Route profile
MSY→DTW
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from New Orleans to Detroit, 926 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 72% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 2,459 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
MSY → DTW arrives on time 83.4% of the time; the return trip, DTW → MSY, arrives on time 83.0% of the time.
MSY → DTW spends 22.5 minutes on the ground on a 926-mile trip: 12.3 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MSY and 10.2 minutes from touchdown to gate at DTW.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Unlike most, it barely matters what time you fly this route, a steadier spread than 100% of 4,023 comparable routes.
85.3% on time for 12–3 PM departures, against 83.1% for 3–6 PM, a narrow gap either way.
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 MSY to DTW differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MSY to DTW is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 5 PM: 83.1% arrive on time, 15.3 points ahead of the 67.8% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 13.3 points.
MSY to DTW holds up on Saturdays better than routes of similar length do: 85.9% on time to their 77.8%, a 8.1 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 6.8 points.
August is kinder to MSY to DTW than to routes of similar length: 86.1% on time against 74.7%, 11.4 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 9.6 points.
Delta Air Lines does better on MSY to DTW than on its routes of similar length: 83.8% on time here, 81.5% there, 2.3 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 2.3 points.
MSY to DTW against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 5 PM departures | 83.1% | routes of similar length | 67.8% | +15.3 pts | 528 here, 173,607 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 85.9% | routes of similar length | 77.8% | +8.1 pts | 313 here, 385,611 there |
| Month: August | 86.1% | routes of similar length | 74.7% | +11.4 pts | 137 here, 233,167 there |
| Airline: Delta Air Lines | 83.8% | routes of similar length | 81.5% | +2.3 pts | 1,808 here, 361,261 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 926 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
31 min late
against a median of 7 min early
Percentiles over 2,459 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at DTW after arriving from MSY.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 32% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 16% | High risk |
| 60 min | 10% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.3% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.3% | 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 1.14% of the time and diverts 0.20% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 2,426 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 31 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 2,459 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MSY → DTW flights departing 12–3 PM arrived on time 85.3% of the time, against 83.1% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 2.2 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 10 AM: too few flights to score
- 11 AM: 83.7% on time from 1,121 flights
- 12 PM to 3 PM: too few flights to score
- 4 PM: 83.2% on time from 258 flights
- 5 PM: 83.1% on time from 540 flights
- 6 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why MSY → DTW 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 MSY → DTW. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on MSY → DTW, at 51.1%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, though departure time makes little difference here: the best and worst windows are 2 points apart.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 1,837 | 83.8% | 1.31% | -8 min | 4.2% |
| Spirit Airlines | 597 | 82.3% | 0.50% | -7 min | 8.6% |
Delta Air Lines flew 75.5% of the 2,434 flights listed.
Carriers on this route performed within a couple of percentage points of each other.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 7.9 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 81.6%
- Feb: 83.5%
- Mar: 82.4%
- Apr: 86.9%
- May: 83.4%
- Jun: 78.3%
- Jul: 77.3%
- Aug: 86.1%
- Sep: 82.8%
- Oct: 90.1%
- Nov: 85.1%
- Dec: 82.0%
July is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 12.8 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 83.1% against 82.2% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 2,459 MSY → DTW 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