Historical on-time performance
Denver to Washington
1,476 miData through Dec 2025Source: US DOT · BTS
Flights on DEN–DCA arrive on time 75% of the time over the last 12 months.
On-time rate75%arrived within 15 min
p90 delay50 min1 in 10 flights is worse (tail risk)
Cancelled0.4%of scheduled flights
based on 1,365 flights over the last 12 months. On-time means arriving within 15 minutes (BTS standard).
By airline
How each carrier compares
- United AirlinesbestOn-time84%Medianon timep9025 minCancel0.0%Flights337
- Frontier AirlinesOn-time72%Medianon timep9060 minCancel0.6%Flights1,028
Why flights run late
Delay causes
- Airline20%
- Weather7%
- Air traffic (NAS)39%
- Late aircraft33%
- Security0%
Most delay minutes here are attributed to Air traffic (NAS).
Over time
On-time trend
By season
On-time rate by month
When to fly
Best time to fly DEN → DCA
All airlines · rolling 36 months (2023-01 .. 2025-12).
Best time of day
Mornings are the most reliable time of day to fly this route — 84% on time.
- Mornings84% on time · p90 25 min · 2,148 flights
- Middays74% on time · p90 50 min · 1,070 flights
- Afternoons65% on time · p90 75 min · 1,093 flights
Best day of week
On-time rates are fairly even by day on this route — ranging from 72% to 81% on time.
- Tuesdays81% on time · p90 35 min · 597 flights
- Saturdays80% on time · p90 35 min · 623 flights
- Wednesdays79% on time · p90 35 min · 597 flights
- Sundays77% on time · p90 50 min · 625 flights
- Fridays76% on time · p90 40 min · 622 flights
- Mondays74% on time · p90 65 min · 626 flights
- Thursdays72% on time · p90 60 min · 621 flights
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