DTW to PLN flight delays
Detroit, MI (DTW) Pellston, MI (PLN) · 243 miles
660 flights · January 2025 – August 2026 · US Bureau of Transportation Statistics
78.61%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
14.09%
Cancelled
Share of scheduled flights
88 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: 14.09% 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 October it ran 35.9 points more punctual than in December — 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.
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 88 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.
The route has been getting worse. The later months run 10.1 points less punctual than the earlier ones. A drift of that size is rarely weather; it is more often an airline adding frequencies faster than the airports can absorb them.
Which airline should you fly on this route?
Over January 2025 – August 2026, SkyWest Airlines arrived on time most often on DTW to PLN. Flights ran closest to schedule in October and worst in December.
Every airline on DTW to PLN
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 | 660 | 78.61% | 14.09% | 88 min | F |
Month by month
Share of flights that arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, by month flown.
The return leg
PLN to DTW Pellston back to Detroit 82.51% on time FOther routes from Detroit
Common questions
Are flights from Detroit to Pellston usually delayed?
78.61% of flights on the DTW to PLN route arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, so roughly 2 in every ten arrived late. That is about the same as the average route in this record.
Which airlines fly from Detroit to Pellston?
Only SkyWest Airlines appears in the published record on this route, with 660 flights and 78.61% arriving on time.
How often are DTW to PLN flights cancelled?
14.09% of scheduled flights did not operate — about 141 in every thousand. That is high enough that cancellation, not delay, is the risk worth planning around.
What is the best month to fly Detroit to Pellston?
October, when 90.7% of flights arrived on time. The worst was December at 54.8%.
When DTW to PLN flights are late, how late are they?
About 88 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 PLN 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 →