DSM to ORD flight delays
Des Moines, IA (DSM) Chicago, IL (ORD) · 299 miles
268 flights · March 2025 – August 2026 · US Bureau of Transportation Statistics
72.94%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
4.85%
Cancelled
Share of scheduled flights
77 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
Cancellation, not delay, is the risk worth pricing here: 4.85% 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.
Only SkyWest 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.
This is a thin route — 268 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.
Flights from Des Moines 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, SkyWest Airlines arrived on time most often on DSM to ORD.
Every airline on DSM 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SkyWest Airlines | 113 | 66.04% | 6.19% | 84 min | F |
| United Airlines | 65 | 80% | 0% | 95 min | — |
| Republic Airways | 60 | 84.21% | 5% | 55 min | — |
| Envoy Air | 30 | 59.26% | 10% | 52 min | — |
The return leg
ORD to DSM Chicago back to Des Moines 69.84% on time FCommon questions
Are flights from Des Moines to Chicago usually delayed?
72.94% of flights on the DSM 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 airlines fly from Des Moines to Chicago?
Only SkyWest Airlines appears in the published record on this route, with 113 flights and 66.04% arriving on time.
How often are DSM to ORD flights cancelled?
4.85% of scheduled flights did not operate — about 49 in every thousand. That is high enough that cancellation, not delay, is the risk worth planning around.
When DSM to ORD flights are late, how late are they?
About 77 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 ORD 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 →