Route profile
ORD→SLC
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Chicago to Salt Lake City, 1,250 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 27% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 9,376 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
ORD → SLC arrives on time 74.9% of the time; the return trip, SLC → ORD, arrives on time 79.2% of the time, a 4.3-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
ORD → SLC spends 31.4 minutes on the ground on a 1,250-mile trip: 24.2 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at ORD and 7.2 minutes from touchdown to gate at SLC.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where ORD to SLC differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
ORD to SLC struggles most at 8 PM: 58.2% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 6.9 points behind the 65.1% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 9.2 points.
ORD to SLC is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 5 PM: 72.2% arrive on time, 4.2 points ahead of the 68.0% those routes manage at that hour.
Friday is the day ORD to SLC slips furthest against routes of similar length, 71.6% on time where they average 75.8%, 4.2 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 4.6 points.
In June, ORD to SLC runs 7.5 points below routes of similar length, 64.4% on time to 71.9%. Against all other routes the gap is 8.3 points.
SkyWest Airlines’ flights on ORD to SLC arrive on time 71.8% of the time, 10.4 points below the 82.2% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 9.5 points.
ORD to SLC against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 8 PM departures | 58.2% | routes of similar length | 65.1% | −6.9 pts | 565 here, 81,882 there |
| Hour: 5 PM departures | 72.2% | routes of similar length | 68.0% | +4.2 pts | 598 here, 116,467 there |
| Weekday: Friday | 71.6% | routes of similar length | 75.8% | −4.2 pts | 1,378 here, 281,561 there |
| Month: June | 64.4% | routes of similar length | 71.9% | −7.5 pts | 789 here, 150,518 there |
| Airline: SkyWest Airlines | 71.8% | routes of similar length | 82.2% | −10.4 pts | 1,165 here, 33,473 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 1,250 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 → SLC flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
ORD → SLC cancelled 94 of 9,376 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 100. The reason filed most often was the airline, 47.9% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 208 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 94 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
45 cancellations, 47.9% of the total.
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
44 cancellations, 46.8% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
5 cancellations, 5.3% 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.
94 coded cancellations were recorded on ORD → SLC; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
57 min late
against a median of 3 min early
ORD → SLC has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 3 min early, but the worst tenth are 60 minutes worse than that. If the trip has something unmissable at the end of it, the median is the wrong number to plan against.
Percentiles over 9,376 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SLC 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 | 9.6% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 6.1% | 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 1.00% of the time and diverts 0.25% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 9,259 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 57 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 9,376 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
ORD → SLC flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 83.6% of the time, against 64.7% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 18.9 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 82.8% on time from 1,136 flights
- 8 AM: 84.8% on time from 490 flights
- 9 AM: 80.4% on time from 1,096 flights
- 10 AM: 76.8% on time from 912 flights
- 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 80.4% on time from 632 flights
- 1 PM: 76.9% on time from 1,269 flights
- 2 PM: 77.0% on time from 311 flights
- 3 PM: 79.0% on time from 121 flights
- 4 PM: 65.5% on time from 416 flights
- 5 PM: 72.2% on time from 607 flights
- 6 PM: 69.3% on time from 140 flights
- 7 PM: 66.7% on time from 1,517 flights
- 8 PM: 58.2% on time from 575 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why ORD → SLC runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
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 → SLC. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
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 | 3,132 | 76.0% | 1.02% | -4 min | 8.5% |
| Delta Air Lines | 3,126 | 77.5% | 0.90% | -4 min | 8.8% |
| American Airlines | 1,775 | 71.7% | 1.30% | -2 min | 11.1% |
| SkyWest Airlines | 1,179 | 71.8% | 0.68% | -3 min | 13.0% |
United Airlines flew 34.0% of the 9,212 flights listed.
Delta Air Lines arrived on time 5.8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| DL2231 Delta Air Lines | 7:45 AM | 785 | 82.5% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 7.8 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 71.7%
- Feb: 78.2%
- Mar: 74.5%
- Apr: 76.4%
- May: 76.4%
- Jun: 64.4%
- Jul: 67.2%
- Aug: 72.3%
- Sep: 82.5%
- Oct: 82.6%
- Nov: 80.3%
- Dec: 76.3%
June is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 18.2 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 67.8% from 240 flights
- August 2023: 80.6% from 248 flights
- September 2023: 84.8% from 224 flights
- October 2023: 85.2% from 238 flights
- November 2023: 84.0% from 195 flights
- December 2023: 92.6% from 229 flights
- January 2024: 72.3% from 239 flights
- February 2024: 88.9% from 225 flights
- March 2024: 85.5% from 257 flights
- April 2024: 83.1% from 236 flights
- May 2024: 73.6% from 242 flights
- June 2024: 63.3% from 242 flights
- July 2024: 69.0% from 229 flights
- August 2024: 66.4% from 242 flights
- September 2024: 83.7% from 257 flights
- October 2024: 91.0% from 268 flights
- November 2024: 85.5% from 223 flights
- December 2024: 81.1% from 260 flights
- January 2025: 76.3% from 240 flights
- February 2025: 71.7% from 247 flights
- March 2025: 75.2% from 321 flights
- April 2025: 75.6% from 264 flights
- May 2025: 83.0% from 271 flights
- June 2025: 62.5% from 266 flights
- July 2025: 60.4% from 269 flights
- August 2025: 69.8% from 260 flights
- September 2025: 79.0% from 244 flights
- October 2025: 71.6% from 265 flights
- November 2025: 72.2% from 240 flights
- December 2025: 55.6% from 241 flights
- January 2026: 66.5% from 238 flights
- February 2026: 75.4% from 284 flights
- March 2026: 64.8% from 316 flights
- April 2026: 71.3% from 267 flights
- May 2026: 72.3% from 284 flights
- June 2026: 67.0% from 290 flights
- July 2026: 72.2% from 275 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 69.8% against 75.9% in the 12 months before — declining by 6.1 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 9,376 ORD → SLC 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