DSM to HOU flight delays
Des Moines, IA (DSM) Houston, TX (HOU) · 825 miles
20 flights · January 2025 – August 2026 · US Bureau of Transportation Statistics
This route flew fewer than 50 times in the period, which is too few for an on-time rate to mean anything. The figures below are shown as recorded, but the route is not graded.
94.74%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
0%
Cancelled
Share of scheduled flights
286 min
When late, late by
Average across delayed arrivals
16 min
Delay per flight
Averaged over every flight flown
What the record says about this route
The shape of the lateness matters here. Flights on this route are not late often, but when they are late they are late by about 286 minutes — long enough to lose a connection or an evening. The on-time percentage looks reassuring and understates the consequence of being on the wrong flight.
Flights from Des Moines to Houston are among the most dependable in the record. A route this punctual is usually a short hop between airports with slots to spare.
This route does better than its own airport. Departures from DSM overall run 14 points less punctual than this particular one — so whatever congestion DSM has, this route is largely escaping it.
The two directions do not behave alike. HOU to DSM arrives on time 9.7 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.
Every airline on DSM to HOU
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allegiant Air | 20 | 94.74% | 0% | 286 min | — |
Month by month
Share of flights that arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, by month flown.
The return leg
HOU to DSM Houston back to Des Moines 85% on time —Other routes from Des Moines
Common questions
Are flights from Des Moines to Houston usually delayed?
94.74% of flights on the DSM to HOU route arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, so roughly 1 in every ten arrived late. That is better than the average route in this record.
How often are DSM to HOU flights cancelled?
0% of scheduled flights did not operate — about 1 in every thousand. That is in the normal range.
When DSM to HOU flights are late, how late are they?
About 286 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 DSM to HOU 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 →