The flight time from Los Angeles to Detroit is 4 hours, 15 minutes. See Data as Tables

Average Timeline

Leaves LAX Los Angeles, CA on time.
14 minutes taxiing out
3 hours, 50 minutes in the air
9 minutes taxiing in
Arrives DTW Detroit, MI 8 minutes early.

Flight Reliability By Airline ?

Delta
87%
Spirit
80%
Cancelled
Delayed*
Normal

Flight Summary

The flight time from Los Angeles to Detroit is 4 hours, 15 minutes. The time spent in the air is 3 hours, 50 minutes.

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

Reverse Journey

Detroit to Los Angeles
4 hours, 46 minutes

Flight Time By Airline ?

Spirit
4h 13m
Delta
4h 15m
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)

12AM06AM12PM06PM0.00.20.40.60.81.0

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 Los Angeles from Detroit by plane?

The distance from Los Angeles to Detroit 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 Los Angeles to Detroit?

The flight time from Los Angeles to Detroit is 4 hours, 15 minutes. The time spent in the air is 3 hours, 50 minutes. These numbers are averages. In reality, it varies by airline with Spirit being the fastest taking 4 hours, 13 minutes, and Delta the slowest taking 4 hours, 15 minutes.

What airlines fly from Los Angeles to Detroit?

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

Does Southwest fly from Los Angeles to Detroit?

Southwest does not fly from Los Angeles (LAX) to Detroit (DTW). 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 Los Angeles on time
Taxi Out Time 14 minutes
In the Air 230 minutes
Taxiing In 9 minutes
Arrives Detroit 8 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 Los Angeles to Detroit, Spirit is 80% reliable, which means that Spirit flights are on time 80% of the time, and cancelled or delayed the remaining time.

Airline Normal Flights Arrival Delayed* Flight Cancelled
Delta 87% 12% 1%
Spirit 80% 19% 1%

Flight Time By Airline Flight Time By Airline Chart

Each airline takes a different amount of time to fly between Los Angeles and Detroit, 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)
Spirit 13 229 9 253
Delta 15 230 9 255

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
10pm 1.01
1pm 0.23
8am 0.12
2pm 0.68
5pm 0.32
9pm 0.46
7am 0.72
12pm 0.88
11pm 0.34
10am 0.07
5am 0.99
11am 0.3
4pm 0.45
9am 0.78
3pm 0.1

Flights By Month Flights By Month Chart

The quantity of flights from Los Angeles to Detroit 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 174
March 212
April 227
May 233
June 235
July 258
August 264
September 237
October 258
November 247
December 209

Flights By Day Of Week Flights By Day of Week Chart

The quantity of flights from Los Angeles to Detroit 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 7.87
Tuesday 7.25
Wednesday 7.31
Thursday 7.85
Friday 7.87
Saturday 7
Sunday 7.85

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)
10pm 13 228 9 253
1pm 16 229 10 257
8am 20 231 9 261
2pm 13 231 9 255
5pm 13 229 8 251
9pm 14 228 10 254
7am 14 231 9 254
12pm 15 230 9 255
11pm 16 228 9 254
10am 15 228 10 253
5am 18 231 9 258
11am 13 233 9 257
4pm 12 228 10 252
9am 14 229 9 253
3pm 13 234 10 259
* Delayed more than 20 minutes.
All data above is a median or mean as appropriate.