Route profile
MDW→HOU
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Chicago to Houston, 937 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 50% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 5,615 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
MDW → HOU arrives on time 74.2% of the time; the return trip, HOU → MDW, arrives on time 77.5% of the time, a 3.2-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
MDW → HOU spends 20.1 minutes on the ground on a 937-mile trip: 13.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MDW and 6.2 minutes from touchdown to gate at HOU.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Reliability here swings unusually widely by season, a wider month-to-month spread than 98% of 3,357 comparable routes.
88.0% on time in a typical February, against 58.8% in July.
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 MDW to HOU differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MDW to HOU is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 8 PM: 78.0% arrive on time, 11.5 points ahead of the 66.5% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 10.6 points.
MDW to HOU struggles most at 9 PM: 54.6% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 11.1 points behind the 65.7% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 14.9 points.
Tuesday is the day MDW to HOU slips furthest against routes of similar length, 76.3% on time where they average 81.0%, 4.7 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 5.3 points.
In July, MDW to HOU runs 9.7 points below routes of similar length, 58.8% on time to 68.5%. Against all other routes the gap is 10.9 points.
February is kinder to MDW to HOU than to routes of similar length: 88.0% on time against 81.2%, 6.8 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 6.6 points.
MDW to HOU against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 8 PM departures | 78.0% | routes of similar length | 66.5% | +11.5 pts | 313 here, 147,117 there |
| Hour: 9 PM departures | 54.6% | routes of similar length | 65.7% | −11.1 pts | 421 here, 82,949 there |
| Weekday: Tuesday | 76.3% | routes of similar length | 81.0% | −4.7 pts | 781 here, 400,566 there |
| Month: July | 58.8% | routes of similar length | 68.5% | −9.7 pts | 701 here, 325,141 there |
| Month: February | 88.0% | routes of similar length | 81.2% | +6.8 pts | 341 here, 216,665 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 937 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 MDW → HOU flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
MDW → HOU cancelled 69 of 5,615 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 81. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 81.2% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 100 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 69 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.
56 cancellations, 81.2% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
8 cancellations, 11.6% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
5 cancellations, 7.2% 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.
69 coded cancellations were recorded on MDW → HOU; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
41 min late
against a median of 3 min early
Percentiles over 5,615 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at HOU after arriving from MDW.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 44% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 25% | High risk |
| 60 min | 15% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.6% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 2.6% | 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 1.23% of the time and diverts 0.55% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 5,515 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 41 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 5,615 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MDW → HOU flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 88.3% of the time, against 54.9% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 33.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 93.5% on time from 419 flights
- 6 AM: 88.9% on time from 456 flights
- 7 AM: 84.0% on time from 437 flights
- 8 AM: 86.9% on time from 395 flights
- 9 AM: 89.3% on time from 178 flights
- 10 AM: 80.8% on time from 262 flights
- 11 AM: 74.8% on time from 305 flights
- 12 PM: 72.4% on time from 253 flights
- 1 PM: 77.7% on time from 233 flights
- 2 PM: 66.7% on time from 220 flights
- 3 PM: 71.2% on time from 180 flights
- 4 PM: 67.1% on time from 151 flights
- 5 PM: 62.2% on time from 389 flights
- 6 PM: 59.9% on time from 391 flights
- 7 PM: 63.8% on time from 325 flights
- 8 PM: 78.0% on time from 319 flights
- 9 PM: 54.6% on time from 433 flights
- 10 PM: 55.4% on time from 269 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why MDW → HOU 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
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 MDW → HOU. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on MDW → HOU, 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 88.3% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 54.9%.
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 | 5,615 | 74.2% | 1.23% | -3 min | 5.8% |
Other ways to fly Chicago to Houston
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD→IAH Chicago to Houston | 17,017 | 77.0% | 1.32% | -6 min | 61 |
| MDW→HOU this route Chicago to Houston | 5,615 | 74.2% | 1.23% | -3 min | 66 |
MDW → HOU is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 74.2% on time, against 77.0% for ORD → IAH.
Flying to HOU from the Chicago area? Compare MDW, ORD for HOU, with the same test for what counts as a real difference.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 7.6 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 77.4%
- Feb: 88.0%
- Mar: 78.6%
- Apr: 73.0%
- May: 67.5%
- Jun: 62.0%
- Jul: 58.8%
- Aug: 73.4%
- Sep: 84.0%
- Oct: 80.6%
- Nov: 83.7%
- Dec: 78.5%
July is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 29.2 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 61.1% from 167 flights
- August 2023: 69.2% from 148 flights
- September 2023: 75.7% from 149 flights
- October 2023: 72.3% from 156 flights
- November 2023: 87.2% from 149 flights
- December 2023: 83.4% from 157 flights
- January 2024: 69.7% from 128 flights
- February 2024: too few flights to score (112)
- March 2024: 80.0% from 138 flights
- April 2024: 66.0% from 144 flights
- May 2024: 59.4% from 151 flights
- June 2024: 63.2% from 164 flights
- July 2024: 42.5% from 171 flights
- August 2024: 75.9% from 164 flights
- September 2024: 86.3% from 160 flights
- October 2024: 92.4% from 146 flights
- November 2024: 88.7% from 142 flights
- December 2024: 80.9% from 141 flights
- January 2025: 76.6% from 129 flights
- February 2025: too few flights to score (114)
- March 2025: 82.8% from 151 flights
- April 2025: 77.4% from 147 flights
- May 2025: 76.7% from 166 flights
- June 2025: 65.0% from 178 flights
- July 2025: 61.1% from 186 flights
- August 2025: 74.5% from 166 flights
- September 2025: 89.4% from 161 flights
- October 2025: 77.9% from 154 flights
- November 2025: 74.6% from 143 flights
- December 2025: 71.0% from 146 flights
- January 2026: 85.3% from 129 flights
- February 2026: too few flights to score (119)
- March 2026: 73.2% from 161 flights
- April 2026: 75.5% from 150 flights
- May 2026: 65.3% from 150 flights
- June 2026: 57.8% from 176 flights
- July 2026: 67.8% from 202 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 74.2% against 78.5% in the 12 months before — declining by 4.3 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 5,615 MDW → HOU 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