 123 flights
- October 2025: 92.7% from 124 flights
- November 2025: too few flights to score (119)
- December 2025: 55.6% from 124 flights
- January 2026: too few flights to score (119)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (108)
- March 2026: 68.3% from 123 flights
- April 2026: 85.1% from 121 flights
- May 2026: 86.4% from 148 flights
- June 2026: 78.5% from 149 flights
- July 2026: 75.5% from 151 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 79.8% against 84.9% in the 12 months before — declining by 5.1 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 4,773 DTW → SLC 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