Route profile
MDW→LGA
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Chicago to New York, 725 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 15% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 7,493 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
MDW → LGA arrives on time 73.5% of the time; the return trip, LGA → MDW, arrives on time 76.5% of the time, a 3.0-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
MDW → LGA spends 22.9 minutes on the ground on a 725-mile trip: 15.7 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MDW and 7.2 minutes from touchdown to gate at LGA.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
On-time performance swings unusually widely by time of day here, wider than 90% of 4,023 comparable routes.
89.4% on time for 5–9 AM departures, against 59.1% for 3–6 PM.
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 4,023 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where MDW to LGA differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MDW to LGA struggles most at 3 PM: 58.8% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 13.8 points behind the 72.6% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 13.9 points.
MDW to LGA is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 6 AM: 93.5% arrive on time, 3 points ahead of the 90.5% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 2.7 points.
Thursday is the day MDW to LGA slips furthest against routes of similar length, 70.2% on time where they average 76.7%, 6.5 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 6.6 points.
In March, MDW to LGA runs 10 points below routes of similar length, 68.3% on time to 78.3%. Against all other routes the gap is 9.6 points.
Southwest Airlines’ flights on MDW to LGA arrive on time 73.5% of the time, 4.2 points below the 77.7% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 3.9 points.
MDW to LGA against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 3 PM departures | 58.8% | routes of similar length | 72.6% | −13.8 pts | 216 here, 119,378 there |
| Hour: 6 AM departures | 93.5% | routes of similar length | 90.5% | +3.0 pts | 676 here, 154,635 there |
| Weekday: Thursday | 70.2% | routes of similar length | 76.7% | −6.5 pts | 1,125 here, 310,005 there |
| Month: March | 68.3% | routes of similar length | 78.3% | −10.0 pts | 565 here, 169,994 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 73.5% | routes of similar length | 77.7% | −4.2 pts | 7,222 here, 561,725 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 725 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 → LGA flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
MDW → LGA cancelled 232 of 7,493 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 32. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 62.9% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 51 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 232 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.
146 cancellations, 62.9% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
68 cancellations, 29.3% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
18 cancellations, 7.8% 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.
232 coded cancellations were recorded on MDW → LGA; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
51 min late
against a median of 2 min early
Percentiles over 7,493 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at LGA after arriving from MDW.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 45% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 26% | High risk |
| 60 min | 16% | High risk |
| 90 min | 8.1% | 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 3.10% of the time and diverts 0.52% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 7,222 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 51 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 7,493 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MDW → LGA flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 89.4% of the time, against 59.1% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 30.3 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 92.2% on time from 368 flights
- 6 AM: 93.5% on time from 686 flights
- 7 AM: 85.1% on time from 265 flights
- 8 AM: 85.9% on time from 755 flights
- 9 AM: 77.9% on time from 227 flights
- 10 AM: 79.3% on time from 676 flights
- 11 AM: 80.2% on time from 264 flights
- 12 PM: 74.0% on time from 550 flights
- 1 PM: 71.4% on time from 569 flights
- 2 PM: 62.1% on time from 824 flights
- 3 PM: 58.8% on time from 225 flights
- 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 58.7% on time from 728 flights
- 6 PM: 57.9% on time from 334 flights
- 7 PM: 66.0% on time from 558 flights
- 8 PM: 57.8% on time from 440 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why MDW → LGA runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
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 → LGA. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 7,493 | 73.5% | 3.10% | -2 min | 8.3% |
Other ways to fly Chicago to New York
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
MDW → LGA is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 73.5% on time, against 71.7% for ORD → EWR.
Flying to LGA from the Chicago area? Compare MDW, ORD for LGA, 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 12.5 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 79.7%
- Feb: 84.2%
- Mar: 68.3%
- Apr: 75.9%
- May: 68.7%
- Jun: 63.9%
- Jul: 64.4%
- Aug: 71.4%
- Sep: 78.9%
- Oct: 78.3%
- Nov: 80.9%
- Dec: 71.1%
June is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 20.3 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 56.8% from 225 flights
- August 2023: 73.0% from 230 flights
- September 2023: 71.0% from 211 flights
- October 2023: 83.9% from 223 flights
- November 2023: 85.1% from 221 flights
- December 2023: 77.0% from 226 flights
- January 2024: 71.8% from 219 flights
- February 2024: 87.1% from 200 flights
- March 2024: 77.5% from 200 flights
- April 2024: 76.5% from 189 flights
- May 2024: 63.8% from 198 flights
- June 2024: 69.4% from 195 flights
- July 2024: 73.8% from 212 flights
- August 2024: 66.3% from 205 flights
- September 2024: 85.6% from 202 flights
- October 2024: 86.6% from 201 flights
- November 2024: 90.1% from 192 flights
- December 2024: 72.7% from 198 flights
- January 2025: 82.1% from 201 flights
- February 2025: 84.4% from 182 flights
- March 2025: 74.9% from 194 flights
- April 2025: 82.6% from 190 flights
- May 2025: 72.9% from 194 flights
- June 2025: 60.6% from 196 flights
- July 2025: 63.8% from 204 flights
- August 2025: 74.5% from 202 flights
- September 2025: 79.9% from 198 flights
- October 2025: 63.5% from 204 flights
- November 2025: 66.1% from 191 flights
- December 2025: 62.9% from 198 flights
- January 2026: 85.2% from 197 flights
- February 2026: 80.7% from 183 flights
- March 2026: 50.6% from 197 flights
- April 2026: 68.8% from 196 flights
- May 2026: 69.4% from 202 flights
- June 2026: 61.5% from 206 flights
- July 2026: 62.3% from 211 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 68.6% against 76.8% in the 12 months before — declining by 8.2 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 7,493 MDW → LGA 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