Route profile
STL→DAL
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from St. Louis to Dallas, 546 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 54% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 6,311 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
STL → DAL arrives on time 78.3% of the time; the return trip, DAL → STL, arrives on time 79.2% of the time.
STL → DAL spends 16.6 minutes on the ground on a 546-mile trip: 11.1 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at STL and 5.5 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 STL to DAL differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
STL to DAL struggles most at 3 PM: 64.4% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 10.1 points behind the 74.5% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 8.3 points.
STL to DAL is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 6 AM: 94.4% arrive on time, 3 points ahead of the 91.4% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 3.6 points.
Saturday is the day STL to DAL slips furthest against routes of similar length, 75.8% on time where they average 80.1%, 4.3 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 3.3 points.
In June, STL to DAL runs 7.6 points below routes of similar length, 66.3% on time to 73.9%. Against all other routes the gap is 6.4 points.
February is kinder to STL to DAL than to routes of similar length: 86.8% on time against 82.0%, 4.8 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 5.4 points.
STL to DAL against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 3 PM departures | 64.4% | routes of similar length | 74.5% | −10.1 pts | 427 here, 100,079 there |
| Hour: 6 AM departures | 94.4% | routes of similar length | 91.4% | +3.0 pts | 376 here, 122,083 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 75.8% | routes of similar length | 80.1% | −4.3 pts | 645 here, 210,092 there |
| Month: June | 66.3% | routes of similar length | 73.9% | −7.6 pts | 492 here, 141,198 there |
| Month: February | 86.8% | routes of similar length | 82.0% | +4.8 pts | 471 here, 121,513 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 546 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 STL → DAL flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
STL → DAL cancelled 87 of 6,311 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 73. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 75.9% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 96 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 87 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.
66 cancellations, 75.9% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
21 cancellations, 24.1% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
0 cancellations, 0.0% 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.
87 coded cancellations were recorded on STL → DAL; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
40 min late
against a median of 4 min early
Percentiles over 6,311 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at DAL after arriving from STL.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 39% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 21% | High risk |
| 60 min | 13% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.3% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.5% | 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 1.38% of the time and diverts 0.44% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 6,196 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 40 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 6,311 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
STL → DAL flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 91.5% of the time, against 62.7% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 28.8 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 92.6% on time from 568 flights
- 6 AM: 94.4% on time from 382 flights
- 7 AM: 91.6% on time from 388 flights
- 8 AM: 88.2% on time from 519 flights
- 9 AM: 86.5% on time from 229 flights
- 10 AM: 84.2% on time from 336 flights
- 11 AM: 85.1% on time from 259 flights
- 12 PM: 84.1% on time from 338 flights
- 1 PM: 78.3% on time from 201 flights
- 2 PM: 75.8% on time from 521 flights
- 3 PM: 64.4% on time from 439 flights
- 4 PM: 66.4% on time from 234 flights
- 5 PM: 66.2% on time from 309 flights
- 6 PM: 70.4% on time from 392 flights
- 7 PM: 67.1% on time from 367 flights
- 8 PM: 66.9% on time from 406 flights
- 9 PM: 62.7% on time from 423 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why STL → 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 STL → DAL. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on STL → DAL, at 47.6%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 91.5% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 62.7%.
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 | 6,311 | 78.3% | 1.38% | -4 min | 6.4% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 13.2 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 83.0%
- Feb: 86.8%
- Mar: 80.4%
- Apr: 80.2%
- May: 72.5%
- Jun: 66.3%
- Jul: 69.0%
- Aug: 79.9%
- Sep: 82.6%
- Oct: 83.6%
- Nov: 80.4%
- Dec: 78.1%
June is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 20.5 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 65.9% from 178 flights
- August 2023: 79.2% from 178 flights
- September 2023: 83.2% from 190 flights
- October 2023: 81.9% from 186 flights
- November 2023: 80.8% from 172 flights
- December 2023: 83.3% from 180 flights
- January 2024: 73.7% from 178 flights
- February 2024: 88.0% from 166 flights
- March 2024: 78.2% from 176 flights
- April 2024: 75.9% from 172 flights
- May 2024: 65.5% from 172 flights
- June 2024: 73.7% from 169 flights
- July 2024: 71.7% from 174 flights
- August 2024: 84.0% from 175 flights
- September 2024: 86.3% from 170 flights
- October 2024: 92.9% from 185 flights
- November 2024: 81.2% from 170 flights
- December 2024: 73.5% from 183 flights
- January 2025: 86.6% from 176 flights
- February 2025: 85.5% from 160 flights
- March 2025: 87.1% from 173 flights
- April 2025: 85.0% from 181 flights
- May 2025: 78.9% from 172 flights
- June 2025: 69.2% from 161 flights
- July 2025: 70.4% from 162 flights
- August 2025: 76.3% from 173 flights
- September 2025: 78.4% from 172 flights
- October 2025: 74.5% from 156 flights
- November 2025: 79.2% from 153 flights
- December 2025: 77.5% from 153 flights
- January 2026: 90.5% from 145 flights
- February 2026: 87.0% from 149 flights
- March 2026: 75.8% from 167 flights
- April 2026: 79.5% from 158 flights
- May 2026: 73.0% from 167 flights
- June 2026: 56.0% from 170 flights
- July 2026: 68.1% from 189 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 75.9% against 81.9% in the 12 months before — declining by 6.0 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 6,311 STL → 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