Route profile
MDW→MCI
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Chicago to Kansas City, 405 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 61% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 6,755 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
MDW → MCI arrives on time 78.6% of the time; the return trip, MCI → MDW, arrives on time 82.8% of the time, a 4.2-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
MDW → MCI spends 18.8 minutes on the ground on a 405-mile trip: 13.6 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MDW and 5.2 minutes from touchdown to gate at MCI.
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 95% of 4,023 comparable routes.
92.1% on time for 5–9 AM departures, against 58.8% for 9 PM–5 AM.
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 MCI differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MDW to MCI struggles most at 9 PM: 58.4% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 10.8 points behind the 69.2% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 11.1 points.
MDW to MCI is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 1 PM: 82.7% arrive on time, 4.3 points ahead of the 78.4% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 5.6 points.
February is kinder to MDW to MCI than to routes of similar length: 85.9% on time against 81.5%, 4.4 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 4.5 points.
In July, MDW to MCI runs 3.6 points below routes of similar length, 66.9% on time to 70.5%.
MDW to MCI against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 9 PM departures | 58.4% | routes of similar length | 69.2% | −10.8 pts | 375 here, 51,514 there |
| Hour: 1 PM departures | 82.7% | routes of similar length | 78.4% | +4.3 pts | 387 here, 85,466 there |
| Month: February | 85.9% | routes of similar length | 81.5% | +4.4 pts | 405 here, 99,807 there |
| Month: July | 66.9% | routes of similar length | 70.5% | −3.6 pts | 821 here, 157,922 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 405 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 → MCI flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
MDW → MCI cancelled 88 of 6,755 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 77. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 87.5% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 88 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 88 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.
77 cancellations, 87.5% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
9 cancellations, 10.2% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
2 cancellations, 2.3% 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.
88 coded cancellations were recorded on MDW → MCI; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
37 min late
against a median of 4 min early
Percentiles over 6,755 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at MCI after arriving from MDW.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 40% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 20% | High risk |
| 60 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.5% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 2.9% | 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 1.30% of the time and diverts 0.16% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 6,656 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 37 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 6,755 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MDW → MCI flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 92.1% of the time, against 58.8% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 33.3 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 94.7% on time from 174 flights
- 6 AM: 96.0% on time from 380 flights
- 7 AM: 90.2% on time from 513 flights
- 8 AM: 90.2% on time from 505 flights
- 9 AM: 84.3% on time from 333 flights
- 10 AM: 86.3% on time from 538 flights
- 11 AM: 86.9% on time from 366 flights
- 12 PM: 80.8% on time from 311 flights
- 1 PM: 82.7% on time from 391 flights
- 2 PM: 77.5% on time from 403 flights
- 3 PM: 77.4% on time from 362 flights
- 4 PM: 71.4% on time from 466 flights
- 5 PM: 70.9% on time from 379 flights
- 6 PM: 68.2% on time from 228 flights
- 7 PM: 64.8% on time from 270 flights
- 8 PM: 65.7% on time from 449 flights
- 9 PM: 58.4% on time from 386 flights
- 10 PM: 59.3% on time from 301 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why MDW → MCI 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 → MCI. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on MDW → MCI, at 50.7%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 92.1% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 58.8%.
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 | 6,755 | 78.6% | 1.30% | -4 min | 5.5% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 6.5 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 80.8%
- Feb: 85.9%
- Mar: 78.7%
- Apr: 79.8%
- May: 76.5%
- Jun: 73.2%
- Jul: 66.9%
- Aug: 76.1%
- Sep: 81.1%
- Oct: 86.2%
- Nov: 87.8%
- Dec: 79.0%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 20.9 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 61.6% from 223 flights
- August 2023: 69.9% from 217 flights
- September 2023: 73.2% from 190 flights
- October 2023: 80.8% from 219 flights
- November 2023: 87.2% from 196 flights
- December 2023: 82.1% from 200 flights
- January 2024: 77.9% from 162 flights
- February 2024: 93.0% from 143 flights
- March 2024: 79.6% from 182 flights
- April 2024: 73.3% from 192 flights
- May 2024: 66.3% from 200 flights
- June 2024: 73.7% from 194 flights
- July 2024: 66.7% from 203 flights
- August 2024: 80.2% from 198 flights
- September 2024: 85.3% from 190 flights
- October 2024: 92.9% from 198 flights
- November 2024: 89.4% from 170 flights
- December 2024: 82.4% from 171 flights
- January 2025: 80.4% from 148 flights
- February 2025: 78.9% from 130 flights
- March 2025: 82.2% from 171 flights
- April 2025: 85.1% from 176 flights
- May 2025: 87.3% from 182 flights
- June 2025: 74.3% from 195 flights
- July 2025: 72.2% from 203 flights
- August 2025: 78.8% from 189 flights
- September 2025: 85.3% from 177 flights
- October 2025: 85.4% from 198 flights
- November 2025: 86.7% from 157 flights
- December 2025: 72.0% from 166 flights
- January 2026: 84.0% from 151 flights
- February 2026: 85.1% from 135 flights
- March 2026: 74.3% from 174 flights
- April 2026: 81.7% from 172 flights
- May 2026: 76.7% from 176 flights
- June 2026: 71.6% from 199 flights
- July 2026: 67.5% from 208 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 78.7% against 82.6% in the 12 months before — declining by 3.9 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 6,755 MDW → MCI 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