BOS to ORD flight delays
Boston, MA (BOS) Chicago, IL (ORD) · 867 miles
750 flights · February 2026 – July 2026 · US Bureau of Transportation Statistics
76.83%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
2.8%
Cancelled
Share of scheduled flights
108 min
When late, late by
Average across delayed arrivals
26 min
Delay per flight
Averaged over every flight flown
What the record says about this route
Which airline you fly changes the odds here. United Airlines arrived on time 7.3 points more often than Delta Air Lines 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.
Cancellation, not delay, is the risk worth pricing here: 2.8% of scheduled flights never operated. A late flight still gets you there. A cancelled one leaves you rebooking, and on a route with few daily departures that can mean losing a day.
The two directions do not behave alike. ORD to BOS arrives on time 8.6 points less often than the outbound. Delay accumulates through the flying day, so whichever direction is scheduled later tends to carry the worse record — which is an argument for booking the morning departure if the choice exists.
The Boston to Chicago route sits close to the middle of the record — neither notably punctual nor notably late.
Which airline should you fly on this route?
Over February 2026 – July 2026, United Airlines arrived on time most often on BOS to ORD. Delta Air Lines was late most often.
Every airline on BOS to ORD
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 290 | 78.87% | 1.38% | 96 min | C |
| American Airlines | 239 | 77.39% | 3.35% | 111 min | C |
| Delta Air Lines | 108 | 71.57% | 5.56% | 92 min | D |
| JetBlue Airways | 48 | 72.34% | 2.08% | 72 min | — |
| Republic Airways | 35 | 71.43% | 0% | 217 min | — |
| Envoy Air | 30 | 85.19% | 6.67% | 210 min | — |
The return leg
ORD to BOS Chicago back to Boston 68.26% on time DOther routes from Boston
What these figures do and do not tell you
Everything on this page is counted from the flights that actually operated on BOS to ORD during February 2026 – July 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 →