Historical on-time performance
San Francisco to Chicago
1,855 miData through Dec 2025Source: US DOT · BTS
Flights on SFO–MDW arrive on time 79% of the time over the last 12 months.
On-time rate79%arrived within 15 min
p90 delay25 min1 in 10 flights is worse (tail risk)
Cancelled0.4%of scheduled flights
based on 275 flights over the last 12 months. On-time means arriving within 15 minutes (BTS standard).
By airline
How each carrier compares
- Southwest AirlinesOn-time79%Medianon timep9025 minCancel0.4%Flights275
Why flights run late
Delay causes
- Airline25%
- Weather0%
- Air traffic (NAS)24%
- Late aircraft51%
- Security0%
Most delay minutes here are attributed to Late aircraft.
Over time
On-time trend
By season
On-time rate by month
When to fly
Best time to fly SFO → MDW
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 — 85% on time.
- Mornings85% on time · p90 20 min · 622 flights
- Middays60% on time · p90 60 min · 298 flights
Best day of week
On-time rates are fairly even by day on this route — ranging from 72% to 77% on time.
- Mondays77% on time · p90 35 min · 151 flights · limited
- Tuesdays76% on time · p90 30 min · 122 flights · limited
- Sundays76% on time · p90 45 min · 122 flights · limited
- Saturdays76% on time · p90 35 min · 140 flights · limited
- Wednesdays75% on time · p90 35 min · 134 flights · limited
- Thursdays74% on time · p90 50 min · 136 flights · limited
- Fridays72% on time · p90 55 min · 151 flights · limited
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