Route profile
PIT→MDW
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Pittsburgh to Chicago, 402 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 77% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,645 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
PIT → MDW arrives on time 81.9% of the time; the return trip, MDW → PIT, arrives on time 80.0% of the time.
PIT → MDW spends 18.1 minutes on the ground on a 402-mile trip: 13.2 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at PIT and 4.8 minutes from touchdown to gate at MDW.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where PIT to MDW differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
PIT to MDW is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 6 PM: 79.1% arrive on time, 9.8 points ahead of the 69.3% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 10.5 points.
PIT to MDW struggles most at 6 AM: 88.8% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 3.7 points behind the 92.5% on routes of similar length at the same hour.
PIT to MDW holds up on Mondays better than routes of similar length do: 82.6% on time to their 77.6%, a 5 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 5.4 points.
August is kinder to PIT to MDW than to routes of similar length: 86.6% on time against 78.1%, 8.5 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 10.1 points.
Southwest Airlines does better on PIT to MDW than on its routes of similar length: 81.9% on time here, 79.1% there, 2.8 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 4.5 points.
PIT to MDW against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 6 PM departures | 79.1% | routes of similar length | 69.3% | +9.8 pts | 191 here, 84,189 there |
| Hour: 6 AM departures | 88.8% | routes of similar length | 92.5% | −3.7 pts | 464 here, 100,302 there |
| Weekday: Monday | 82.6% | routes of similar length | 77.6% | +5.0 pts | 556 here, 220,208 there |
| Month: August | 86.6% | routes of similar length | 78.1% | +8.5 pts | 366 here, 122,645 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 81.9% | routes of similar length | 79.1% | +2.8 pts | 3,598 here, 497,019 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 402 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
31 min late
against a median of 5 min early
Percentiles over 3,645 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at MDW after arriving from PIT.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 36% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 17% | High risk |
| 60 min | 10% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 4.9% | Low risk |
| 120 min | 3.1% | 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 0.96% of the time and diverts 0.33% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,598 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 31 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,645 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
PIT → MDW flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 92.2% of the time, against 66.7% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 25.5 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 88.8% on time from 467 flights
- 7 AM: 89.5% on time from 269 flights
- 8 AM: 85.0% on time from 273 flights
- 9 AM: 92.4% on time from 144 flights
- 10 AM to 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 90.8% on time from 198 flights
- 1 PM: 83.3% on time from 264 flights
- 2 PM: 84.6% on time from 271 flights
- 3 PM: 78.4% on time from 169 flights
- 4 PM: 75.1% on time from 208 flights
- 5 PM: too few flights to score
- 6 PM: 79.1% on time from 193 flights
- 7 PM: 76.3% on time from 312 flights
- 8 PM: 66.8% on time from 410 flights
- 9 PM: 66.7% on time from 155 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why PIT → MDW runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s 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 PIT → MDW. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on PIT → MDW, at 52.5%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 9 AM–12 PM departures arrived on time 92.2% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 66.7%.
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 | 3,645 | 81.9% | 0.96% | -5 min | 5.1% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 5.8 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 80.4%
- Feb: 88.4%
- Mar: 82.6%
- Apr: 85.4%
- May: 76.6%
- Jun: 72.9%
- Jul: 74.2%
- Aug: 86.6%
- Sep: 87.1%
- Oct: 84.9%
- Nov: 88.6%
- Dec: 76.9%
June is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 15.7 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 66.9% from 136 flights
- August 2023: 88.9% from 145 flights
- September 2023: too few flights to score (117)
- October 2023: 86.4% from 132 flights
- November 2023: too few flights to score (115)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (116)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (95)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (83)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (99)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (83)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (79)
- June 2024: too few flights to score (100)
- July 2024: too few flights to score (104)
- August 2024: too few flights to score (112)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (111)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (107)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (84)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (87)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (84)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (72)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (87)
- April 2025: too few flights to score (86)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (86)
- June 2025: too few flights to score (102)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (105)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (113)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (112)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (114)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (85)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (89)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (88)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (80)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (89)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (86)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (87)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (86)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (89)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 79.5% against 82.6% in the 12 months before — declining by 3.1 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,645 PIT → MDW 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