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Route Reliability

Detroit → Des Moines

DTW–DSM · 534 miles · Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport to Des Moines International Airport

75
Usually Fine
WanderNerd Reliability Score
76%
Arrive within 15 minutes
12 min
Average arrival delay
1.8%
Cancelled
995
Flights in the data

Data through May 2026.

Delta Air Lines is the only airline in this data on this route, arriving on time 76% of the time across 995 flights. No comparison to make.

What the data says

Morning flights do better here.

DTW–DSM flights departing between 6–9 AM arrived on time 87% of the time, versus 63% between 6–9 PM.

Friday is doing you no favors.

DTW–DSM flights arrived on time 82% of the time on Saturdays and just 67% on Fridays. That gap is worth planning around.

Trending in the right direction.

DTW–DSM flights arrived on time 78% of the time over the last three months in the data, compared with 62% in the three months before that.

Best historical flights

Ranked by on-time arrivals, minimum 100 flights. Past performance, not a promise.

Top flights by on-time rate

More flights on this route

The breakdown

On-time by weekday
  • Mon73%(149 flights)
  • Tue79%(142 flights)
  • Wed78%(139 flights)
  • Thu81%(141 flights)
  • Fri67%(147 flights)
  • Sat82%(108 flights)
  • Sun75%(148 flights)
On-time by departure window
  • 6–9 AM87%(336 flights)
  • 9 AM–12 PM67%(12 flights)
  • 3–6 PM78%(324 flights)
  • 6–9 PM63%(302 flights)
On-time trend by month
80%
May

Jun 74% → May 80% on time

On-time arrival percentage by month
MonthOn-time percentageFlights
June 202574%81
July 202571%85
August 202588%86
September 202589%80
October 202589%88
November 202579%76
December 202546%78
January 202661%69
February 202680%70
March 202677%84
April 202675%85
May 202680%92

Keep nerding

Based on 995 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.