Airport month record

DALSEP

Dallas Love Field in September 2025

Departures: 5,518
Month: September 2025
National, same month: 83.4%
Carriers: 2

Historical statistics for September 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s September. For today’s conditions at DAL, see live FAA status.

DAL in September lands a B+, 2 points worse than the national rate of 83.4%. About one flight in six arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by about an hour on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 5,518 flights, with a median arrival 6 minutes early.

On time

81.9%

Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 5,501 completed departures

Avg delay

56 min

Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights

Cancelled

0.13%

Nationally in September: 0.51%

Whole year

73.2%

DAL across all twelve months

These figures cover 5,518 departures from Dallas Love Field in September 2025. On time means an arrival less than 15 minutes after the scheduled gate time, the DOT's threshold, and the national comparison uses every US departure in the same month rather than the whole year.

Against the year

September next to DAL's other months

Against DAL's own year, September ran 9 points better than the twelve-month rate of 73.2%, which makes it number two of twelve months, best first. Cancellations were unusually low for DAL in September, at 0.13% against 1.41% across the year. Either side of it, August ran 75.5% on time and October 75.9%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a worse stretch.

DAL month by month
Month	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
July 2025	6,349	68.5%	62 min	1.32%	C
August 2025	5,730	75.5%	61 min	0.54%	B+
September 2025 (this page)	5,518	81.9%	56 min	0.13%	B+
October 2025	6,100	75.9%	57 min	0.80%	B+
November 2025	5,799	76.4%	62 min	2.71%	B
December 2025	6,070	78.7%	50 min	0.38%	B+
January 2026	5,470	82.8%	49 min	5.54%	B−
February 2026	5,163	79.7%	44 min	0.87%	B+
March 2026	6,221	70.3%	56 min	1.29%	C
April 2026	5,965	71.1%	51 min	0.70%	C+
May 2026	6,141	64.3%	62 min	1.69%	D
June 2026	6,025	56.5%	60 min	1.18%	D

Departure window

The best time of day to leave DAL in September

Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 27 points, against half a point between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.

5am–8am653 flights96.0%
8am–11am1,101 flights89.2%
11am–2pm1,167 flights83.4%
2pm–5pm1,088 flights78.3%
5pm–8pm951 flights73.9%
8pm–5am558 flights69.1%

Scale runs 60% to 100%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.

Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 96.0% of the time, against 69.1% for the overnight window. That is 27 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 11am–2pm window is the busiest, with 1,167 flights scheduled in it.

Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 89.4% on time and Friday the weakest at 68.3%. 21 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.

Carrier by carrier

Which airlines ran best at DAL in September

Only one carrier clears this site's 365-flight floor here, so there is no comparison to draw. The table below is the full picture.

Carriers at DAL in September 2025
Airline	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
Southwest Airlines	5,356	81.8%	56 min	0.13%	B+
Delta Air Linesthin sample	162	87.7%	62 min	0.00%	A+

Route by route

Busiest routes out of DAL in September

Routes from DAL in September 2025
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
DAL to HOU · Houstonthin sample	332	82.8%	60 min	0.30%	B+
DAL to ATL · Atlantathin sample	305	87.5%	59 min	0.33%	A+
DAL to DEN · Denverthin sample	223	69.1%	51 min	0.00%	C+
DAL to SAT · San Antoniothin sample	219	85.8%	62 min	0.00%	A+
DAL to PHX · Phoenixthin sample	203	75.9%	57 min	1.48%	B
DAL to LAS · Las Vegasthin sample	198	82.7%	53 min	0.00%	B+
DAL to BNA · Nashvillethin sample	193	87.5%	53 min	0.00%	A+
DAL to MDW · Chicagothin sample	190	77.4%	54 min	0.00%	B+
DAL to AUS · Austinthin sample	189	86.7%	49 min	0.53%	A+
DAL to MSY · New Orleansthin sample	179	82.1%	61 min	0.00%	B+
DAL to STL · St. Louisthin sample	172	86.6%	54 min	0.00%	A+
DAL to BWI · Baltimorethin sample	159	84.3%	58 min	0.00%	B+
DAL to MCI · Kansas Citythin sample	155	81.9%	54 min	0.00%	B+
DAL to MCO · Orlandothin sample	154	85.1%	66 min	0.00%	A+
DAL to ELP · El Pasothin sample	146	78.1%	52 min	0.00%	B+
DAL to DCA · Washingtonthin sample	142	77.5%	43 min	0.00%	B+
DAL to ABQ · Albuquerquethin sample	133	79.7%	55 min	0.00%	B+
DAL to LBB · Lubbockthin sample	129	86.0%	65 min	0.00%	A+
DAL to SAN · San Diegothin sample	116	79.8%	61 min	0.00%	B+
DAL to LGA · New Yorkthin sample	116	83.5%	64 min	0.00%	B+
DAL to MAF · Midlandthin sample	108	86.1%	77 min	0.00%	A+
DAL to AMA · Amarillothin sample	103	81.4%	61 min	0.00%	B+
DAL to LAX · Los Angelesthin sample	103	86.3%	42 min	0.00%	A+
DAL to TPA · Tampathin sample	90	83.3%	48 min	0.00%	B+
DAL to TUL · Tulsathin sample	90	83.3%	69 min	0.00%	B+

Delay causes

What held DAL up in September

One category carries most of the weight here. Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 51% of the 55,000 delay minutes carriers reported, and the remaining four split what is left. The split is by minutes rather than by flights, so a few very long delays count for as much as many short ones.

Late-arriving aircraft
51%
Carrier
26%
National Airspace System
21%
Extreme weather
2%

51% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. That is a cascade, and cascades start small and grow through the day. Across 55,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 31 to one. It is the strongest argument for booking the first departure of the morning, when the aircraft has been sitting at the gate overnight with nothing to inherit. The split is drawn from 55,399 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations are rare at 0.13%, below the national 0.51% and low enough to earn the plus on the grade. Roughly one flight in 100 is called off; the risk here is arriving late, not not arriving.

5.2% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 5.4%. That is the figure that decides a connection, and it says a 60 to 75 minute layover is reasonable here while anything under 45 minutes is a bet. Most delays on this route last about an hour, which a normal layover absorbs.

What to do with this

Flying from DAL in September

For a September trip through DAL: this is one of the better months to be flying from here, 81.9% on time with 0.13% cancelled. That is a base rate for the month as a whole; a single storm can still spoil a particular day.

Where to go next

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, July 2025 to June 2026. Last updated 15 September 2026; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.

Key figures