Route profile
STL→DFW
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from St. Louis to Dallas–Fort Worth, 550 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 9% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 7,161 flights. How this is calculated
STL → DFW arrives on time 74.8% of the time; the return trip, DFW → STL, arrives on time 71.6% of the time, a 3.3-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
STL → DFW spends 29.6 minutes on the ground on a 550-mile trip: 14.6 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at STL and 15.1 minutes from touchdown to gate at DFW.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route has stayed remarkably steady year over year, a smaller swing than 92% of 5,368 comparable routes.
75.1% on time over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), against 74.6% in the 12 months before (2024-08 to 2025-07), virtually unchanged.
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 5,368 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where STL to DFW differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
STL to DFW struggles most at 7 PM: 54.4% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 14.5 points behind the 68.9% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 13.4 points.
STL to DFW is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 2 PM: 81.1% arrive on time, 5.4 points ahead of the 75.7% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 6.5 points.
Wednesday is the day STL to DFW slips furthest against routes of similar length, 75.3% on time where they average 82.1%, 6.8 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 5.5 points.
In November, STL to DFW runs 6.4 points below routes of similar length, 77.9% on time to 84.3%. Against all other routes the gap is 5.5 points.
STL to DFW against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 7 PM departures | 54.4% | routes of similar length | 68.9% | −14.5 pts | 331 here, 106,323 there |
| Hour: 2 PM departures | 81.1% | routes of similar length | 75.7% | +5.4 pts | 259 here, 93,214 there |
| Weekday: Wednesday | 75.3% | routes of similar length | 82.1% | −6.8 pts | 965 here, 251,964 there |
| Month: November | 77.9% | routes of similar length | 84.3% | −6.4 pts | 584 here, 144,992 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 550 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 → DFW flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
STL → DFW cancelled 195 of 7,161 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 37. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 82.1% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 45 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 195 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.
160 cancellations, 82.1% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
27 cancellations, 13.8% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
8 cancellations, 4.1% 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.
195 coded cancellations were recorded on STL → DFW; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
66 min late
against a median of 5 min early
STL → DFW has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 5 min early, but the worst tenth are 71 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 7,161 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at DFW after arriving from STL.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 40% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 25% | High risk |
| 60 min | 17% | High risk |
| 90 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 7.5% | 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 2.72% of the time and diverts 0.24% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 6,949 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 66 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 7,161 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
STL → DFW flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 82.0% of the time, against 57.8% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 24.2 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 89.3% on time from 1,032 flights
- 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 75.1% on time from 1,034 flights
- 8 AM: 80.6% on time from 296 flights
- 9 AM: 79.2% on time from 1,010 flights
- 10 AM: 73.2% on time from 203 flights
- 11 AM: 78.2% on time from 614 flights
- 12 PM: 80.2% on time from 420 flights
- 1 PM: 67.5% on time from 267 flights
- 2 PM: 81.1% on time from 268 flights
- 3 PM: 69.4% on time from 420 flights
- 4 PM: 68.4% on time from 260 flights
- 5 PM: 59.2% on time from 705 flights
- 6 PM: 62.3% on time from 252 flights
- 7 PM: 54.4% on time from 346 flights
- 8 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why STL → DFW 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 → DFW. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on STL → DFW, at 43.9%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 82.0% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 57.8%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 5,636 | 75.2% | 2.68% | -5 min | 10.8% |
| Envoy Air | 1,091 | 78.4% | 2.84% | -5 min | 7.5% |
American Airlines flew 83.8% of the 6,727 flights listed.
Envoy Air arrived on time 3.2 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.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Monday the least, a gap of 7.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 73.7%
- Feb: 78.1%
- Mar: 77.1%
- Apr: 74.6%
- May: 71.3%
- Jun: 68.3%
- Jul: 69.2%
- Aug: 75.5%
- Sep: 80.4%
- Oct: 78.9%
- Nov: 77.9%
- Dec: 76.5%
June is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 12.1 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 69.7% from 154 flights
- August 2023: 78.4% from 172 flights
- September 2023: 81.1% from 164 flights
- October 2023: 74.2% from 179 flights
- November 2023: 81.5% from 179 flights
- December 2023: 85.6% from 174 flights
- January 2024: 61.4% from 173 flights
- February 2024: 74.1% from 166 flights
- March 2024: 75.7% from 186 flights
- April 2024: 75.9% from 180 flights
- May 2024: 69.9% from 203 flights
- June 2024: 77.1% from 212 flights
- July 2024: 68.0% from 226 flights
- August 2024: 76.4% from 199 flights
- September 2024: 84.5% from 213 flights
- October 2024: 82.6% from 224 flights
- November 2024: 79.1% from 210 flights
- December 2024: 68.6% from 202 flights
- January 2025: 79.0% from 187 flights
- February 2025: 75.2% from 161 flights
- March 2025: 82.3% from 183 flights
- April 2025: 70.0% from 180 flights
- May 2025: 69.1% from 213 flights
- June 2025: 63.0% from 218 flights
- July 2025: 66.0% from 222 flights
- August 2025: 72.1% from 203 flights
- September 2025: 75.1% from 193 flights
- October 2025: 79.0% from 209 flights
- November 2025: 73.5% from 210 flights
- December 2025: 76.1% from 199 flights
- January 2026: 81.6% from 169 flights
- February 2026: 85.4% from 161 flights
- March 2026: 73.3% from 186 flights
- April 2026: 77.7% from 180 flights
- May 2026: 74.7% from 208 flights
- June 2026: 65.3% from 240 flights
- July 2026: 73.1% from 223 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 75.1% against 74.6% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 7,161 STL → DFW 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