ORD to PHL flight delays
Chicago, IL (ORD) Philadelphia, PA (PHL) · 678 miles
492 flights · March 2025 – August 2026 · US Bureau of Transportation Statistics
71.37%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
3.25%
Cancelled
Share of scheduled flights
97 min
When late, late by
Average across delayed arrivals
28 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: 3.25% 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 is a thin route — 492 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 Philadelphia run late more often than the average route, though not severely.
The 2 airlines here are separated by under 6 points — close enough to call a tie. Choose on price and departure time.
Which airline should you fly on this route?
Over March 2025 – August 2026, United Airlines arrived on time most often on ORD to PHL. American Airlines was late most often.
Every airline on ORD to PHL
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 | 272 | 69.11% | 4.41% | 94 min | D |
| United Airlines | 197 | 74.74% | 1.52% | 96 min | C |
| Frontier Airlines | 21 | 65% | 4.76% | 124 min | — |
| Republic Airways | 2 | 100% | 0% | — | — |
The return leg
PHL to ORD Philadelphia back to Chicago 73.47% on time DOther routes from Chicago
Common questions
Are flights from Chicago to Philadelphia usually delayed?
71.37% of flights on the ORD to PHL 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 Chicago to Philadelphia?
United Airlines, at 74.74% on time across 197 flights. The least punctual on the route was American Airlines at 69.11%.
How often are ORD to PHL flights cancelled?
3.25% of scheduled flights did not operate — about 33 in every thousand. That is high enough that cancellation, not delay, is the risk worth planning around.
When ORD to PHL flights are late, how late are they?
About 97 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 PHL 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 →