If you haven’t sobbed, cursed, or collapsed in anger at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, can you say you’ve truly traveled? We don’t believe so, but because we’ve done all three several times, perhaps we’re not the best judges.
Unsurprisingly, not only residents have difficulty getting into and out of DFW Airport. According to Travel and Leisure magazine, our massive airport is a nightmare for passengers.
“A flight delay can be a traveler’s worst nightmare, and a new report revealed some airports are more delay-prone than others,” according to the paper.
“The worst offender for on-time departures of major airports across the United States was Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), which had an on-time rate of just 71.1 percent, according to the 2025 Bureau of Transportation Statistics from January through May.”
Nobody should be surprised, of course. Not long ago, the same airport hosted the “No. 1 most lawless baggage claim in all of America.”
Furthermore, this recent questionable designation is not new; the airport that connects Grapevine and Irving was the worst major airport for on-time departures during the same time period last year, according to the report.
The disparity between DFW at the bottom of the list and Salt Lake City International Airport at the top is significant. DFW Airport concluded with a 69.28% on-time departure performance, while SLC achieved an impressive 83.94%.
“When it came to delays, the leading cause for holdups was an aircraft arriving late, which can create a negative cascading effect on a carrier’s schedule,” the magazine adds.
“Extreme weather accounted for just 0.85 percent of all nationwide delays during the survey period, while cancelled or diverted flights accounted for 1.7 percent of all delays.”
Dallas Love Field was not included in the poll, which is good news for them. According to the Aviation Database, Love Field had a 77.1% on-time rate in 2025, and 78.1% in 2025. Better than DFW, yes, but far from the top few.
The worst aspect about these figures is that Houston and Austin ended ahead of DFW, with on-time departure percentages of 75.38% and 76.25%, respectively. But hey, it’s lower than Love Field.
