Detroit, MI · departure reliability
DTW
Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County
- Departures
- 123,589
- Period
- June 2025 to May 2026
- Carriers
- 12
- US rank
- #15 by volume
Detroit
Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County lands a B, about a point worse than the national rate of 77.4%. About one flight in four arrive 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by a little over an hour on average. That is a workable record, not a spotless one. That rests on 123,589 flights, of which American Airlines flew 5,018 at 81.2% on time.
American Airlines is the most reliable of the twelve carriers covered here at 81.2% on time across 5,018 flights.
Key figures
On time
76.6%
Departures arriving under 15 minutes late at their destination
Avg delay
77 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
1.79%
National rate is 1.80%
Best carrier
American
81.2% on time here
These figures cover 124,000 flights between June 2025 and May 2026. Beyond the headline rate, 9.2% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule. That is the number that wrecks a connection, and it is not visible in an on-time percentage alone.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines run best out of DTW
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. American Airlines arrives on time 81.2% of the time; Frontier Airlines manages 72.5%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 2,735 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 60,438 | 77.5% | 66 min | 1.31% | B |
| SkyWest Airlines | 28,581 | 73.3% | 97 min | 2.04% | C |
| Spirit Airlines | 9,657 | 76.9% | 71 min | 2.65% | B |
| Republic Airways | 6,050 | 80.5% | 77 min | 3.44% | B− |
| American Airlines | 5,018 | 81.2% | 95 min | 2.05% | B |
| Southwest Airlines | 4,418 | 77.6% | 50 min | 0.84% | B+ |
| Frontier Airlines | 2,735 | 72.5% | 90 min | 1.72% | C |
| United Airlines | 2,353 | 77.4% | 78 min | 1.10% | B |
| PSA Airlines | 1,745 | 74.2% | 111 min | 5.79% | C− |
| JetBlue Airways | 1,171 | 78.0% | 84 min | 3.16% | B− |
| Envoy Air | 872 | 75.1% | 78 min | 2.87% | B |
| Alaska Airlines | 551 | 74.1% | 48 min | 0.36% | C+ |
PSA Airlines cancels 5.8% of what it schedules here, the highest in the table. A cancelled flight never appears in an on-time rate, so read that column alongside the punctuality one rather than after it.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of DTW
Route-level records vary far more than the airport average. These are the 25 busiest departures from DTW, each with its own on-time rate against the airport-wide 76.6%.
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DTW to ORD · Chicago | 5,961 | 71.5% | 89 min | 2.68% | C |
| DTW to ATL · Atlanta | 4,934 | 77.8% | 75 min | 0.89% | B+ |
| DTW to LGA · New York | 4,060 | 75.0% | 76 min | 5.00% | B− |
| DTW to MCO · Orlando | 3,771 | 74.8% | 73 min | 1.01% | C |
| DTW to EWR · Newark | 3,733 | 75.1% | 80 min | 5.04% | B− |
| DTW to CLT · Charlotte | 3,581 | 83.6% | 87 min | 1.68% | B |
| DTW to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 3,553 | 75.6% | 74 min | 2.20% | B |
| DTW to DEN · Denver | 3,083 | 79.3% | 65 min | 0.49% | B+ |
| DTW to DCA · Washington | 2,973 | 68.4% | 82 min | 3.83% | C− |
| DTW to PHL · Philadelphia | 2,953 | 78.7% | 85 min | 2.71% | B |
| DTW to LAS · Las Vegas | 2,947 | 77.2% | 56 min | 0.48% | B+ |
| DTW to FLL · Fort Lauderdale | 2,800 | 72.5% | 70 min | 1.71% | C |
| DTW to BOS · Boston | 2,617 | 74.0% | 71 min | 2.06% | C |
| DTW to LAX · Los Angeles | 2,602 | 78.6% | 64 min | 0.92% | B+ |
| DTW to PHX · Phoenix | 2,442 | 77.1% | 77 min | 0.74% | B+ |
| DTW to BNA · Nashville | 2,420 | 78.7% | 57 min | 1.40% | B |
| DTW to TPA · Tampa | 2,413 | 78.4% | 61 min | 1.78% | B |
| DTW to BWI · Baltimore | 2,273 | 81.2% | 67 min | 1.23% | B |
| DTW to IAH · Houston | 2,136 | 79.2% | 64 min | 1.26% | B |
| DTW to SEA · Seattle | 2,085 | 73.4% | 52 min | 0.91% | C+ |
| DTW to MSP · Minneapolis | 1,939 | 78.6% | 68 min | 0.62% | B+ |
| DTW to STL · St. Louis | 1,908 | 77.2% | 63 min | 0.94% | B+ |
| DTW to RSW · Fort Myers | 1,846 | 74.4% | 66 min | 2.11% | C |
| DTW to MIA · Miami | 1,832 | 79.6% | 65 min | 1.42% | B |
| DTW to SFO · San Francisco | 1,803 | 71.8% | 68 min | 0.89% | C+ |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave DTW
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 19 points, against 9 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am15,644 flights86.2%
- 8am–11am30,202 flights82.3%
- 11am–2pm16,077 flights79.3%
- 2pm–5pm24,353 flights72.7%
- 5pm–8pm15,382 flights67.2%
- 8pm–5am21,931 flights70.8%
Scale runs 60% to 90%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 86.2% of the time, against 67.2% for the evening window. That is 19 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on.
