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WanderNerd

Route Reliability

Detroit → Chicago

DTWORD · 235 miles · Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport to Chicago O'Hare International Airport

65
Usually Fine
WanderNerd Reliability Score
73%
Arrive within 15 minutes
18 min
Average arrival delay
2.7%
Cancelled
6,113
Flights in the data

Data through May 2026.

Who flies it best

Ranked by on-time arrivals. Historical results, not predictions.

  1. 1.United Airlines74%2,431 flights
  2. 2.American Airlines74%1,816 flights
  3. 3.Delta Air Lines70%1,864 flights

Not enough history to rank: Spirit Airlines (2 flights). We rank airlines only after 100 flights on the route.

What the data says

Morning-you made the right choice.

DTW–ORD flights departing between 3–6 AM arrived on time 86% of the time, versus 56% between 6–9 PM.

Tuesday has been the better bet.

A small edge: 75% on time on Tuesdays against 69% on Fridays.

United Airlines has a slight edge here.

United Airlines arrived on time 74% of the time on this route; Delta Air Lines managed 70%.

Trending in the right direction.

DTW–ORD flights arrived on time 73% of the time over the last three months in the data, compared with 64% 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
  • Mon72%(876 flights)
  • Tue75%(843 flights)
  • Wed71%(847 flights)
  • Thu75%(873 flights)
  • Fri69%(875 flights)
  • Sat75%(738 flights)
  • Sun71%(889 flights)
On-time by departure window
  • 12–3 AM(1 flights)
  • 3–6 AM86%(297 flights)
  • 6–9 AM78%(1446 flights)
  • 9 AM–12 PM84%(1143 flights)
  • 12–3 PM71%(1073 flights)
  • 3–6 PM66%(1018 flights)
  • 6–9 PM56%(919 flights)
  • 9 PM–12 AM59%(44 flights)
On-time trend by month
81%
May

Jun 75% → May 81% on time

On-time arrival percentage by month
MonthOn-time percentageFlights
June 202575%532
July 202569%533
August 202577%497
September 202582%511
October 202576%526
November 202573%450
December 202556%435
January 202661%399
February 202675%443
March 202661%458
April 202677%563
May 202681%594

Based on 6,113 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.