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Route Reliability

Washington → Des Moines

DCA–DSM · 897 miles · Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to Des Moines International Airport

55
A Little Dicey
WanderNerd Reliability Score
74%
Arrive within 15 minutes
10 min
Average arrival delay
6.4%
Cancelled
701
Flights in the data

Data through May 2026.

American Airlines is the only airline in this data on this route, arriving on time 74% of the time across 701 flights. No comparison to make.

What the data says

Morning-you made the right choice.

DCA–DSM flights departing between 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 82% of the time, versus 67% between 6–9 PM.

Friday is doing you no favors.

DCA–DSM flights arrived on time 80% of the time on Mondays. On Fridays: 67%.

Keep a backup plan handy.

This route was cancelled 6.4% of the time. Typical for U.S. flights is around 1–2%.

Flights on this route

The breakdown

On-time by weekday
  • Mon80%(93 flights)
  • Tue78%(99 flights)
  • Wed70%(97 flights)
  • Thu76%(92 flights)
  • Fri67%(95 flights)
  • Sat73%(85 flights)
  • Sun71%(93 flights)
On-time by departure window
  • 6–9 AM—(4 flights)
  • 9 AM–12 PM82%(190 flights)
  • 12–3 PM72%(155 flights)
  • 6–9 PM67%(215 flights)
  • 9 PM–12 AM76%(90 flights)
On-time trend by month
79%
May

Jun 64% → May 79% on time

On-time arrival percentage by month
MonthOn-time percentageFlights
June 202564%55
July 202566%47
August 202576%62
September 202576%59
October 202577%62
November 202580%50
December 202576%41
January 202671%52
February 202673%52
March 202663%54
April 202680%59
May 202679%61

Keep nerding

Based on 701 historical flights, because apparently we checked. Historical flight data: U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, June 2025 – May 2026. Data through May 2026. How we calculate this.