Route profile
HOU→DEN
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Houston to Denver, 883 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 64% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 7,848 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
HOU → DEN arrives on time 79.6% of the time; the return trip, DEN → HOU, arrives on time 74.3% of the time, a 5.3-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
HOU → DEN spends 19.8 minutes on the ground on an 883-mile trip: 12.4 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at HOU and 7.4 minutes from touchdown to gate at DEN.
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 91% of 4,467 comparable routes.
82.6% on time on the best day (Wednesday) against 77.8% 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 HOU to DEN differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
HOU to DEN is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 8 PM: 79.4% arrive on time, 12.8 points ahead of the 66.6% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 12 points.
HOU to DEN holds up on Sundays better than routes of similar length do: 78.2% on time to their 74.1%, a 4.1 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 3.4 points.
January is kinder to HOU to DEN than to routes of similar length: 84.8% on time against 78.5%, 6.3 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 5.7 points.
Southwest Airlines does better on HOU to DEN than on its routes of similar length: 79.8% on time here, 76.4% there, 3.4 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 2.4 points.
HOU to DEN against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 8 PM departures | 79.4% | routes of similar length | 66.6% | +12.8 pts | 418 here, 140,595 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 78.2% | routes of similar length | 74.1% | +4.1 pts | 1,135 here, 414,238 there |
| Month: January | 84.8% | routes of similar length | 78.5% | +6.3 pts | 639 here, 210,774 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 79.8% | routes of similar length | 76.4% | +3.4 pts | 7,332 here, 773,487 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 883 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 HOU → DEN flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
HOU → DEN cancelled 77 of 7,848 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 102. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 64.9% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 157 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 77 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
50 cancellations, 64.9% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
21 cancellations, 27.3% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
6 cancellations, 7.8% 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. With only one or two carriers on the route, the split mostly reflects how they file. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
77 coded cancellations were recorded on HOU → DEN; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
40 min late
against a median of 6 min early
Percentiles over 7,848 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at DEN after arriving from HOU.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 36% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 20% | High risk |
| 60 min | 13% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.3% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.5% | 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 0.98% of the time and diverts 0.31% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 7,747 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 40 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 7,848 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
HOU → DEN flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 91.5% of the time, against 67.9% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 23.6 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 95.9% on time from 658 flights
- 6 AM: 95.0% on time from 465 flights
- 7 AM: 88.5% on time from 380 flights
- 8 AM: 86.0% on time from 608 flights
- 9 AM: 88.2% on time from 348 flights
- 10 AM: 85.2% on time from 491 flights
- 11 AM: 81.2% on time from 242 flights
- 12 PM: 76.2% on time from 500 flights
- 1 PM: 78.7% on time from 436 flights
- 2 PM: 74.4% on time from 349 flights
- 3 PM: 69.7% on time from 338 flights
- 4 PM: 68.3% on time from 508 flights
- 5 PM: 65.8% on time from 360 flights
- 6 PM: 64.3% on time from 420 flights
- 7 PM: 74.3% on time from 420 flights
- 8 PM: 79.4% on time from 422 flights
- 9 PM: 75.4% on time from 462 flights
- 10 PM: 72.5% on time from 434 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why HOU → DEN runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s 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 HOU → DEN. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on HOU → DEN, at 39.8%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 91.5% of the time and 3–6 PM departures 67.9%.
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 | 7,417 | 79.8% | 0.84% | -6 min | 6.1% |
| Frontier Airlines | 431 | 74.9% | 3.48% | -6 min | 10.6% |
Southwest Airlines flew 94.5% of the 7,848 flights listed. Frontier Airlines cancelled 3.48% of its flights here against 0.84% for Southwest Airlines.
Southwest Airlines arrived on time 4.9 percentage points more often than Frontier Airlines on this route.
Other ways to fly Houston to Denver
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IAH→DEN Houston to Denver | 14,957 | 79.4% | 0.98% | -7 min | 67 |
| HOU→DEN this route Houston to Denver | 7,848 | 79.6% | 0.98% | -6 min | 71 |
Flying to DEN from the Houston area? Compare HOU, IAH for DEN, with the same test for what counts as a real difference.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 4.8 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 84.8%
- Feb: 84.3%
- Mar: 80.4%
- Apr: 79.2%
- May: 70.7%
- Jun: 69.4%
- Jul: 73.9%
- Aug: 81.0%
- Sep: 81.0%
- Oct: 80.6%
- Nov: 85.7%
- Dec: 84.2%
June is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 16.3 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 70.5% from 245 flights
- August 2023: 85.0% from 231 flights
- September 2023: 75.7% from 186 flights
- October 2023: 83.4% from 207 flights
- November 2023: 89.0% from 240 flights
- December 2023: 87.5% from 265 flights
- January 2024: 81.0% from 246 flights
- February 2024: 83.9% from 223 flights
- March 2024: 82.5% from 254 flights
- April 2024: 81.4% from 222 flights
- May 2024: 66.3% from 214 flights
- June 2024: 76.9% from 241 flights
- July 2024: 76.7% from 253 flights
- August 2024: 84.4% from 226 flights
- September 2024: 89.9% from 207 flights
- October 2024: 82.4% from 212 flights
- November 2024: 86.2% from 218 flights
- December 2024: 83.6% from 238 flights
- January 2025: 84.5% from 216 flights
- February 2025: 85.4% from 198 flights
- March 2025: 85.8% from 184 flights
- April 2025: 74.9% from 175 flights
- May 2025: 68.4% from 172 flights
- June 2025: 66.0% from 192 flights
- July 2025: 70.6% from 203 flights
- August 2025: 72.0% from 192 flights
- September 2025: 76.6% from 188 flights
- October 2025: 75.6% from 198 flights
- November 2025: 81.5% from 208 flights
- December 2025: 81.0% from 234 flights
- January 2026: 89.8% from 196 flights
- February 2026: 83.6% from 184 flights
- March 2026: 72.8% from 197 flights
- April 2026: 80.8% from 177 flights
- May 2026: 78.1% from 180 flights
- June 2026: 63.7% from 202 flights
- July 2026: 77.7% from 224 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 77.7% against 80.5% in the 12 months before — declining by 2.8 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 7,848 HOU → DEN 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