Route profile
ORD→PDX
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Chicago to Portland, 1,739 miles.
Right now
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Weather conditions are strongly associated with delays and cancellations.
Route reliability
July 2023 – July 2026
Better than 38% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 7,503 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
ORD → PDX arrives on time 75.1% of the time; the return trip, PDX → ORD, arrives on time 80.9% of the time, a 5.9-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
ORD → PDX spends 30.0 minutes on the ground on a 1,739-mile trip: 25.5 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at ORD and 4.6 minutes from touchdown to gate at PDX.
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 98% of 4,023 comparable routes.
83.2% on time for 5–9 AM departures, against 47.1% 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 ORD to PDX differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
ORD to PDX struggles most at 9 PM: 45.3% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 23 points behind the 68.3% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 24.2 points.
ORD to PDX is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 3 PM: 85.2% arrive on time, 12.7 points ahead of the 72.5% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 12.5 points.
Wednesday is the day ORD to PDX slips furthest against routes of similar length, 74.6% on time where they average 80.5%, 5.9 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 6.2 points.
September is kinder to ORD to PDX than to routes of similar length: 88.0% on time against 82.1%, 5.9 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 5.6 points.
American Airlines’ flights on ORD to PDX arrive on time 66.4% of the time, 10.4 points below the 76.8% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 8.7 points.
ORD to PDX against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 9 PM departures | 45.3% | routes of similar length | 68.3% | −23.0 pts | 192 here, 31,246 there |
| Hour: 3 PM departures | 85.2% | routes of similar length | 72.5% | +12.7 pts | 264 here, 68,397 there |
| Weekday: Wednesday | 74.6% | routes of similar length | 80.5% | −5.9 pts | 1,034 here, 190,823 there |
| Month: September | 88.0% | routes of similar length | 82.1% | +5.9 pts | 634 here, 109,856 there |
| Airline: American Airlines | 66.4% | routes of similar length | 76.8% | −10.4 pts | 1,597 here, 220,230 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 1,739 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 ORD → PDX flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
ORD → PDX cancelled 75 of 7,503 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 100. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 53.3% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 188 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 75 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.
40 cancellations, 53.3% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
34 cancellations, 45.3% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
1 cancellation, 1.3% 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. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
75 coded cancellations were recorded on ORD → PDX; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
52 min late
against a median of 4 min early
Percentiles over 7,503 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at PDX after arriving from ORD.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 42% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 24% | High risk |
| 60 min | 16% | High risk |
| 90 min | 8.2% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 5.0% | 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 1.00% of the time and diverts 0.09% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 7,421 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 52 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 7,503 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
ORD → PDX flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 83.2% of the time, against 47.1% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 36.1 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 84.1% on time from 724 flights
- 8 AM: 79.6% on time from 372 flights
- 9 AM: 83.5% on time from 1,081 flights
- 10 AM: 80.1% on time from 307 flights
- 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 78.4% on time from 766 flights
- 1 PM: 80.2% on time from 330 flights
- 2 PM: 74.5% on time from 820 flights
- 3 PM: 85.2% on time from 266 flights
- 4 PM: 76.0% on time from 964 flights
- 5 PM to 6 PM: too few flights to score
- 7 PM: 63.5% on time from 514 flights
- 8 PM: 60.6% on time from 912 flights
- 9 PM: 45.3% on time from 199 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why ORD → PDX 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 ORD → PDX. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on ORD → PDX, at 46.3%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 83.2% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 47.1%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 4,224 | 78.3% | 0.76% | -5 min | 7.3% |
| American Airlines | 1,617 | 66.4% | 1.11% | 1 min | 12.8% |
| Alaska Airlines | 1,554 | 77.9% | 1.29% | -4 min | 5.5% |
United Airlines flew 57.1% of the 7,395 flights listed.
United Airlines arrived on time 11.9 percentage points more often than American Airlines on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| AS325 Alaska Airlines | 2:05 PM | 968 | 77.3% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 6.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 75.9%
- Feb: 78.0%
- Mar: 75.5%
- Apr: 76.5%
- May: 76.5%
- Jun: 66.7%
- Jul: 68.7%
- Aug: 71.3%
- Sep: 88.0%
- Oct: 79.1%
- Nov: 81.7%
- Dec: 75.7%
June is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 21.3 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 66.5% from 219 flights
- August 2023: 73.3% from 214 flights
- September 2023: 88.4% from 181 flights
- October 2023: 86.9% from 183 flights
- November 2023: 90.2% from 133 flights
- December 2023: 94.2% from 138 flights
- January 2024: too few flights to score (107)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (85)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (118)
- April 2024: 84.4% from 186 flights
- May 2024: 69.9% from 238 flights
- June 2024: 61.1% from 282 flights
- July 2024: 69.1% from 297 flights
- August 2024: 66.0% from 263 flights
- September 2024: 91.3% from 196 flights
- October 2024: 87.4% from 198 flights
- November 2024: 87.6% from 145 flights
- December 2024: 79.9% from 144 flights
- January 2025: too few flights to score (111)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (95)
- March 2025: 88.6% from 123 flights
- April 2025: 84.7% from 203 flights
- May 2025: 86.2% from 254 flights
- June 2025: 75.4% from 290 flights
- July 2025: 71.7% from 295 flights
- August 2025: 74.4% from 295 flights
- September 2025: 85.2% from 257 flights
- October 2025: 67.4% from 262 flights
- November 2025: 70.0% from 174 flights
- December 2025: 56.4% from 164 flights
- January 2026: 73.0% from 139 flights
- February 2026: 70.1% from 147 flights
- March 2026: 59.7% from 181 flights
- April 2026: 63.3% from 242 flights
- May 2026: 73.1% from 284 flights
- June 2026: 63.7% from 321 flights
- July 2026: 67.3% from 339 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 69.0% against 80.1% in the 12 months before — declining by 11.1 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 7,503 ORD → PDX 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