DCA to MDW flight delays
Washington, VA (DCA) Chicago, IL (MDW) · 601 miles
176 flights · March 2025 – August 2026 · US Bureau of Transportation Statistics
73.37%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
3.98%
Cancelled
Share of scheduled flights
67 min
When late, late by
Average across delayed arrivals
20 min
Delay per flight
Averaged over every flight flown
What the record says about this route
Cancellation, not delay, is the risk worth pricing here: 3.98% 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. MDW to DCA arrives on time 6.5 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.
Only Southwest Airlines flies this route in the published record, so there is no choice to weigh — the route's figures and the airline's are the same figures.
Flights from Washington to Chicago run late more often than the average route, though not severely.
Which airline should you fly on this route?
Over March 2025 – August 2026, Southwest Airlines arrived on time most often on DCA to MDW.
Every airline on DCA 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 | 176 | 73.37% | 3.98% | 67 min | D |
The return leg
MDW to DCA Chicago back to Washington 66.86% on time DOther routes from Washington
Common questions
Are flights from Washington to Chicago usually delayed?
73.37% of flights on the DCA 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 airlines fly from Washington to Chicago?
Only Southwest Airlines appears in the published record on this route, with 176 flights and 73.37% arriving on time.
How often are DCA to MDW flights cancelled?
3.98% of scheduled flights did not operate — about 40 in every thousand. That is high enough that cancellation, not delay, is the risk worth planning around.
When DCA to MDW flights are late, how late are they?
About 67 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 DCA 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 →