OnTimeStats

Historical on-time performance

Detroit to Philadelphia

453 miData through May 2026Source: US DOT · BTS

Flights on DTW–PHL arrive on time 77% of the time over the last 12 months.

On-time rate77%arrived within 15 min
p90 delay55 min1 in 10 flights is worse (tail risk)
Cancelled2.8%of scheduled flights

based on 2,647 flights over the last 12 months. On-time means arriving within 15 minutes (BTS standard).

By airline

How each carrier compares

Too close to call — no single carrier is clearly more on-time here.

  • Spirit Airlines
    On-time84%
    Medianon time
    p9025 min
    Cancel0.0%
    Flights61
  • Delta Air Lines
    On-time79%
    Medianon time
    p9050 min
    Cancel1.9%
    Flights1,556
  • PSA Airlines
    On-time75%
    Medianon time
    p9055 min
    Cancel5.1%
    Flights746
  • American Airlines
    On-time69%
    Medianon time
    p9075 min
    Cancel1.1%
    Flights190
  • Republic Airways
    On-time66%
    Medianon time
    p90105 min
    Cancel5.3%
    Flights94

Why flights run late

Delay causes

  • Airline39%
  • Weather4%
  • Air traffic (NAS)24%
  • Late aircraft34%
  • Security0%

Most delay minutes here are attributed to Airline.

When flights don't go

Why flights were cancelled

  • Airline27%
  • Weather64%
  • Air traffic (NAS)9%
  • Security0%

Most cancellations here are attributed to Weather. Shares are among 74 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 DTW → PHL

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 — 86% on time.

  • Mornings86% on time · p90 15 min · 2,564 flights
  • Middays83% on time · p90 30 min · 2,208 flights
  • Overnights78% on time · p90 50 min · 1,236 flights
  • Afternoons73% on time · p90 55 min · 2,028 flights
  • Evenings66% on time · p90 80 min · 1,021 flights

Best day of week

On-time rates are fairly even by day on this route — ranging from 76% to 83% on time.

  • Tuesdays83% on time · p90 30 min · 1,196 flights
  • Wednesdays82% on time · p90 30 min · 1,209 flights
  • Saturdays80% on time · p90 35 min · 1,152 flights
  • Thursdays79% on time · p90 45 min · 1,381 flights
  • Mondays79% on time · p90 45 min · 1,368 flights
  • Fridays77% on time · p90 55 min · 1,376 flights
  • Sundays76% on time · p90 55 min · 1,375 flights

Keep exploring

Related pages

Delay predictorfor this route→DTW airportDetroit→PHL airportPhiladelphia→Delta Air Linesairline profile→PSA Airlinesairline profile→American Airlinesairline profile→Seasonal delay patternsguide→

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.