Route profile
ONT→DAL
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Ontario to Dallas, 1,200 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 87% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 1,184 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
ONT → DAL arrives on time 82.6% of the time; the return trip, DAL → ONT, arrives on time 71.7% of the time, a 10.9-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
ONT → DAL spends 16.8 minutes on the ground on a 1,200-mile trip: 11.6 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at ONT and 5.2 minutes from touchdown to gate at DAL.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Which day you fly matters unusually much here, a wider weekday spread than 95% of 4,467 comparable routes.
91.7% on time on a typical Saturday, against 76.1% on a Monday.
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 4,467 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where ONT to DAL differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
ONT to DAL struggles most at 11 AM: 59.5% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 20 points behind the 79.5% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 21.5 points.
ONT to DAL is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 7 AM: 92.8% arrive on time, 4.6 points ahead of the 88.2% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 5 points.
ONT to DAL holds up on Saturdays better than routes of similar length do: 91.7% on time to their 77.4%, a 14.3 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 12.6 points.
July is kinder to ONT to DAL than to routes of similar length: 89.3% on time against 68.8%, 20.5 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 19.6 points.
Southwest Airlines does better on ONT to DAL than on its routes of similar length: 82.6% on time here, 75.8% there, 6.8 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 5.2 points.
ONT to DAL against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 11 AM departures | 59.5% | routes of similar length | 79.5% | −20.0 pts | 205 here, 120,778 there |
| Hour: 7 AM departures | 92.8% | routes of similar length | 88.2% | +4.6 pts | 264 here, 170,920 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 91.7% | routes of similar length | 77.4% | +14.3 pts | 156 here, 266,534 there |
| Month: July | 89.3% | routes of similar length | 68.8% | +20.5 pts | 131 here, 216,883 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 82.6% | routes of similar length | 75.8% | +6.8 pts | 1,166 here, 437,728 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 1,200 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
26 min late
against a median of 2 min early
Percentiles over 1,184 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at DAL after arriving from ONT.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 45% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 16% | High risk |
| 60 min | 8.1% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 3.2% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 1.5% | 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 0.93% of the time and diverts 0.59% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 1,166 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 26 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 1,184 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Why ONT → DAL 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 ONT → DAL. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on ONT → DAL, at 44.7%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late.
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 | 1,184 | 82.6% | 0.93% | -2 min | 3.3% |
Other ways to fly Los Angeles to Dallas–Fort Worth
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LAX→DFW Los Angeles to Dallas–Fort Worth | 20,649 | 76.9% | 1.61% | -5 min | 56 |
| ONT→DAL this route Ontario to Dallas | 1,184 | 82.6% | 0.93% | -2 min | 80 |
ONT → DAL is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 82.6% on time, against 76.9% for LAX → DFW.
Flying to DAL from the Los Angeles area? Compare ONT, LAX, SNA, BUR for DAL, 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 15.6 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 74.2% against 83.0% in the 12 months before — declining by 8.8 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 1,184 ONT → DAL 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