Route profile
PHX→DAL
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Phoenix to Dallas, 879 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 64% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 9,298 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
PHX → DAL arrives on time 79.6% of the time; the return trip, DAL → PHX, arrives on time 77.4% of the time, a 2.2-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
PHX → DAL spends 17.4 minutes on the ground on an 879-mile trip: 12.2 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at PHX and 5.2 minutes from touchdown to gate at DAL.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where PHX to DAL differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
PHX to DAL struggles most at 7 PM: 60.2% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 7 points behind the 67.2% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 7.6 points.
PHX to DAL is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 6 AM: 95.9% arrive on time, 5.4 points ahead of the 90.5% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 5.1 points.
PHX to DAL holds up on Saturdays better than routes of similar length do: 82.1% on time to their 78.2%, a 3.9 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 3 points.
July is kinder to PHX to DAL than to routes of similar length: 75.7% on time against 68.4%, 7.3 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 6 points.
Southwest Airlines does better on PHX to DAL than on its routes of similar length: 79.6% on time here, 76.4% there, 3.2 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 2.2 points.
PHX to DAL against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 7 PM departures | 60.2% | routes of similar length | 67.2% | −7.0 pts | 493 here, 170,195 there |
| Hour: 6 AM departures | 95.9% | routes of similar length | 90.5% | +5.4 pts | 759 here, 198,203 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 82.1% | routes of similar length | 78.2% | +3.9 pts | 1,054 here, 363,191 there |
| Month: July | 75.7% | routes of similar length | 68.4% | +7.3 pts | 942 here, 303,643 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 79.6% | routes of similar length | 76.4% | +3.2 pts | 9,126 here, 754,111 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 879 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 PHX → DAL flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
PHX → DAL cancelled 132 of 9,298 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 70. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 51.5% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 137 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 132 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.
68 cancellations, 51.5% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
49 cancellations, 37.1% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
15 cancellations, 11.4% 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. With only one or two carriers on the route, the split mostly reflects how they file. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
132 coded cancellations were recorded on PHX → DAL; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
36 min late
against a median of 4 min early
Percentiles over 9,298 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at DAL after arriving from PHX.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 40% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 20% | High risk |
| 60 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.1% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 2.8% | 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 1.42% of the time and diverts 0.43% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 9,126 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 36 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 9,298 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
PHX → DAL flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 94.5% of the time, against 64.9% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 29.6 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 96.9% on time from 739 flights
- 6 AM: 95.9% on time from 767 flights
- 7 AM: 93.0% on time from 711 flights
- 8 AM: 91.8% on time from 669 flights
- 9 AM: 85.2% on time from 450 flights
- 10 AM: 84.7% on time from 696 flights
- 11 AM: 80.5% on time from 484 flights
- 12 PM: 78.7% on time from 414 flights
- 1 PM: 75.3% on time from 535 flights
- 2 PM: 72.2% on time from 543 flights
- 3 PM: 70.2% on time from 529 flights
- 4 PM: 66.6% on time from 689 flights
- 5 PM: 67.0% on time from 731 flights
- 6 PM: 68.2% on time from 744 flights
- 7 PM: 60.2% on time from 496 flights
- 8 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why PHX → 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 PHX → DAL. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on PHX → DAL, at 41.8%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 94.5% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 64.9%.
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 | 9,298 | 79.6% | 1.42% | -4 min | 5.3% |
Other ways to fly Phoenix 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PHX→DFW Phoenix to Dallas–Fort Worth | 16,005 | 80.0% | 1.77% | -7 min | 62 |
| PHX→DAL this route Phoenix to Dallas | 9,298 | 79.6% | 1.42% | -4 min | 71 |
PHX → DAL is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 79.6% on time, against 80.0% for PHX → DFW.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 8.2 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 85.4%
- Feb: 85.8%
- Mar: 78.3%
- Apr: 79.1%
- May: 72.2%
- Jun: 72.0%
- Jul: 75.7%
- Aug: 79.8%
- Sep: 87.2%
- Oct: 80.7%
- Nov: 81.4%
- Dec: 79.6%
June is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 15.2 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 74.6% from 237 flights
- August 2023: 82.1% from 257 flights
- September 2023: 88.1% from 253 flights
- October 2023: 85.4% from 271 flights
- November 2023: 85.3% from 259 flights
- December 2023: 82.9% from 270 flights
- January 2024: 82.1% from 257 flights
- February 2024: 89.4% from 236 flights
- March 2024: 79.9% from 266 flights
- April 2024: 78.5% from 262 flights
- May 2024: 71.6% from 270 flights
- June 2024: 76.6% from 256 flights
- July 2024: 75.3% from 262 flights
- August 2024: 78.7% from 233 flights
- September 2024: 87.4% from 222 flights
- October 2024: 83.4% from 278 flights
- November 2024: 84.4% from 271 flights
- December 2024: 76.2% from 275 flights
- January 2025: 91.7% from 264 flights
- February 2025: 87.2% from 234 flights
- March 2025: 79.4% from 271 flights
- April 2025: 79.6% from 269 flights
- May 2025: 77.3% from 277 flights
- June 2025: 74.1% from 231 flights
- July 2025: 79.2% from 228 flights
- August 2025: 78.3% from 206 flights
- September 2025: 86.0% from 204 flights
- October 2025: 72.8% from 259 flights
- November 2025: 74.2% from 263 flights
- December 2025: 79.8% from 278 flights
- January 2026: 81.9% from 229 flights
- February 2026: 80.6% from 222 flights
- March 2026: 75.6% from 265 flights
- April 2026: 79.3% from 251 flights
- May 2026: 67.3% from 256 flights
- June 2026: 64.9% from 226 flights
- July 2026: 73.9% from 230 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 76.0% against 81.5% in the 12 months before — declining by 5.5 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 9,298 PHX → 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