Route profile
IAD→DTW
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Washington to Detroit, 383 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 48% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,861 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
IAD → DTW arrives on time 80.6% of the time; the return trip, DTW → IAD, arrives on time 78.3% of the time, a 2.3-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
IAD → DTW spends 27.8 minutes on the ground on a 383-mile trip: 19.2 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at IAD and 8.5 minutes from touchdown to gate at DTW.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where IAD to DTW differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
IAD to DTW is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 6 PM: 83.1% arrive on time, 13.6 points ahead of the 69.5% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 14.5 points.
IAD to DTW struggles most at 12 PM: 72.0% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 8.8 points behind the 80.8% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 7.4 points.
IAD to DTW holds up on Thursdays better than routes of similar length do: 84.0% on time to their 77.3%, a 6.7 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 7.2 points.
October is kinder to IAD to DTW than to routes of similar length: 92.6% on time against 82.5%, 10.1 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 9.6 points.
In January, IAD to DTW runs 9.5 points below routes of similar length, 71.6% on time to 81.1%. Against all other routes the gap is 7.5 points.
IAD to DTW against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 6 PM departures | 83.1% | routes of similar length | 69.5% | +13.6 pts | 237 here, 94,876 there |
| Hour: 12 PM departures | 72.0% | routes of similar length | 80.8% | −8.8 pts | 314 here, 85,848 there |
| Weekday: Thursday | 84.0% | routes of similar length | 77.3% | +6.7 pts | 550 here, 234,970 there |
| Month: October | 92.6% | routes of similar length | 82.5% | +10.1 pts | 325 here, 136,250 there |
| Month: January | 71.6% | routes of similar length | 81.1% | −9.5 pts | 278 here, 113,643 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 383 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
50 min late
against a median of 9 min early
Percentiles over 3,861 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at DTW after arriving from IAD.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 29% | High risk |
| 45 min | 19% | High risk |
| 60 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 8.8% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 6.3% | 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 0.78% of the time and diverts 0.08% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,828 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 50 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,861 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
IAD → DTW flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 88.9% of the time, against 70.2% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 18.7 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 86.7% on time from 1,028 flights
- 7 AM to 8 AM: too few flights to score
- 9 AM: 91.4% on time from 304 flights
- 10 AM: 82.4% on time from 125 flights
- 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 72.0% on time from 316 flights
- 1 PM: 84.7% on time from 542 flights
- 2 PM to 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 70.5% on time from 969 flights
- 6 PM: 83.1% on time from 240 flights
- 7 PM to 9 PM: too few flights to score
- 10 PM: 75.0% on time from 132 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why IAD → DTW runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
screening or terminal security incidents
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for IAD → DTW. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SkyWest Airlines | 2,766 | 79.7% | 0.72% | -9 min | 10.0% |
| Delta Air Lines | 455 | 86.9% | 0.88% | -12 min | 6.2% |
| Republic Airways | 374 | 77.1% | 1.60% | -5 min | 7.4% |
SkyWest Airlines flew 76.9% of the 3,595 flights listed.
Delta Air Lines arrived on time 9.8 percentage points more often than Republic Airways on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Thursday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 5.2 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 71.6%
- Feb: 79.9%
- Mar: 80.2%
- Apr: 84.7%
- May: 84.2%
- Jun: 78.9%
- Jul: 74.3%
- Aug: 75.2%
- Sep: 85.4%
- Oct: 92.6%
- Nov: 82.0%
- Dec: 79.0%
January is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 21.0 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: too few flights to score (119)
- August 2023: 81.4% from 121 flights
- September 2023: too few flights to score (112)
- October 2023: 93.4% from 121 flights
- November 2023: too few flights to score (102)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (117)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (110)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (108)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (99)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (99)
- May 2024: 86.7% from 120 flights
- June 2024: too few flights to score (114)
- July 2024: too few flights to score (113)
- August 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (112)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (115)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (106)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (108)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (84)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (102)
- April 2025: too few flights to score (105)
- May 2025: 78.6% from 131 flights
- June 2025: too few flights to score (115)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (86)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (82)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (78)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (89)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (36)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (61)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (84)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (78)
- March 2026: 66.7% from 128 flights
- April 2026: too few flights to score (110)
- May 2026: 87.3% from 144 flights
- June 2026: 83.8% from 120 flights
- July 2026: 76.2% from 123 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 77.5% against 78.7% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,861 IAD → DTW 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