Route reliability record
BZN→DEN
Bozeman to Denver
- Flights
- 2,704
- Period
- September 2025 to August 2026
- Distance
- 524 mi
- Carriers
- 3
This route lands a B+, level with the national rate of 77.3%. Roughly one flight in four arrives 15 minutes late or worse, and those flights are late by about an hour on average. That rests on 2,704 BZN to DEN flights, of which United Airlines flew 1,210 at 80.8% on time.
Best time to fly BZN to DEN: a 5am–8am departure, ideally on a Tuesday. Flights in that window arrived on time 91.1% of the time and Tuesday flights 81.0%, against 77.5% for the route overall.
The US average over the same twelve months is 77.3%, so there is little to separate this route from the country as a whole. The variation that matters here is internal: which carrier, and what time of day.
Key figures
On time
77.5%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 2,681 completed flights
Avg delay
66 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
0.44%
National rate is 1.89%
Best carrier
United
80.8% on time across 1,210 flights
These figures cover 2,704 flights between September 2025 and August 2026. The median arrival is 7 minutes early, which is the part an average hides: most flights here are fine, and the on-time rate is decided by a tail of badly late ones. On-time means under 15 minutes late, the DOT's own threshold.
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Carrier by carrier
Which airline is most reliable on BZN to DEN
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. United Airlines arrives on time 80.8% of the time; Southwest Airlines manages 72.9%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 1,175 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SkyWest Airlinesthin sample | 319 | 81.9% | 75 min | 1.25% | B |
| United Airlines | 1,210 | 80.8% | 75 min | 0.41% | B+ |
| Southwest Airlines | 1,175 | 72.9% | 57 min | 0.26% | C+ |
United leads Southwest by 8 points. Real, but small enough that a better departure time on the weaker carrier can outweigh it.
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Best ways to make this trip
The most reliable ways to fly Bozeman to Denver
Every airline on this route, ranked by how often a scheduled flight actually operated and arrived on time, with its best departure time and most punctual flight number. No nearby airport pair beat these.
| Option | Airline | Success | On time | Cancelled | Best departure | Most punctual flight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. BZN → DENBozeman to Denver | United Airlines | 80.5% | 80.8% | 0.41% | 5am–8am, Tue | — |
| 2. BZN → DENBozeman to Denver | Southwest Airlines | 72.7% | 72.9% | 0.26% | 5am–8am, Mon | — |
Success is the share of scheduled flights that operated and arrived less than 15 minutes late, so a cancelled flight counts against it. “(route)” means the best time comes from every carrier on the route rather than this airline alone.
Departure window
The best time of day to leave
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 25 points, against 8 points between the best and worst carrier.
- 5am–8am669 flights91.1%
- 8am–11am551 flights85.6%
- 11am–2pm226 flights78.8%
- 2pm–5pm1,092 flights66.2%
- 5pm–8pm166 flights67.5%
- 8pm–5am—
Scale runs 60% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 91.1% of the time, against 66.2% for the afternoon window. That is 25 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 2pm–5pm window is the busiest, with 1,092 flights scheduled in it.
Explore
Filter BZN to DEN by airline, time, month and day
Pick a breakdown and a carrier. The dashed mark on each row is the same slice for every US flight.
On BZN to DEN, the best departure window is 5am–8am at 91.1% on time and the worst is 2pm–5pm at 66.2%, a wide gap of 24.9 points. All US flights leaving 5am–8am ran 89.3%.
- 5–8am91.1%
- 8–11am85.6%
- 11am–2pm78.8%
- 2–5pm66.2%
- 5–8pm67.5%
- 8pm–5am—
best all US flightsScale 60% to 95%. Cells under 30 flights show a dash.
Across the year
When delays peak on this route
This route's year swings by 24 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.
August is the worst month at 62.1% on time, 24 points below January, the best at 86.1%. Summer afternoon convection and peak-season schedules land on the same weeks every year, so this is a pattern you can book around rather than a run of bad luck. July was the busiest month here, with 265 flights.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 81.0% on time and Thursday the weakest at 73.1%, a spread of 8 points.
Delay causes
Why this route gets delayed
National Airspace System accounts for 46% of the 40,000 delay minutes carriers reported here, and the remaining four split what is left.
- 46%National Airspace System
- 32%Late-arriving aircraft
- 18%Carrier
- 4%Extreme weather
46% of delay minutes are charged to the National Airspace System: air traffic volume, runway configuration, ground stops. No carrier can price its way out of that, which is why airport choice moves the number here more than carrier choice does. That is 18,000 minutes out of 40,000, against a national NAS share of 21%. The split is drawn from 39,545 reported delay minutes.
The practical consequence: the 5am–8am departure is the one that starts clean. Its aircraft has no earlier leg to be late from, which is exactly why that window shows 91.1% on time here.
Cancellations are rare at 0.44%, below the national 1.89% 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.
Connections and stage length
What a delay here actually costs
7.5% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 8.3%, so 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.
The 524 miles between these two airports put this in the middle of the US network, around two and a half to three hours of block time. That is enough cruise to absorb a ten-minute late pushback and not enough to absorb thirty.
The return leg runs 78.1% on time across 2,703 flights, within half a point of this direction. The two legs are scored separately because they usually differ; on this city pair they happen not to.
The sample behind these figures is 2,704 flights, enough that the headline rate is stable to within roughly a point. The hour-block and month splits divide that further, so read the thinner bars with more caution than the headline.
Work out the risk of missing a connection in DEN after this flight
What to do with this
Booking this route
Put together: the calendar is the biggest lever here, not the carrier or the hour. January runs 86.1% on time and August 62.1%, a swing of 24 points. If the dates move at all, move them out of August before you think about anything else. 2,681 completed flights over 12 months sit behind that.
Common questions
BZN to DEN questions
How often is BZN to DEN delayed?
Roughly one flight in four arrives at least 15 minutes late, which is the Department of Transportation's definition of a delayed arrival. That works out to 22.5% of the 2,704 flights in this analysis, against 22.7% nationally. Delayed flights are late by about an hour on average.
Which airline is most reliable on BZN to DEN?
United Airlines leads at 80.8% on time across 1,210 flights. Southwest Airlines is at the other end on 72.9%, a gap of 8 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 BZN to DEN?
The 5am–8am departure window is the strongest at 91.1% on time. The 2pm–5pm window is the weakest at 66.2%, 25 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 August delays on BZN to DEN?
August is the weakest month at 62.1% on time, compared with 86.1% in January. Across the year that is 24 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
- DEN to BZN — the return legseparate record
- Denver International (DEN) delay statistics
- SkyWest Airlines on BZN to DEN81.9%
- United Airlines on BZN to DEN80.8%
- Southwest Airlines on BZN to DEN72.9%
- BZN to SEA, a related route84.1%
- PHX to DEN, a related route76.7%
- BZN to ORD, a related route73.2%
- SkyWest Airlines on-time record81.9%
- United Airlines on-time record80.8%
- Southwest Airlines on-time record72.9%
- Flying to ski country: which routes into the mountains run on time
- Why the first flight of the morning is statistically safest
Direction matters. BZN to DEN and DEN to BZN are scored separately because they are separate operations, with different departure banks and different aircraft. Compare the return leg.
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Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, September 2025 to August 2026. Last updated ; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.