Detroit to State College

What the Data Says About DTW to SCE

The Detroit to State College corridor (DTW → SCE) covers roughly 301 miles and is served by 4 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 1,356 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 88.4% on-time rate with an average delay of 82.7 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 868 flights were recorded on this pairing — 6 cancelled (0.7%) and 2 diverted (0.2%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 4 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 1,356 total flights analyzed, the 88.4% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 82.7-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, Sep 2021 posted the best performance on this corridor at 96% on-time, while Aug 2021 came in at 86% on-time — a 10-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the DTW to SCE route, the combination of a 88.4% on-time rate, 82.7-minute average delay, 0.7% recent cancellation rate, and 4 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.