Across the year
When DTW runs late
DTW's year swings by 25 points from best month to worst, which is wide. An annual average tells you very little about the week you are actually flying, so read the strip rather than the headline if your dates are fixed.
December is the weak month at 62.0% on time, against 87.1% in September. Winter delays cluster: a single storm system can account for most of a month's shortfall, so an average December hides both very good weeks and genuinely unflyable days.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 79.6% on time and Sunday the weakest at 72.7%. 7 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Delay causes
Why DTW gets delayed
One category carries most of the weight here. Carrier accounts for 51% of the 2.18 million 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.
- 51%Carrier
- 22%National Airspace System
- 18%Late-arriving aircraft
- 8%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
The largest share of delay minutes, 51%, falls under carrier control: crew scheduling, maintenance, fuelling, baggage. Unlike weather, that is a management outcome, and it is the category where the gap between two carriers on the same schedule is genuinely earned. It accounts for 1.12 million of the 2.18 million delay minutes reported here.
Cancellations sit at 1.79% against a national 1.80%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.23%.
For anyone connecting, the number to weigh is not the on-time rate but the tail behind it. 9.2% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 8.2% nationally. A 45-minute layover does not survive that, and no amount of walking quickly changes it. Ninety minutes is the honest minimum here, and two hours if the onward flight is on a separate ticket.
123,589 flights sit behind these numbers, which is a large enough sample that the headline rate is not moving on noise. Where a sub-group falls below 30 flights the site shows a dash instead of a percentage.
What to do with this
Flying out of DTW
Put together: the calendar is the biggest lever here, not the carrier or the hour. September runs 87.1% on time and December 62.0%, a swing of 25 points. If the dates move at all, move them out of December before you think about anything else.
Common questions
DTW delay questions
How often is Detroit (DTW) delayed?
About one flight in four arrive at least 15 minutes late, which is the Department of Transportation's definition of a delayed arrival. That works out to 23.4% of the 123,589 flights in this analysis, against 22.6% nationally. Delayed flights are late by a little over an hour on average.
Which airline is most reliable on Detroit (DTW)?
American Airlines leads at 81.2% on time across 5,018 flights. Frontier Airlines is at the other end on 72.5%, a gap of 9 points. Sample size matters as much as the percentage: a rate built from a few hundred flights moves around far more than one built from ten thousand.
What time of day has the fewest delays on Detroit (DTW)?
The 5am–8am departure window is the strongest at 86.2% on time. The 5pm–8pm window is the weakest at 67.2%, 19 points behind. Later departures inherit delays from earlier flights the same aircraft has already flown, which is why the curve slopes the way it does.
How bad are December delays on Detroit (DTW)?
December is the weakest month at 62.0% on time, compared with 87.1% in September. Across the year that is 25 points between the best and worst months. Moving flexible dates out of that month is one of the few things that reliably helps.
Related
Where to go next
- DTW to ORD — Chicago71.5%
- DTW to ATL — Atlanta77.8%
- Delta Air Lines on-time record77.5%
- SkyWest Airlines on-time record73.3%
- Spirit Airlines on-time record76.9%
- Republic Airways on-time record80.5%
- The best time of day to fly, according to 7.05 million flight records
- Worst months to fly in the US, ranked by the data
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, June 2025 to May 2026. Updated monthly. How this data is collected.