Route profile
MDW→PIT
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Chicago to Pittsburgh, 402 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 68% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,659 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
MDW → PIT arrives on time 80.0% of the time; the return trip, PIT → MDW, arrives on time 81.9% of the time.
MDW → PIT spends 19.2 minutes on the ground on a 402-mile trip: 14.2 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MDW and 5.0 minutes from touchdown to gate at PIT.
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 92% of 4,023 comparable routes.
91.2% on time for 5–9 AM departures, against 59.8% 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 PIT differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MDW to PIT struggles most at 9 PM: 60.7% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 8.4 points behind the 69.1% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 8.8 points.
MDW to PIT is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 10 AM: 92.5% arrive on time, 8.2 points ahead of the 84.3% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 9.8 points.
April is kinder to MDW to PIT than to routes of similar length: 88.8% on time against 79.9%, 8.9 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 8.9 points.
MDW to PIT against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 9 PM departures | 60.7% | routes of similar length | 69.1% | −8.4 pts | 219 here, 52,177 there |
| Hour: 10 AM departures | 92.5% | routes of similar length | 84.3% | +8.2 pts | 159 here, 98,527 there |
| Month: April | 88.8% | routes of similar length | 79.9% | +8.9 pts | 267 here, 117,779 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 402 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
34 min late
against a median of 4 min early
Percentiles over 3,659 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at PIT after arriving from MDW.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 39% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 19% | High risk |
| 60 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.9% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 2.8% | 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 1.26% of the time and diverts 0.03% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,612 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 34 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,659 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MDW → PIT flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 91.2% of the time, against 59.8% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 31.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 93.6% on time from 237 flights
- 8 AM: 89.7% on time from 382 flights
- 9 AM: 87.8% on time from 300 flights
- 10 AM: 92.5% on time from 161 flights
- 11 AM: 86.7% on time from 137 flights
- 12 PM: 85.2% on time from 238 flights
- 1 PM: 84.1% on time from 573 flights
- 2 PM to 3 PM: too few flights to score
- 4 PM: 77.8% on time from 138 flights
- 5 PM: 74.3% on time from 227 flights
- 6 PM: 69.7% on time from 396 flights
- 7 PM: 71.7% on time from 142 flights
- 8 PM: 68.3% on time from 205 flights
- 9 PM: 60.7% on time from 222 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why MDW → PIT 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 → PIT. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on MDW → PIT, at 51.5%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 91.2% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 59.8%.
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 | 3,659 | 80.0% | 1.26% | -4 min | 5.1% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 8.9 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 78.2%
- Feb: 88.4%
- Mar: 79.8%
- Apr: 88.8%
- May: 76.4%
- Jun: 72.8%
- Jul: 67.7%
- Aug: 77.5%
- Sep: 86.4%
- Oct: 85.1%
- Nov: 85.4%
- Dec: 80.3%
July is historically the weakest month and April the strongest, a spread of 21.1 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 55.6% from 136 flights
- August 2023: 75.8% from 130 flights
- September 2023: too few flights to score (116)
- October 2023: 86.4% from 132 flights
- November 2023: too few flights to score (115)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (116)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (95)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (83)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (99)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (96)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (98)
- June 2024: too few flights to score (100)
- July 2024: too few flights to score (104)
- August 2024: too few flights to score (114)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (111)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (106)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (85)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (89)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (81)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (71)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (87)
- April 2025: too few flights to score (86)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (86)
- June 2025: too few flights to score (102)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (105)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (112)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (112)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (115)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (84)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (89)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (88)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (80)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (89)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (85)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (87)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (86)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (89)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 81.0% against 82.2% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,659 MDW → PIT 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