Flights Columbia → Washington
CAE → DCA
Route overview
The flight route from Columbia to Washington has a 74% on-time performance rate, with an average delay of 22.7 minutes when flights are not on time. The destination airport, which opened in 1938, serves over 25 million passengers annually.
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 Columbia (CAE) → Washington (DCA) route is operated by American Airlines. Across 340 flights monitored in recent months, 76% arrived on time (within 15 min of schedule), with an average delay of 21 minutes. The cancellation rate is 7.06%. FlightGuard's average computed risk is 30.3/100 (medium), updated in real time from weather, ATC delays, strikes, NOTAMs, fuel and flight history. At Washington the average ATFM delay is 2.0 minutes (main cause: atfm). Departing from Columbia the average ATFM delay is 2.0 minutes.
Heading to Washington: what to expect in this direction
Flying from Columbia (CAE) to Washington (DCA) heads north-east for about 657 km, a flight time of roughly 1h 14m.
Departures from Columbia on this leg cluster in the morning window: about 36% of CAE-DCA flights take off then.
Air-traffic congestion: departing Columbia the average ATFM delay is 2.0 min (atfm); arriving into Washington it is 2.0 min (atfm).
Across 340 tracked CAE-DCA flights, 76% left on time with an average delay of 21 min and a 7.1% cancellation rate.
Route facts
Flights on this route
Check the risk of a specific flight.
Flexible on this trip? Compare flights
Airline punctuality on this route
| Airline | On-time | Average delay | Cancellations |
|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines (AA) | 74% | 16 min | 3.0% |
Airlines operating CAE-DCA
Airports
Frequently asked questions about CAE-DCA
On the Columbia (CAE) -> Washington (DCA) route, on-time performance is 76% with an average delay of 21 minutes, based on 340 tracked flights.
The cancellation rate on Columbia-Washington is 7.06% across 340 monitored flights.
The route is operated by 1 airline: American Airlines.
Enter your flight number on FlightGuard for a real-time analysis based on 9 factors: weather at Washington, 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.
