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Route Reliability

Chicago → Washington

ORD–DCA · 612 miles · Chicago O'Hare International Airport to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport

58
A Little Dicey
WanderNerd Reliability Score
69%
Arrive within 15 minutes
20 min
Average arrival delay
3.0%
Cancelled
6,918
Flights in the data

Data through May 2026.

Who flies it best

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

  1. 1.United Airlines71%4,032 flights
  2. 2.American Airlines67%2,886 flights

What the data says

Morning flights do better here.

ORD–DCA flights departing between 6–9 AM arrived on time 85% of the time, versus 55% between 6–9 PM.

Friday is doing you no favors.

ORD–DCA flights arrived on time 75% of the time on Saturdays. On Fridays: 66%.

United Airlines has a slight edge here.

United Airlines arrived on time 71% of the time on this route; American Airlines managed 67%.

Keep a backup plan handy.

This route was cancelled 3.0% of the time. Typical for U.S. flights is around 1–2%.

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
  • Mon67%(992 flights)
  • Tue74%(1003 flights)
  • Wed70%(996 flights)
  • Thu70%(991 flights)
  • Fri66%(999 flights)
  • Sat75%(688 flights)
  • Sun66%(1002 flights)
On-time by departure window
  • 3–6 AM—(9 flights)
  • 6–9 AM85%(1667 flights)
  • 9 AM–12 PM73%(1522 flights)
  • 12–3 PM62%(1016 flights)
  • 3–6 PM64%(986 flights)
  • 6–9 PM55%(1262 flights)
  • 9 PM–12 AM66%(209 flights)
On-time trend by month
73%
May

Jun 66% → May 73% on time

On-time arrival percentage by month
MonthOn-time percentageFlights
June 202566%551
July 202560%540
August 202572%565
September 202569%571
October 202576%591
November 202570%534
December 202569%542
January 202670%552
February 202671%522
March 202666%556
April 202672%547
May 202673%600

Same trip, other airports

Keep nerding

Based on 6,918 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.