IAH → DEN Flight Reliability

Right now

Origin · IAHNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 07:53 UTC

Houston airport profile →

Destination · DENNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 07:53 UTC

Denver airport profile →

Route reliability

July 2023 – July 2026

Route Reliability Score

67/ 100Good

Better than 54% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)

Calculated from 14,957 flights. How this is calculated

On-time arrivals

79.4%

11,725 of 14,765

Cancellation rate

0.98%

147 cancelled

Median arrival delay

-7 min

Average 6.4 min

Severe delays

7.5%

60+ minutes late

Delay when late

71 min

Average, when 15+ min late

Flights analyzed

14,957

3 carriers

IAH → DEN arrives on time 79.4% of the time; the return trip, DEN → IAH, arrives on time 76.8% of the time, a 2.6-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.

IAH → DEN spends 29.5 minutes on the ground on an 862-mile trip: 19.6 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at IAH and 9.9 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 97% of 4,467 comparable routes.

81.6% on time on the best day (Tuesday) against 78.0% 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.

Why IAH → DEN flights are cancelled

July 2023 – July 2026

IAH → DEN cancelled 147 of 14,957 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 102. The reason filed most often was the airline, 46.9% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 217 scheduled flights.

Share of cancellations

Airline46.9%

Weather42.9%

Air traffic10.2%

Security0.0%

Of 147 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.

What each reason means

The airline1 in 217

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

69 cancellations, 46.9% of the total.

Extreme weather1 in 237

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

63 cancellations, 42.9% of the total.

The air traffic system1 in 997

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

15 cancellations, 10.2% 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.

147 coded cancellations were recorded on IAH → DEN; the section appears from 50.

When it goes wrong

July 2023 – July 2026

One arrival in ten is worse than

44 min late

against a median of 7 min early

Arrived an hour or more late7.5%

Typical delay when late71 min

Cancelled0.98%

Landed somewhere else0.30%

Percentiles over 14,957 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.

Will your connection be tight enough?

Layovers at DEN after arriving from IAH.

Connection buffer and chance of missing by layover length, IAH → DEN arrivals
Connection time	Chance of missing	Reads as
30 min	35%	Likely to miss
45 min	20%	High risk
60 min	13%	Some risk
90 min	7.4%	Some risk
120 min	4.6%	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 0.98% of the time and diverts 0.30% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.

Chance of missing is the share of 14,765 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 44 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 14,957 operations.

Any other layover length: connection checker.

Best time to fly

IAH → DEN flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 89.7% of the time, against 67.7% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 22.0 percentage points.

By day and hour

On-time arrival rate for each weekday and scheduled departure hour, in local time at the departure airport (IAH).

Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 8.9 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 1.3 points.

On-time arrival rate for IAH to DEN by weekday and scheduled departure hour, local time. Each button reads out one slot.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
5 AM–6 AM
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
9 PM–10 PM
10 PM–11 PM

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

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 after 11 PM (29 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 IAH to DEN. A dash means fewer than 120 flights, which are not scored.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
5 AM–6 AM	87.6% on time147 flights	96.1% on time129 flights	96.6% on time120 flights	92.8% on time153 flights	90.5% on time150 flights	94.3% on time157 flights	89.9% on time160 flights
6 AM–7 AM	86.3% on time147 flights	118 flights, too few to score	91.8% on time122 flights	93.9% on time149 flights	91.3% on time150 flights	95 flights, too few to score	91.1% on time125 flights
7 AM–8 AM	87.6% on time146 flights	87.6% on time181 flights	92.1% on time182 flights	87.4% on time144 flights	86.8% on time144 flights	85.7% on time186 flights	88.5% on time157 flights
8 AM–9 AM	87.2% on time149 flights	84.6% on time158 flights	89.6% on time156 flights	88.0% on time151 flights	89.7% on time148 flights	93.5% on time153 flights	87.8% on time150 flights
9 AM–10 AM	118 flights, too few to score	104 flights, too few to score	117 flights, too few to score	81.1% on time123 flights	112 flights, too few to score	114 flights, too few to score	80.3% on time135 flights
10 AM–11 AM	88.8% on time163 flights	86.1% on time167 flights	86.0% on time164 flights	83.6% on time166 flights	87.3% on time160 flights	82.2% on time155 flights	82.1% on time157 flights
11 AM–12 PM	68 flights, too few to score	72 flights, too few to score	59 flights, too few to score	74 flights, too few to score	79 flights, too few to score	70 flights, too few to score	86 flights, too few to score
12 PM–1 PM	87.0% on time180 flights	87.4% on time180 flights	87.2% on time185 flights	85.2% on time185 flights	79.9% on time175 flights	83.2% on time168 flights	88.8% on time173 flights
1 PM–2 PM	43 flights, too few to score	39 flights, too few to score	28 flights, too few to score	21 flights, too few to score	26 flights, too few to score	27 flights, too few to score	32 flights, too few to score
2 PM–3 PM	76.2% on time152 flights	79.2% on time156 flights	80.1% on time152 flights	75.0% on time147 flights	68.0% on time155 flights	73.4% on time156 flights	75.2% on time165 flights
3 PM–4 PM	29 flights, too few to score	38 flights, too few to score	38 flights, too few to score	31 flights, too few to score	29 flights, too few to score	22 flights, too few to score	22 flights, too few to score
4 PM–5 PM	70.8% on time164 flights	69.7% on time168 flights	65.7% on time177 flights	65.5% on time166 flights	66.1% on time176 flights	65.3% on time171 flights	62.1% on time163 flights
5 PM–6 PM	3 flights, too few to score	7 flights, too few to score	11 flights, too few to score	9 flights, too few to score	3 flights, too few to score	18 flights, too few to score	5 flights, too few to score
6 PM–7 PM	61.5% on time186 flights	66.3% on time172 flights	64.3% on time171 flights	64.7% on time185 flights	60.0% on time180 flights	68.1% on time191 flights	63.9% on time171 flights
7 PM–8 PM	62 flights, too few to score	43 flights, too few to score	51 flights, too few to score	51 flights, too few to score	54 flights, too few to score	20 flights, too few to score	53 flights, too few to score
8 PM–9 PM	74.1% on time175 flights	76.2% on time165 flights	73.9% on time165 flights	69.4% on time172 flights	69.5% on time179 flights	74.3% on time172 flights	67.0% on time188 flights
9 PM–10 PM	98 flights, too few to score	89 flights, too few to score	82 flights, too few to score	91 flights, too few to score	94 flights, too few to score	87 flights, too few to score	88 flights, too few to score
10 PM–11 PM	74.1% on time143 flights	110 flights, too few to score	110 flights, too few to score	70.3% on time140 flights	75.7% on time148 flights	72.1% on time122 flights	76.7% on time135 flights

