Route profile
MCI→MSP
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Kansas City to Minneapolis, 393 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 81% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 4,326 flights. How this is calculated
MCI → MSP arrives on time 85.0% of the time; the return trip, MSP → MCI, arrives on time 82.4% of the time, a 2.6-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
MCI → MSP spends 21.6 minutes on the ground on a 393-mile trip: 15.1 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MCI and 6.5 minutes from touchdown to gate at MSP.
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 90% of 3,357 comparable routes.
90.1% on time in its best month (November) against 78.8% in its worst (January).
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 MSP differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MCI to MSP is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 5 PM: 79.2% arrive on time, 8.8 points ahead of the 70.4% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 9.4 points.
MCI to MSP holds up on Sundays better than routes of similar length do: 86.3% on time to their 74.8%, a 11.5 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 11.5 points.
May is kinder to MCI to MSP than to routes of similar length: 87.0% on time against 75.7%, 11.3 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 11.8 points.
Delta Air Lines does better on MCI to MSP than on its routes of similar length: 86.0% on time here, 80.3% there, 5.7 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 4.5 points.
MCI to MSP against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 5 PM departures | 79.2% | routes of similar length | 70.4% | +8.8 pts | 466 here, 103,726 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 86.3% | routes of similar length | 74.8% | +11.5 pts | 627 here, 232,228 there |
| Month: May | 87.0% | routes of similar length | 75.7% | +11.3 pts | 376 here, 134,606 there |
| Airline: Delta Air Lines | 86.0% | routes of similar length | 80.3% | +5.7 pts | 3,264 here, 219,678 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 393 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
29 min late
against a median of 11 min early
Percentiles over 4,326 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at MSP after arriving from MCI.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 25% | High risk |
| 45 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 60 min | 9.7% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.1% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.4% | 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 0.99% of the time and diverts 0.07% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 4,280 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 29 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 4,326 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MCI → MSP flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 91.6% of the time, against 74.0% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 17.6 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 91.6% on time from 1,127 flights
- 7 AM to 9 AM: too few flights to score
- 10 AM: 90.2% on time from 690 flights
- 11 AM: 90.8% on time from 219 flights
- 12 PM: 82.0% on time from 150 flights
- 1 PM: too few flights to score
- 2 PM: 79.0% on time from 138 flights
- 3 PM: 81.2% on time from 613 flights
- 4 PM: 79.1% on time from 298 flights
- 5 PM: 79.2% on time from 473 flights
- 6 PM: too few flights to score
- 7 PM: 75.6% on time from 281 flights
- 8 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why MCI → MSP 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 MCI → MSP. 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 | 3,297 | 86.0% | 0.91% | -12 min | 4.9% |
| SkyWest Airlines | 563 | 79.5% | 2.13% | -7 min | 8.9% |
| Southwest Airlines | 440 | 84.3% | 0.23% | -8 min | 3.4% |
Delta Air Lines flew 76.7% of the 4,300 flights listed. SkyWest Airlines cancelled 2.13% of its flights here against 0.23% for Southwest Airlines.
Delta Air Lines arrived on time 6.5 percentage points more often than SkyWest Airlines on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| DL1635 Delta Air Lines | 6:30 AM | 785 | 90.6% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 7.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 78.8%
- Feb: 89.2%
- Mar: 88.1%
- Apr: 86.7%
- May: 87.0%
- Jun: 79.1%
- Jul: 81.0%
- Aug: 84.1%
- Sep: 83.5%
- Oct: 89.2%
- Nov: 90.1%
- Dec: 84.0%
January is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 11.3 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 82.6% from 139 flights
- August 2023: 93.3% from 151 flights
- September 2023: 87.1% from 147 flights
- October 2023: 83.3% from 163 flights
- November 2023: 90.0% from 160 flights
- December 2023: 88.8% from 161 flights
- January 2024: 73.2% from 150 flights
- February 2024: 94.7% from 132 flights
- March 2024: 92.5% from 162 flights
- April 2024: 88.5% from 157 flights
- May 2024: 89.9% from 159 flights
- June 2024: 69.1% from 137 flights
- July 2024: 71.9% from 136 flights
- August 2024: 81.1% from 129 flights
- September 2024: 91.8% from 122 flights
- October 2024: 93.8% from 128 flights
- November 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (115)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (80)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (77)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (108)
- April 2025: too few flights to score (114)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (118)
- June 2025: too few flights to score (117)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (95)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (89)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (82)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (71)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (61)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (74)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (38)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (87)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (116)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (99)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (102)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (114)
- July 2026: 85.0% from 120 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 82.2% against 86.8% in the 12 months before — declining by 4.6 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 4,326 MCI → MSP 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