OnTimeStats

Historical on-time performance

Atlanta to Detroit

594 miData through May 2026Source: US DOT · BTS

Flights on ATL–DTW arrive on time 76% of the time over the last 12 months.

On-time rate76%arrived within 15 min
p90 delay45 min1 in 10 flights is worse (tail risk)
Cancelled0.9%of scheduled flights

based on 4,868 flights over the last 12 months. On-time means arriving within 15 minutes (BTS standard).

By airline

How each carrier compares

  • Delta Air Linesbest
    On-time77%
    Medianon time
    p9040 min
    Cancel0.6%
    Flights3,693
  • Spirit Airlines
    On-time73%
    Medianon time
    p9060 min
    Cancel1.9%
    Flights750
  • Frontier Airlines
    On-time69%
    Medianon time
    p9055 min
    Cancel1.6%
    Flights425

Why flights run late

Delay causes

  • Airline48%
  • Weather6%
  • Air traffic (NAS)16%
  • Late aircraft30%
  • Security0%

Most delay minutes here are attributed to Airline.

When flights don't go

Why flights were cancelled

  • Airline45%
  • Weather55%
  • Air traffic (NAS)0%
  • Security0%

Most cancellations here are attributed to Weather. Shares are among 42 cancellations with a reported cause (BTS reports causes from June 2003).

Over time

On-time trend

By season

On-time rate by month

When to fly

Best time to fly ATL → DTW

All airlines · rolling 36 months (2023-06 .. 2026-05).

Best time of day

Mornings are the most reliable time of day to fly this route — 87% on time.

  • Mornings87% on time · p90 20 min · 4,562 flights
  • Middays82% on time · p90 30 min · 2,641 flights
  • Afternoons75% on time · p90 45 min · 2,664 flights
  • Evenings72% on time · p90 55 min · 2,279 flights
  • Overnights67% on time · p90 60 min · 2,909 flights

Best day of week

Wednesdays are the most reliable day to fly this route — 84% on time.

  • Wednesdays84% on time · p90 25 min · 2,031 flights
  • Tuesdays81% on time · p90 35 min · 2,028 flights
  • Saturdays80% on time · p90 35 min · 2,010 flights
  • Thursdays78% on time · p90 40 min · 2,241 flights
  • Mondays76% on time · p90 45 min · 2,245 flights
  • Fridays75% on time · p90 45 min · 2,269 flights
  • Sundays71% on time · p90 55 min · 2,231 flights

Keep exploring

Related pages

Methodology

A flight is on time when it arrives within 15 minutes of schedule — the US DOT / BTS standard. Median and p90(the “1-in-10 bad day”) are read from the full arrival-delay distribution, never averaged across periods.

Figures cover a carrier’s own BTS-coded flights. Cells below ~200 flights are flagged as limited data. All numbers are pre-computed from public BTS On-Time Performance data.