ORD → DEN Flight Reliability

Right now

Origin · ORDNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 07:51 UTC

Chicago airport profile →

Destination · DENNo disruption reported

Aviation weather is not currently a factor.

Updated 07:53 UTC

Denver airport profile →

Route reliability

July 2023 – July 2026

Route Reliability Score

61/ 100Good

Better than 37% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)

Calculated from 19,502 flights. How this is calculated

On-time arrivals

77.0%

14,802 of 19,231

Cancellation rate

1.17%

228 cancelled

Median arrival delay

-6 min

Average 9.1 min

Severe delays

8.8%

60+ minutes late

Delay when late

75 min

Average, when 15+ min late

Flights analyzed

19,502

4 carriers

ORD → DEN arrives on time 77.0% of the time; the return trip, DEN → ORD, arrives on time 74.2% of the time, a 2.8-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.

ORD → DEN spends 33.1 minutes on the ground on an 888-mile trip: 23.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at ORD and 9.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at DEN.

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026

What stands out

Every day of the week performs about the same on this route, steadier than 95% of 4,467 comparable routes.

79.1% on time on the best day (Tuesday) against 75.1% on the worst (Friday).

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.

Why ORD → DEN flights are cancelled

July 2023 – July 2026

ORD → DEN cancelled 228 of 19,502 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 86. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 48.7% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 176 scheduled flights.

Share of cancellations

Weather48.7%

Airline46.9%

Air traffic4.4%

Security0.0%

Of 228 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.

What each reason means

Extreme weather1 in 176

Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.

111 cancellations, 48.7% of the total.

The airline1 in 182

Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.

107 cancellations, 46.9% of the total.

The air traffic system1 in 1,950

Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.

10 cancellations, 4.4% of the total.

Security—

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. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.

228 coded cancellations were recorded on ORD → DEN; the section appears from 50.

When it goes wrong

July 2023 – July 2026

One arrival in ten is worse than

51 min late

against a median of 6 min early

Arrived an hour or more late8.8%

Typical delay when late75 min

Cancelled1.17%

Landed somewhere else0.22%

Percentiles over 19,502 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.

Will your connection be tight enough?

Layovers at DEN after arriving from ORD.

Connection buffer and chance of missing by layover length, ORD → DEN arrivals
Connection time	Chance of missing	Reads as
30 min	38%	Likely to miss
45 min	22%	High risk
60 min	15%	High risk
90 min	8.7%	Some risk
120 min	5.4%	Some 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 1.17% 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 19,231 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 51 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 19,502 operations.

Any other layover length: connection checker.

Best time to fly

ORD → DEN flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 87.8% of the time, against 62.8% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 25.0 percentage points.

By day and hour

On-time arrival rate for each weekday and scheduled departure hour, in local time at the departure airport (ORD).

Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 10.3 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 1.4 points.

On-time arrival rate for ORD to DEN by weekday and scheduled departure hour, local time. Each button reads out one slot.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
7 AM–8 AM
8 AM–9 AM
9 AM–10 AM
10 AM–11 AM
11 AM–12 PM
12 PM–1 PM
1 PM–2 PM
2 PM–3 PM
3 PM–4 PM
4 PM–5 PM
5 PM–6 PM
6 PM–7 PM
7 PM–8 PM
8 PM–9 PM
9 PM–10 PM

On-time rate, % · stronger color, fewer on time

50–59
60–69
70–79
80–89
90–99

Fewer than 120 flights, not scored

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · On time is arrival within 15 minutes of schedule. Cells round to whole percentages; the table shows one decimal.

No slot is named best or worst: too few reach 500 flights. Departures before 7 AM and after 10 PM (1,466 flights) are not drawn: no slot in those hours has enough flights to score.

View as tableHide table

On-time arrival rate (%) with flights beneath, by scheduled departure hour and weekday for ORD to DEN. A dash means fewer than 120 flights, which are not scored.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
7 AM–8 AM	92.3% on time299 flights	95.3% on time304 flights	94.1% on time305 flights	92.5% on time296 flights	91.8% on time297 flights	90.3% on time258 flights	89.2% on time289 flights
8 AM–9 AM	81.1% on time250 flights	81.5% on time234 flights	82.1% on time236 flights	77.1% on time250 flights	78.9% on time251 flights	81.9% on time218 flights	83.1% on time254 flights
9 AM–10 AM	71 flights, too few to score	76 flights, too few to score	73 flights, too few to score	70 flights, too few to score	72 flights, too few to score	61 flights, too few to score	79 flights, too few to score
10 AM–11 AM	87.2% on time224 flights	86.6% on time210 flights	85.9% on time214 flights	84.6% on time218 flights	81.3% on time213 flights	81.0% on time210 flights	85.3% on time222 flights
11 AM–12 PM	81 flights, too few to score	73 flights, too few to score	78 flights, too few to score	101 flights, too few to score	100 flights, too few to score	76 flights, too few to score	98 flights, too few to score
12 PM–1 PM	83.7% on time229 flights	85.2% on time210 flights	87.3% on time209 flights	88.1% on time228 flights	84.0% on time235 flights	118 flights, too few to score	83.5% on time201 flights
1 PM–2 PM	81.9% on time173 flights	81.4% on time191 flights	84.2% on time194 flights	83.0% on time168 flights	77.9% on time163 flights	85.1% on time179 flights	73.5% on time156 flights
2 PM–3 PM	80.5% on time204 flights	75.3% on time197 flights	77.7% on time202 flights	73.8% on time200 flights	74.8% on time207 flights	79.7% on time198 flights	73.6% on time212 flights
3 PM–4 PM	91 flights, too few to score	87 flights, too few to score	84 flights, too few to score	86 flights, too few to score	92 flights, too few to score	104 flights, too few to score	95 flights, too few to score
4 PM–5 PM	72.5% on time206 flights	63.8% on time193 flights	63.4% on time189 flights	57.2% on time209 flights	70.6% on time208 flights	65.1% on time168 flights	71.1% on time192 flights
5 PM–6 PM	94 flights, too few to score	108 flights, too few to score	109 flights, too few to score	88 flights, too few to score	87 flights, too few to score	69.2% on time132 flights	89 flights, too few to score
6 PM–7 PM	56.4% on time212 flights	68.5% on time208 flights	58.0% on time205 flights	59.5% on time193 flights	52.0% on time208 flights	64.6% on time149 flights	57.6% on time194 flights
7 PM–8 PM	100 flights, too few to score	70 flights, too few to score	66 flights, too few to score	97 flights, too few to score	91 flights, too few to score	60 flights, too few to score	95 flights, too few to score
8 PM–9 PM	63.1% on time227 flights	64.4% on time204 flights	60.2% on time218 flights	58.4% on time227 flights	60.3% on time242 flights	66.4% on time230 flights	62.4% on time248 flights
9 PM–10 PM	72.1% on time213 flights	73.4% on time171 flights	71.1% on time182 flights	68.1% on time208 flights	69.2% on time217 flights	76.3% on time138 flights	71.0% on time217 flights

