BUF to ORD flight delays
Buffalo, NY (BUF) Chicago, IL (ORD) · 474 miles
2,196 flights · January 2025 – August 2026 · US Bureau of Transportation Statistics
73.99%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
2.87%
Cancelled
Share of scheduled flights
100 min
When late, late by
Average across delayed arrivals
27 min
Delay per flight
Averaged over every flight flown
What the record says about this route
Which airline you fly changes the odds here. American Airlines arrived on time 23.8 points more often than SkyWest 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.
Cancellation, not delay, is the risk worth pricing here: 2.87% 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 season swings this route hard. In June it ran 18.6 points more punctual than in January — a difference bigger than the one between the best and worst airlines on most routes. If the date is flexible, it is worth more than the carrier.
Flights from Buffalo to Chicago run late more often than the average route, though not severely.
Which airline should you fly on this route?
Over January 2025 – August 2026, American Airlines arrived on time most often on BUF to ORD. SkyWest Airlines was late most often. Flights ran closest to schedule in June and worst in January.
Every airline on BUF 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 | 612 | 74.13% | 1.47% | 88 min | D |
| American Airlines | 476 | 84.01% | 1.47% | 124 min | B |
| Envoy Air | 423 | 70.83% | 3.31% | 68 min | D |
| Republic Airways | 355 | 76.25% | 3.66% | 95 min | D |
| SkyWest Airlines | 330 | 60.19% | 6.06% | 134 min | F |
Month by month
Share of flights that arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, by month flown.
The return leg
ORD to BUF Chicago back to Buffalo 70.62% on time DCommon questions
Are flights from Buffalo to Chicago usually delayed?
73.99% of flights on the BUF to ORD 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 Buffalo to Chicago?
American Airlines, at 84.01% on time across 476 flights. The least punctual on the route was SkyWest Airlines at 60.19%.
How often are BUF to ORD flights cancelled?
2.87% of scheduled flights did not operate — about 29 in every thousand. That is high enough that cancellation, not delay, is the risk worth planning around.
What is the best month to fly Buffalo to Chicago?
June, when 83.1% of flights arrived on time. The worst was January at 64.5%.
When BUF to ORD flights are late, how late are they?
About 100 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 BUF to ORD during January 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 →