ATL to MDW flight delays
Atlanta, GA (ATL) Chicago, IL (MDW) · 591 miles
308 flights · March 2025 – August 2026 · US Bureau of Transportation Statistics
70%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
2.27%
Cancelled
Share of scheduled flights
69 min
When late, late by
Average across delayed arrivals
22 min
Delay per flight
Averaged over every flight flown
What the record says about this route
Which airline you fly changes the odds here. Delta Air Lines arrived on time 23.4 points more often than Southwest Airlines over the same period on the same route — same airports, same weather, same air traffic control. A gap that survives all of that is about how the two airlines are run.
This route does worse than its own airport. ATL as a whole runs 9.5 points more punctual than these flights, which points at something specific to the route — the time of day it is scheduled, or the aircraft that feed it — rather than the airport.
Flights from Atlanta to Chicago run late more often than the average route, though not severely.
This is a thin route — 308 flights across the whole period. On a route this infrequent a cancellation is far more costly than the rate suggests, because the next departure may not be the same day.
Which airline should you fly on this route?
Over March 2025 – August 2026, Delta Air Lines arrived on time most often on ATL to MDW. Southwest Airlines was late most often.
Every airline on ATL to MDW
Ranked by how many flights each one operated. A carrier with fewer than 100 flights in the period is listed but not graded.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Avg delay | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 135 | 61.54% | 2.96% | 66 min | F |
| Delta Air Lines | 113 | 84.96% | 0% | 69 min | B |
| Frontier Airlines | 60 | 59.65% | 5% | 76 min | — |
The return leg
MDW to ATL Chicago back to Atlanta 74.17% on time COther routes from Atlanta
Common questions
Are flights from Atlanta to Chicago usually delayed?
70% of flights on the ATL to MDW route arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, so roughly 3 in every ten arrived late. That is worse than the average route in this record.
Which airline is most on time from Atlanta to Chicago?
Delta Air Lines, at 84.96% on time across 113 flights. The least punctual on the route was Southwest Airlines at 61.54%.
How often are ATL to MDW flights cancelled?
2.27% of scheduled flights did not operate — about 23 in every thousand. That is in the normal range.
When ATL to MDW flights are late, how late are they?
About 69 minutes on average across the flights that arrived more than 15 minutes behind schedule.
What these figures do and do not tell you
Everything on this page is counted from the flights that actually operated on ATL to MDW during March 2025 – August 2026, as reported by the airlines to the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics. "On time" is the federal definition: arriving at the gate within 15 minutes of the scheduled time.
A route's record is a description of the past, not a forecast. Weather, air traffic control and the aircraft's earlier flights that day drive most delays, and none of them are predictable from a historical rate. What the record does tell you is whether this route runs late more often than others, and which carrier on it has the better history — which is the part you can actually act on when you book.
Cancellations are counted separately from delays because they are a different problem for a traveller: a late flight still gets you there. How the grade is calculated →