By departure window

5–9 AM87.8%

9 AM–12 PM81.8%

12–3 PM81.0%

3–6 PM68.4%

6–9 PM62.8%

9 PM–5 AM69.5%

By departure hour

12 AM

3 AM

6 AM

9 AM

12 PM

3 PM

6 PM

9 PM

Why ORD → DEN runs late

July 2023 – July 2026

Late-arriving aircraft44.8%

the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late

The airline29.0%

crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control

Air traffic control21.5%

airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control

Weather4.6%

weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically

Security0.1%

screening or terminal security incidents

Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for ORD → DEN. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.

Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on ORD → DEN, at 44.8%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 87.8% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 62.8%.

How this route holds up in bad weather

July 2023 – July 2026

Bad weather raises cancellations by a similar amount at both ends of ORD to DEN: 5.5 times the normal rate at ORD and 4.0 times at DEN. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: ORD 6.5% against 1.2%, DEN 2.8% against 0.7%. Flights that did leave DEN in bad weather arrived on time 51.5% of the time, against 78.8% in normal hours.

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026

Departures from ORD and DEN in hours of bad weather and in normal hours
Departures from	ORD	DEN
Cancelled in bad weather	6.5%	2.8%
Cancelled in normal hours	1.2%	0.7%
Arrived on time, bad weather	55.7%	51.5%
Arrived on time, normal hours	77.1%	78.8%
Departures in bad weather	104,455	92,610

United Airlines (3.5% cancelled against 7.4% for the other carriers at ORD) and American Airlines (5.4% cancelled against 6.7% for the other carriers at ORD) cancelled fewer departures from ORD in bad weather than the other carriers there did in the same months. None of the route’s other carriers was clearly worse.

This route’s airlines in bad weather at ORD

All departures from ORD

Cancellation rates in bad weather at ORD for the airlines that fly ORD to DEN, against the other carriers at ORD in the same months
Airline	Bad-weather departures	Cancelled	Other carriers
United Airlines	31,269	3.5%below the others	7.4%
Frontier Airlines	1,047	6.0%about level	7.5%
American Airlines	17,789	5.4%below the others	6.7%
Southwest Airlines	2,055	4.2%about level	5.1%

These are airport figures, not route figures: every scheduled departure from ORD and DEN, to any destination, in hours the weather report called bad. The airline rows count each carrier’s departures from ORD on every route.

Weather source and limits. In full: ORD (airlines), DEN, What Weather Costs Each Airport, Who Cancels More When the Weather Turns, Airports That Change Places When Weather Turns.

Airlines on this route

Carriers with at least 200 flights, by the airline that operated each one.

Airlines on this route
Carrier	Flights	On time	Cancelled	Median delay	Severe
United Airlines	11,173	79.6%	1.07%	-7 min	7.6%
American Airlines	3,736	69.4%	1.20%	-2 min	12.0%
Southwest Airlines	3,634	78.9%	1.27%	-6 min	7.5%
Frontier Airlines	831	67.5%	2.05%	1 min	16.5%

United Airlines flew 57.7% of the 19,374 flights listed.

United Airlines arrived on time 12.1 percentage points more often than Frontier Airlines on this route.

Flights on this route

Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.

Flights on this route
Flight	Scheduled	Operations	On time
UA767 United Airlines	9:32 PM	1,081	69.4%
AA1387 American Airlines	8:45 PM	1,022	59.6%

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

Mon77.7%

Tue79.1%

Wed77.3%

Thu75.7%

Fri75.1%

Sat78.4%

Sun75.9%

Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 4.0 percentage points.

By month

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 15.8 percentage points.

Reliability over time

July 2023 – July 2026

24

25

26

Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 75.0% against 78.3% in the 12 months before — declining by 3.3 percentage points.

Data and methodology

Calculated by FlyerIntel from 19,502 ORD → DEN 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

Analysis last recomputed September 26, 2026

ORD airport DEN airport Return direction DEN → ORD

ORD→DEN

Right now

Route reliability

What stands out

Why ORD → DEN flights are cancelled

Share of cancellations

What each reason means

When it goes wrong

Will your connection be tight enough?

Best time to fly

By day and hour

By departure window

By departure hour

Why ORD → DEN runs late

How this route holds up in bad weather

Bad weather and normal hours at the airports

This route’s airlines in bad weather at ORD

Airlines on this route

Flights on this route

Weekly and seasonal patterns

By day of week

By month

Reliability over time

Data and methodology