PHL to DTW flight delays
Philadelphia, PA (PHL) Detroit, MI (DTW) · 453 miles
251 flights · March 2025 – August 2026 · US Bureau of Transportation Statistics
79.75%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
5.58%
Cancelled
Share of scheduled flights
86 min
When late, late by
Average across delayed arrivals
18 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: 5.58% 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 shape of the lateness matters here. Flights on this route are not late often, but when they are late they are late by about 86 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.
This is a thin route — 251 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.
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, Delta Air Lines arrived on time most often on PHL to DTW. PSA Airlines was late most often.
Every airline on PHL to DTW
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 | 143 | 82.01% | 2.8% | 95 min | C |
| PSA Airlines | 107 | 76.29% | 9.35% | 76 min | F |
| American Airlines | 1 | 100% | 0% | — | — |
The return leg
DTW to PHL Detroit back to Philadelphia 78.99% on time DOther routes from Philadelphia
Common questions
Are flights from Philadelphia to Detroit usually delayed?
79.75% of flights on the PHL to DTW 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 airline is most on time from Philadelphia to Detroit?
Delta Air Lines, at 82.01% on time across 143 flights. The least punctual on the route was PSA Airlines at 76.29%.
How often are PHL to DTW flights cancelled?
5.58% 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 PHL to DTW flights are late, how late are they?
About 86 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 PHL to DTW 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 →