MSP to DCA flight delays
Minneapolis, MN (MSP) Washington, VA (DCA) · 931 miles
224 flights · March 2025 – August 2026 · US Bureau of Transportation Statistics
71.7%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
5.36%
Cancelled
Share of scheduled flights
161 min
When late, late by
Average across delayed arrivals
46 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: 5.36% 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. MSP as a whole runs 8 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.
Only Delta Air Lines 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 — 224 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 MSP to DCA.
Every airline on MSP to DCA
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 146 | 76.22% | 2.05% | 60 min | C |
| PSA Airlines | 78 | 62.32% | 11.54% | 293 min | — |
The return leg
DCA to MSP Washington back to Minneapolis 70.95% on time DOther routes from Minneapolis
Common questions
Are flights from Minneapolis to Washington usually delayed?
71.7% of flights on the MSP to DCA 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 Minneapolis to Washington?
Only Delta Air Lines appears in the published record on this route, with 146 flights and 76.22% arriving on time.
How often are MSP to DCA flights cancelled?
5.36% of scheduled flights did not operate — about 54 in every thousand. That is high enough that cancellation, not delay, is the risk worth planning around.
When MSP to DCA flights are late, how late are they?
About 161 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 MSP to DCA 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 →