ORD to DEN flight delays

Chicago, IL (ORD) Denver, CO (DEN) · 888 miles

538 flights · March 2025 – August 2026 · US Bureau of Transportation Statistics

71.35%

Arrived on time

Within 15 minutes of schedule

1.12%

Cancelled

Share of scheduled flights

80 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

Which airline you fly changes the odds here. United Airlines arrived on time 8 points more often than American Airlines over the same period on the same route — same airports, same weather, same air traffic control. A gap that survives all of that is about how the two airlines are run.

This is a thin route — 538 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 Chicago to Denver run late more often than the average route, though not severely.

Which airline should you fly on this route?

Over March 2025 – August 2026, United Airlines arrived on time most often on ORD to DEN. American Airlines was late most often.

Every airline on ORD to DEN

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
United Airlines	357	74.43%	0.28%	77 min	C
American Airlines	147	66.43%	2.04%	70 min	D
Frontier Airlines	30	57.14%	6.67%	132 min	—
Southwest Airlines	3	66.67%	0%	232 min	—
Envoy Air	1	100%	0%	—	—

The return leg

DEN to ORD Denver back to Chicago 66.48% on time D

Other routes from Chicago

What these figures do and do not tell you

Everything on this page is counted from the flights that actually operated on ORD to DEN 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 →