OnTimeStats

Historical on-time performance

Chicago to Detroit

235 miData through May 2026Source: US DOT · BTS

Flights on ORD–DTW arrive on time 69% of the time over the last 12 months.

On-time rate69%arrived within 15 min
p90 delay75 min1 in 10 flights is worse (tail risk)
Cancelled2.6%of scheduled flights

based on 5,742 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.

  • Delta Air Lines
    On-time76%
    Medianon time
    p9055 min
    Cancel2.0%
    Flights1,313
  • Envoy Air
    On-time74%
    Medianon time
    p9045 min
    Cancel2.7%
    Flights729
  • Republic Airways
    On-time72%
    Medianon time
    p9065 min
    Cancel3.4%
    Flights580
  • United Airlines
    On-time70%
    Medianon time
    p9060 min
    Cancel1.5%
    Flights738
  • SkyWest Airlines
    On-time62%
    Medianon time
    p90105 min
    Cancel3.1%
    Flights2,382

Why flights run late

Delay causes

  • Airline39%
  • Weather14%
  • Air traffic (NAS)15%
  • Late aircraft32%
  • Security0%

Most delay minutes here are attributed to Airline.

When flights don't go

Why flights were cancelled

  • Airline14%
  • Weather58%
  • Air traffic (NAS)28%
  • Security0%

Most cancellations here are attributed to Weather. Shares are among 151 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 ORD → 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 — 84% on time.

  • Mornings84% on time · p90 25 min · 3,885 flights
  • Middays81% on time · p90 45 min · 3,778 flights
  • Afternoons71% on time · p90 65 min · 2,565 flights
  • Evenings69% on time · p90 85 min · 4,615 flights
  • Overnights68% on time · p90 60 min · 1,918 flights

Best day of week

On-time rates are fairly even by day on this route — ranging from 72% to 79% on time.

  • Saturdays79% on time · p90 45 min · 2,109 flights
  • Wednesdays77% on time · p90 50 min · 2,395 flights
  • Tuesdays77% on time · p90 50 min · 2,375 flights
  • Thursdays77% on time · p90 50 min · 2,463 flights
  • Mondays75% on time · p90 70 min · 2,488 flights
  • Sundays73% on time · p90 65 min · 2,438 flights
  • Fridays72% on time · p90 65 min · 2,493 flights

Keep exploring

Related pages

Delay predictorfor this route→ORD airportChicago→DTW airportDetroit→SkyWest Airlinesairline profile→Delta Air Linesairline profile→United 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.