The flight time from Des Moines to Chicago is 1 hour, 23 minutes. See Data as Tables

Average Timeline

Leaves DSM Des Moines, IA 5 minutes early.
14 minutes taxiing out
53 minutes in the air
15 minutes taxiing in
Arrives ORD Chicago, IL 6 minutes early.

Flight Reliability By Airline ?

United
86%
American
78%
Cancelled
Delayed*
Normal

Flight Summary

The flight time from Des Moines to Chicago is 1 hour, 23 minutes. The time spent in the air is 53 minutes.

The flight distance from Des Moines to Chicago is 299 Miles.

Reverse Journey

Chicago to Des Moines
1 hour, 19 minutes

Flight Time By Airline ?

United
1h 22m
American
1h 25m
Taxiing Out
Air Time
Taxiing In

Flight Time by Time of Day ?

12AM06AM12PM06PM 30m1h
Taxiing Out
Air Time
Taxiing In

Flights By Time of Day ?
(Average)

12AM06AM12PM06PM0.00.51.01.52.0

Flights Per Week

45

Distance

299 Miles

Flights By Month ?

JFMAMJJASOND050100150200

Flights By Day of Week ?
(Average)

MonTueWedThuFriSatSun0246

Flights By Airline ?
(Per Week)

United
25
American
19

Frequently Asked Questions

How far is Des Moines from Chicago by plane?

The distance from Des Moines to Chicago by plane is 299 Miles. This is the air distance on the most direct route taken by the vast majority of flights.

How long is the flight from Des Moines to Chicago?

The flight time from Des Moines to Chicago is 1 hour, 23 minutes. The time spent in the air is 53 minutes. These numbers are averages. In reality, it varies by airline with United being the fastest taking 1 hour, 22 minutes, and American the slowest taking 1 hour, 25 minutes.

What airlines fly from Des Moines to Chicago?

United and American are the airlines with direct flights from Des Moines to Chicago.

Does Southwest fly from Des Moines to Chicago?

Southwest does not fly from Des Moines (DSM) to Chicago (ORD). Keep in mind that Southwest may fly to other nearby airports, as they will often fly into smaller airpors instead of larger ones. This is because the costs are often lower to fly into smaller airports, and they pass the savings on to you.

Tables and Explanations

Data Source

Our information is computed from the latest available data from the US Department of Transportation.

Average Timeline Timeline Chart

The average timeline contains the median time a flight spends in 3 stages. The first of these three stages is taxiing out which includes the time from the flight leaving the gate to taking off. The second stage is in the air, which includes the time spent from the flight leaving the ground to touching back down at the end of it's journey. The last stage is taxiing in, which is from when the flight touches down to the flight arriving at it's gate.

The average timeline also estimates on average of when the flight will leave and arrive relative to it's stated departure time.

Leaves Des Moines 5 minutes early
Taxi Out Time 14 minutes
In the Air 53 minutes
Taxiing In 15 minutes
Arrives Chicago 6 minutes early

Flight Reliability Reliability Chart

The reliability of an airline measures how often the airline's flights on this route are cancelled or delayed more than 20 minutes. For example, from Des Moines to Chicago, American is 78% reliable, which means that American flights are on time 78% of the time, and cancelled or delayed the remaining time.

Airline Normal Flights Arrival Delayed* Flight Cancelled
United 86% 12% 2%
American 78% 20% 2%

Flight Time By Airline Flight Time By Airline Chart

Each airline takes a different amount of time to fly between Des Moines and Chicago, this is due to different operational factors on the ground, as well as scheduling of planes. Each airline's flight time is split into three stages which are described above in the "Average Timeline" section. There are also miscellaneous operational issues which are included in the below total but are not accounted for in one of the three stages.

Airline Taxiing Out
(minutes)
In the Air
(minutes)
Taxiing In
(minutes)
Total
(minutes)
United 14 52 14 82
American 15 54 15 85

Flights By Time of Day Flight Time By Day Chart

This one is pretty self explanatory, it represents the number of flights that leave the gate in a given hour of the day. The tricky thing here is that this is normally not a whole number since it is an average over 52 weeks. Partial numbers may indicate that a flight may be seasonal or may take off at different times due to different operational factors.

Time Count
5am 0.12
5pm 0.13
4pm 0.38
2pm 0.01
10am 0.46
9am 0.12
7am 0.21
9pm 0
6am 1.31
3pm 1.08
12pm 0.07
6pm 0.84
8am 0.39
11am 1.27

Flights By Month Flights By Month Chart

The quantity of flights from Des Moines to Chicago that take off in a given month of the year. This number changes because some flights are seasonal, and almost all flights have uneven demand througout the year.

Month Count
January 167
February 169
March 204
April 198
May 202
June 209
July 203
August 217
September 210
October 228
November 178
December 184

Flights By Day Of Week Flights By Day of Week Chart

The quantity of flights from Des Moines to Chicago that take off on a given day of the week. Some routes only have enough demand to sustain a few trips a week, while others have many flights a day. This number is also an average across the year, and hence may not be a whole number.

Day Count
Monday 6.67
Tuesday 6.37
Wednesday 6.35
Thursday 6.63
Friday 6.81
Saturday 6.29
Sunday 6.44

Flight per Airline (per Week) Flights By Airline Chart

How many times an airline flies this route in a week. Different factors play into how often a carrier chooses to fly a given route including it's need to connect disparate routes, and demand.

Airline Flights per Week
United 0
American 0

Flight Time By Time of Day Flight Time by Time of Day Chart

The total flight time varies by each hour of the day due to factors such as airport traffic. More flights leaving an airport may cause higher taxi in or taxi out times. See the description of the average timeline above for a deeper discussion of each of these times.

Time Taxi Out
(minutes)
In the Air
(minutes)
Taxi In
(minutes)
Total
(minutes)
5am 14 53 12 78
5pm 14 55 17 86
4pm 14 54 16 85
2pm 12 57 18 87
10am 14 55 14 83
9am 15 55 15 84
7am 12 54 18 87
9pm 8 50 13 71
6am 14 53 14 83
3pm 14 53 14 82
12pm 12 54 14 84
6pm 14 53 18 87
8am 13 52 13 81
11am 14 53 14 82
* Delayed more than 20 minutes.
All data above is a median or mean as appropriate.