Flights Chicago → Ottawa
ORD → YOW
How long is the flight from Chicago to Ottawa?
The flight from Chicago (ORD) to Ottawa (YOW) takes 1h 36m on average. That is the median time recorded across 2 scheduled flights on this leg; the actual time varies by a few minutes with wind, routing and take-off queues.
Route overview
The flight route connects Chicago to Ottawa, operating with an Embraer 170 aircraft. The destination airport in Ottawa serves over 2.9 million passengers annually, indicating significant traffic and demand for air travel between these two cities.
Your rights on this US flight (DOT)
US flights have no statutory cash compensation for delays. Under the US DOT rules, if your flight is cancelled or significantly changed and you decline rebooking, you're owed an automatic refund of the unused ticket. The tarmac-delay limit is 3 hours (domestic) / 4 hours (international). Amenities for controllable delays depend on each airline's contract of carriage.
US flight refund rules & checker →General information, not legal advice.
The Chicago (ORD) → Ottawa (YOW) route is operated by Air Canada, United Airlines. Across 27 flights monitored in recent months, 78% arrived on time (within 15 min of schedule), with an average delay of 22 minutes. The cancellation rate is 0.00%. FlightGuard's average computed risk is 16.5/100 (medium), updated in real time from weather, ATC delays, strikes, NOTAMs, fuel and flight history. At Ottawa the average ATFM delay is 3.0 minutes (main cause: atfm). Departing from Chicago the average ATFM delay is 5.5 minutes.
Heading to Ottawa: what to expect in this direction
Flying from Chicago (ORD) to Ottawa (YOW) heads north-east for about 1,051 km, a flight time of roughly 1h 36m.
Departures from Chicago on this leg cluster in the midday window: about 74% of ORD-YOW flights take off then.
Air-traffic congestion: departing Chicago the average ATFM delay is 5.5 min (atfm); arriving into Ottawa it is 3.0 min (atfm).
Across 27 tracked ORD-YOW flights, 78% left on time with an average delay of 22 min and a 0.0% cancellation rate.
Route facts
Flights on this route
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Airline punctuality on this route
| Airline | On-time | Average delay | Cancellations |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines (UA) | 83% | 5 min | 1.3% |
Airlines operating ORD-YOW
Airports
Frequently asked questions about ORD-YOW
The flight from Chicago (ORD) to Ottawa (YOW) takes 1h 36m on average. That is the median time recorded across 2 scheduled flights on this leg; the actual time varies by a few minutes with wind, routing and take-off queues.
On the Chicago (ORD) -> Ottawa (YOW) route, on-time performance is 78% with an average delay of 22 minutes, based on 27 tracked flights.
The cancellation rate on Chicago-Ottawa is 0.00% across 27 monitored flights.
The route is operated by 2 airlines: Air Canada, United Airlines.
Enter your flight number on FlightGuard for a real-time analysis based on 9 factors: weather at Ottawa, ATC delays, strikes, NOTAMs, fuel, airline punctuality and recent trends.
US flights have no statutory cash compensation for delays. Under US DOT rules, if the airline cancels or significantly changes your flight and you decline rebooking, you're owed an automatic refund of the unused ticket. The tarmac-delay limit is 3 hours (domestic) / 4 hours (international). Meals or hotels for controllable delays depend on each airline's contract of carriage.
