Route profile
MDW→PHL
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Chicago to Philadelphia, 668 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 35% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 5,108 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
MDW → PHL arrives on time 75.0% of the time; the return trip, PHL → MDW, arrives on time 75.1% of the time.
MDW → PHL spends 22.2 minutes on the ground on a 668-mile trip: 14.9 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MDW and 7.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at PHL.
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 100% of 4,023 comparable routes.
91.7% on time for 5–9 AM departures, against 40.4% 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 PHL differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MDW to PHL struggles most at 9 PM: 40.4% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 27.5 points behind the 67.9% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 29.1 points.
MDW to PHL is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 7 AM: 94.3% arrive on time, 6.8 points ahead of the 87.5% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 6.5 points.
Monday is the day MDW to PHL slips furthest against routes of similar length, 71.7% on time where they average 77.0%, 5.3 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 5.6 points.
In July, MDW to PHL runs 6.6 points below routes of similar length, 62.3% on time to 68.9%. Against all other routes the gap is 7.4 points.
Southwest Airlines’ flights on MDW to PHL arrive on time 75.5% of the time, 2.2 points below the 77.7% it manages on its routes of similar length.
MDW to PHL against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 9 PM departures | 40.4% | routes of similar length | 67.9% | −27.5 pts | 156 here, 74,454 there |
| Hour: 7 AM departures | 94.3% | routes of similar length | 87.5% | +6.8 pts | 281 here, 165,312 there |
| Weekday: Monday | 71.7% | routes of similar length | 77.0% | −5.3 pts | 781 here, 336,864 there |
| Month: July | 62.3% | routes of similar length | 68.9% | −6.6 pts | 576 here, 252,793 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 75.5% | routes of similar length | 77.7% | −2.2 pts | 4,375 here, 538,158 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 668 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 → PHL flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
MDW → PHL cancelled 78 of 5,108 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 65. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 62.8% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 104 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 78 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.
49 cancellations, 62.8% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
20 cancellations, 25.6% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
9 cancellations, 11.5% 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.
78 coded cancellations were recorded on MDW → PHL; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
46 min late
against a median of 2 min early
Percentiles over 5,108 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at PHL after arriving from MDW.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 44% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 24% | High risk |
| 60 min | 15% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 7.3% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.5% | 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 1.53% of the time and diverts 0.22% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 5,019 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 46 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 5,108 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MDW → PHL flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 91.7% of the time, against 40.4% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 51.3 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 92.9% on time from 212 flights
- 7 AM: 94.3% on time from 284 flights
- 8 AM: 88.9% on time from 457 flights
- 9 AM: 87.0% on time from 329 flights
- 10 AM: 89.3% on time from 215 flights
- 11 AM: 82.4% on time from 178 flights
- 12 PM: 80.7% on time from 399 flights
- 1 PM: 75.3% on time from 503 flights
- 2 PM: 64.5% on time from 415 flights
- 3 PM: 61.5% on time from 364 flights
- 4 PM: 66.0% on time from 290 flights
- 5 PM: 64.2% on time from 199 flights
- 6 PM: 68.5% on time from 525 flights
- 7 PM: 63.9% on time from 223 flights
- 8 PM: 64.0% on time from 254 flights
- 9 PM: 40.4% on time from 164 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why MDW → PHL 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 → PHL. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on MDW → PHL, at 43.2%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 91.7% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 40.4%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 4,442 | 75.5% | 1.26% | -2 min | 6.5% |
| Frontier Airlines | 666 | 71.6% | 3.30% | -3 min | 13.7% |
Southwest Airlines flew 87.0% of the 5,108 flights listed. Frontier Airlines cancelled 3.30% of its flights here against 1.26% for Southwest Airlines.
Southwest Airlines arrived on time 3.9 percentage points more often than Frontier Airlines on this route.
Other ways to fly Chicago to Philadelphia
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD→PHL Chicago to Philadelphia | 14,168 | 72.1% | 2.05% | -3 min | 43 |
| MDW→PHL this route Chicago to Philadelphia | 5,108 | 75.0% | 1.53% | -2 min | 60 |
MDW → PHL is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 75.0% on time, against 72.1% for ORD → PHL.
Flying to PHL from the Chicago area? Compare MDW, ORD for PHL, 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 Monday the least, a gap of 8.6 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 76.8%
- Feb: 83.9%
- Mar: 78.4%
- Apr: 78.9%
- May: 69.9%
- Jun: 71.0%
- Jul: 62.3%
- Aug: 71.0%
- Sep: 78.8%
- Oct: 80.1%
- Nov: 82.6%
- Dec: 73.8%
July is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 21.6 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 50.0% from 152 flights
- August 2023: 66.2% from 157 flights
- September 2023: 71.6% from 173 flights
- October 2023: 78.6% from 193 flights
- November 2023: 81.0% from 159 flights
- December 2023: 73.8% from 152 flights
- January 2024: 69.3% from 122 flights
- February 2024: too few flights to score (95)
- March 2024: 85.5% from 131 flights
- April 2024: 72.7% from 140 flights
- May 2024: 67.6% from 145 flights
- June 2024: 72.4% from 146 flights
- July 2024: 67.6% from 153 flights
- August 2024: 70.4% from 181 flights
- September 2024: 82.2% from 186 flights
- October 2024: 80.0% from 177 flights
- November 2024: 85.3% from 156 flights
- December 2024: 80.3% from 142 flights
- January 2025: too few flights to score (103)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (85)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (89)
- April 2025: 79.2% from 121 flights
- May 2025: 73.4% from 128 flights
- June 2025: 64.6% from 147 flights
- July 2025: 63.1% from 153 flights
- August 2025: 76.5% from 155 flights
- September 2025: 82.4% from 159 flights
- October 2025: 81.9% from 155 flights
- November 2025: 81.4% from 136 flights
- December 2025: 66.4% from 122 flights
- January 2026: too few flights to score (96)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (84)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (93)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (111)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (119)
- June 2026: 76.3% from 142 flights
- July 2026: 68.3% from 150 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 76.2% against 76.8% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 5,108 MDW → PHL 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