Waterloo to Chicago

What the Data Says About ALO to ORD

The Waterloo to Chicago corridor (ALO → ORD) covers roughly 234 miles and is served by 1 carrier, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 1,987 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 84.2% on-time rate with an average delay of 79.4 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 1,330 flights were recorded on this pairing — 41 cancelled (3.1%) and 1 diverted (0.1%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 1 carrier on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 1,987 total flights analyzed, the 84.2% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 79.4-minute average delay applies only to flights that actually ran late, so it is not the average wait across all departures — the majority of flights on this route depart on time under the BTS definition of a delay (15+ minutes past schedule).

Looking at recent months, Oct 2022 posted the best performance on this corridor at 98% on-time, while Jul 2025 came in at 61% on-time — a 38-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the ALO to ORD route, the combination of a 84.2% on-time rate, 79.4-minute average delay, 3.1% recent cancellation rate, and 1 available carrier is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.