DTW to DFW flight delays
Detroit, MI (DTW) Dallas/Fort Worth, TX (DFW) · 986 miles
288 flights · March 2025 – August 2026 · US Bureau of Transportation Statistics
69.37%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
3.47%
Cancelled
Share of scheduled flights
77 min
When late, late by
Average across delayed arrivals
24 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: 3.47% 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.
This route does worse than its own airport. DTW as a whole runs 9.9 points more punctual than these flights, which points at something specific to the route — the time of day it is scheduled, or the aircraft that feed it — rather than the airport.
Flights from Detroit to Dallas/Fort Worth run late more often than the average route, though not severely.
This is a thin route — 288 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.
Which airline should you fly on this route?
Over March 2025 – August 2026, Delta Air Lines arrived on time most often on DTW to DFW. American Airlines was late most often.
Every airline on DTW to DFW
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 145 | 71.11% | 4.14% | 82 min | D |
| Delta Air Lines | 113 | 75% | 1.77% | 77 min | C |
| Frontier Airlines | 30 | 39.29% | 6.67% | 64 min | — |
Common questions
Are flights from Detroit to Dallas/Fort Worth usually delayed?
69.37% of flights on the DTW to DFW 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 Detroit to Dallas/Fort Worth?
Delta Air Lines, at 75% on time across 113 flights. The least punctual on the route was American Airlines at 71.11%.
How often are DTW to DFW flights cancelled?
3.47% of scheduled flights did not operate — about 35 in every thousand. That is high enough that cancellation, not delay, is the risk worth planning around.
When DTW to DFW 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 DTW to DFW 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 →