The flight time from Detroit to Los Angeles is 4 hours, 46 minutes. See Data as Tables

Average Timeline

Leaves DTW Detroit, MI on time.
13 minutes taxiing out
4 hours, 20 minutes in the air
10 minutes taxiing in
Arrives LAX Los Angeles, CA 9 minutes early.

Flight Reliability By Airline ?

Delta
83%
Spirit
81%
Cancelled
Delayed*
Normal

Flight Summary

The flight time from Detroit to Los Angeles is 4 hours, 46 minutes. The time spent in the air is 4 hours, 20 minutes.

The flight distance from Detroit to Los Angeles is 1979 Miles.

Reverse Journey

Los Angeles to Detroit
4 hours, 15 minutes

Flight Time By Airline ?

Delta
4h 45m
Spirit
4h 49m
Taxiing Out
Air Time
Taxiing In

Flight Time by Time of Day ?

12AM06AM12PM06PM1h2h3h4h
Taxiing Out
Air Time
Taxiing In

Flights By Time of Day ?
(Average)

12AM06AM12PM06PM0.00.51.01.52.0

Flights Per Week

52

Distance

1979 Miles

Flights By Month ?

JFMAMJJASOND050100150200250

Flights By Day of Week ?
(Average)

MonTueWedThuFriSatSun02468

Flights By Airline ?
(Per Week)

Delta
37
Spirit
15

Frequently Asked Questions

How far is Detroit from Los Angeles by plane?

The distance from Detroit to Los Angeles by plane is 1979 Miles. This is the air distance on the most direct route taken by the vast majority of flights.

How long is the flight from Detroit to Los Angeles?

The flight time from Detroit to Los Angeles is 4 hours, 46 minutes. The time spent in the air is 4 hours, 20 minutes. These numbers are averages. In reality, it varies by airline with Delta being the fastest taking 4 hours, 45 minutes, and Spirit the slowest taking 4 hours, 49 minutes.

What airlines fly from Detroit to Los Angeles?

Delta and Spirit are the airlines with direct flights from Detroit to Los Angeles.

Does Southwest fly from Detroit to Los Angeles?

Southwest does not fly from Detroit (DTW) to Los Angeles (LAX). 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 Detroit on time
Taxi Out Time 13 minutes
In the Air 260 minutes
Taxiing In 10 minutes
Arrives Los Angeles 9 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 Detroit to Los Angeles, Spirit is 81% reliable, which means that Spirit flights are on time 81% of the time, and cancelled or delayed the remaining time.

Airline Normal Flights Arrival Delayed* Flight Cancelled
Delta 83% 16% 1%
Spirit 81% 18% 1%

Flight Time By Airline Flight Time By Airline Chart

Each airline takes a different amount of time to fly between Detroit and Los Angeles, 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)
Delta 14 258 10 285
Spirit 12 264 9 289

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
3pm 0.13
6pm 0.62
5pm 0.02
2pm 0.03
9am 0.25
9pm 0.55
12pm 1.13
10am 0.11
8pm 0.89
8am 0.96
7pm 0.13
7am 0.12
6am 0.31
4pm 0.9
1pm 0.66
10pm 0.64

Flights By Month Flights By Month Chart

The quantity of flights from Detroit to Los Angeles 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 201
February 164
March 211
April 226
May 235
June 235
July 260
August 266
September 235
October 258
November 246
December 210

Flights By Day Of Week Flights By Day of Week Chart

The quantity of flights from Detroit to Los Angeles 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 7.85
Tuesday 7.21
Wednesday 7.35
Thursday 7.75
Friday 7.75
Saturday 7
Sunday 7.92

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
Delta 1
Spirit 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)
3pm 13 265 10 290
6pm 14 261 10 287
5pm 11 257 9 278
2pm 11 268 7 284
9am 12 261 9 287
9pm 13 269 10 298
12pm 13 259 10 284
10am 11 256 7 275
8pm 14 262 11 291
8am 16 256 11 286
7pm 13 256 10 281
7am 12 271 9 296
6am 13 254 10 280
4pm 14 260 10 285
1pm 11 264 8 286
10pm 13 257 8 283
* Delayed more than 20 minutes.
All data above is a median or mean as appropriate.