Route profile
MCI→DTW
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Kansas City to Detroit, 629 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 4,154 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
MCI → DTW arrives on time 88.9% of the time; the return trip, DTW → MCI, arrives on time 84.5% of the time, a 4.4-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
MCI → DTW spends 22.9 minutes on the ground on a 629-mile trip: 13.4 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MCI and 9.5 minutes from touchdown to gate at DTW.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route holds up about the same all year, a steadier seasonal pattern than 97% of 3,357 comparable routes.
94.0% on time in its best month (October) against 85.5% in its worst (June).
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 3,357 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where MCI to DTW differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MCI to DTW is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 5 PM: 84.1% arrive on time, 14 points ahead of the 70.1% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 14.3 points.
MCI to DTW holds up on Fridays better than routes of similar length do: 89.3% on time to their 76.2%, a 13.1 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 13.1 points.
May is kinder to MCI to DTW than to routes of similar length: 91.9% on time against 74.4%, 17.5 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 16.7 points.
Delta Air Lines does better on MCI to DTW than on its routes of similar length: 89.0% on time here, 81.4% there, 7.6 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 7.5 points.
MCI to DTW against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 5 PM departures | 84.1% | routes of similar length | 70.1% | +14.0 pts | 963 here, 127,198 there |
| Weekday: Friday | 89.3% | routes of similar length | 76.2% | +13.1 pts | 600 here, 308,505 there |
| Month: May | 91.9% | routes of similar length | 74.4% | +17.5 pts | 357 here, 175,385 there |
| Airline: Delta Air Lines | 89.0% | routes of similar length | 81.4% | +7.6 pts | 3,910 here, 415,702 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 629 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
20 min late
against a median of 13 min early
Percentiles over 4,154 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at DTW after arriving from MCI.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 19% | High risk |
| 45 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 7.5% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.7% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 3.1% | 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 0.79% of the time and diverts 0.19% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 4,113 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 20 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 4,154 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MCI → DTW flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 93.5% of the time, against 84.4% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 9.1 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 93.5% on time from 1,126 flights
- 7 AM to 9 AM: too few flights to score
- 10 AM: 89.7% on time from 952 flights
- 11 AM to 1 PM: too few flights to score
- 2 PM: 86.3% on time from 751 flights
- 3 PM to 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 84.1% on time from 975 flights
- 6 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why MCI → DTW runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
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
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for MCI → DTW. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on MCI → DTW, at 45.9%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 93.5% of the time and 3–6 PM departures 84.4%.
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 | 3,950 | 89.0% | 0.84% | -14 min | 4.9% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 5.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 86.0%
- Feb: 87.8%
- Mar: 91.0%
- Apr: 89.9%
- May: 91.9%
- Jun: 85.5%
- Jul: 85.8%
- Aug: 89.8%
- Sep: 88.5%
- Oct: 94.0%
- Nov: 90.3%
- Dec: 86.1%
June is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 8.5 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: too few flights to score (114)
- August 2023: 87.4% from 120 flights
- September 2023: too few flights to score (114)
- October 2023: too few flights to score (116)
- November 2023: too few flights to score (107)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (99)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (90)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (79)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (112)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (119)
- June 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- July 2024: 81.5% from 127 flights
- August 2024: 92.1% from 128 flights
- September 2024: 87.5% from 120 flights
- October 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (105)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (104)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (103)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (98)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (119)
- April 2025: too few flights to score (116)
- May 2025: 91.2% from 125 flights
- June 2025: 82.8% from 123 flights
- July 2025: 86.3% from 126 flights
- August 2025: too few flights to score (116)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (107)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (117)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (107)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (110)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (98)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (105)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (119)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (116)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (117)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (113)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (117)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 87.9% against 89.8% in the 12 months before — declining by 1.9 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 4,154 MCI → 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