By departure window

5–9 AM89.7%

9 AM–12 PM83.0%

12–3 PM79.9%

3–6 PM67.7%

6–9 PM68.2%

9 PM–5 AM76.5%

By departure hour

12 AM

3 AM

6 AM

9 AM

12 PM

3 PM

6 PM

9 PM

Why IAH → DEN runs late

July 2023 – July 2026

Late-arriving aircraft39.7%

the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late

The airline29.6%

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

Air traffic control24.1%

airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control

Weather6.6%

weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically

Security0.1%

screening or terminal security incidents

Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for IAH → DEN. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.

Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on IAH → DEN, at 39.7%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 89.7% of the time and 3–6 PM departures 67.7%.

How this route holds up in bad weather

July 2023 – July 2026

Bad weather raises cancellations by a similar amount at both ends of IAH to DEN: 3.4 times the normal rate at IAH and 4.0 times at DEN. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: IAH 4.1% against 1.2%, DEN 2.8% against 0.7%. Flights that did leave DEN in bad weather arrived on time 51.5% of the time, against 78.8% in normal hours.

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026

Departures from IAH and DEN in hours of bad weather and in normal hours
Departures from	IAH	DEN
Cancelled in bad weather	4.1%	2.8%
Cancelled in normal hours	1.2%	0.7%
Arrived on time, bad weather	63.8%	51.5%
Arrived on time, normal hours	78.6%	78.8%
Departures in bad weather	28,922	92,610

Of the carriers on this route, United Airlines (3.4% cancelled against 5.2% for the other carriers at IAH) cancelled the fewest departures from IAH in bad weather and Frontier Airlines (5.0% cancelled against 3.8% for the other carriers at IAH) the most. One more carrier flies this route but has too few bad-weather departures from IAH to compare.

This route’s airlines in bad weather at IAH

All departures from IAH

Cancellation rates in bad weather at IAH for the airlines that fly IAH to DEN, against the other carriers at IAH in the same months
Airline	Bad-weather departures	Cancelled	Other carriers
United Airlines	17,078	3.4%below the others	5.2%
Frontier Airlines	915	5.0%above the others	3.8%

These are airport figures, not route figures: every scheduled departure from IAH and DEN, to any destination, in hours the weather report called bad. The airline rows count each carrier’s departures from IAH on every route.

Weather source and limits. In full: IAH (airlines), DEN, 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
United Airlines	11,809	80.4%	0.86%	-8 min	7.1%
Frontier Airlines	2,080	72.6%	1.68%	-4 min	10.6%
Southwest Airlines	1,067	81.2%	0.94%	-6 min	6.2%

United Airlines flew 79.0% of the 14,956 flights listed.

Southwest Airlines arrived on time 8.6 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.

Flights on this route
Flight	Scheduled	Operations	On time
F93229 Frontier Airlines	6:00 AM	887	81.3%

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

Mon78.8%

Tue81.6%

Wed81.3%

Thu78.8%

Fri78.5%

Sat79.1%

Sun78.0%

Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 3.6 percentage points.

By month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

June is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 15.3 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 81.9% against 79.3% in the 12 months before — improving by 2.6 percentage points.

Data and methodology

Calculated by FlyerIntel from 14,957 IAH → 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

Analysis last recomputed September 26, 2026

IAH airport DEN airport Return direction DEN → IAH

IAH→DEN

Right now

Route reliability

What stands out

Why IAH → DEN 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 IAH → DEN 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 IAH

Airlines on this route

Flights on this route

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

By month

Reliability over time

Data and methodology