ORD to DSM flight delays
Chicago, IL (ORD) Des Moines, IA (DSM) · 299 miles
268 flights · March 2025 – August 2026 · US Bureau of Transportation Statistics
69.84%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
5.6%
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: 5.6% 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.
Flights from Chicago to Des Moines run late more often than the average route, though not severely.
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.
Which airline should you fly on this route?
Over March 2025 – August 2026, SkyWest Airlines arrived on time most often on ORD to DSM.
Every airline on ORD to DSM
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 | 59.05% | 6.19% | 82 min | F |
| United Airlines | 65 | 73.44% | 1.54% | 89 min | — |
| Republic Airways | 60 | 85.71% | 6.67% | 57 min | — |
| Envoy Air | 30 | 70.37% | 10% | 46 min | — |
The return leg
DSM to ORD Des Moines back to Chicago 72.94% on time DOther routes from Chicago
Common questions
Are flights from Chicago to Des Moines usually delayed?
69.84% of flights on the ORD to DSM 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 Chicago to Des Moines?
Only SkyWest Airlines appears in the published record on this route, with 113 flights and 59.05% arriving on time.
How often are ORD to DSM flights cancelled?
5.6% of scheduled flights did not operate — about 56 in every thousand. That is high enough that cancellation, not delay, is the risk worth planning around.
When ORD to DSM 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 ORD to DSM 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 →