Flights St. Louis → Chicago
STL → MDW
How long is the flight from St. Louis to Chicago?
The flight from St. Louis (STL) to Chicago (MDW) takes about 56 min. This is an estimate based on the distance between the two airports: the real time depends on the aircraft, wind and any stops.
Route overview
The flight route from St. Louis to Chicago operates with a high frequency, totaling 397 flights, and has an on-time performance rate of 79%. On average, these flights experience a delay of 12.4 minutes, serving one of the busiest airports in terms of annual passenger traffic, which sees approximately 19,916,643 passengers per year.
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 St. Louis (STL) → Chicago (MDW) route is operated by Southwest Airlines. Across 1076 flights monitored in recent months, 75% arrived on time (within 15 min of schedule), with an average delay of 13 minutes. The cancellation rate is 2.97%. FlightGuard's average computed risk is 29/100 (medium), updated in real time from weather, ATC delays, strikes, NOTAMs, fuel and flight history. At Chicago the average ATFM delay is 5.5 minutes (main cause: atfm). Departing from St. Louis the average ATFM delay is 5.5 minutes.
Heading to Chicago: what to expect in this direction
Flying from St. Louis (STL) to Chicago (MDW) heads north-east for about 404 km, a flight time of roughly 56m.
Departures from St. Louis on this leg cluster in the overnight window: about 36% of STL-MDW flights take off then.
Air-traffic congestion: departing St. Louis the average ATFM delay is 5.5 min (atfm); arriving into Chicago it is 5.5 min (atfm).
Across 1,076 tracked STL-MDW flights, 75% left on time with an average delay of 13 min and a 3.0% cancellation rate.
Route facts
Flights on this route
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Airline punctuality on this route
| Airline | On-time | Average delay | Cancellations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines (WN) | 75% | 5 min | 0.3% |
Airlines operating STL-MDW
Airports
Frequently asked questions about STL-MDW
The flight from St. Louis (STL) to Chicago (MDW) takes about 56 min. This is an estimate based on the distance between the two airports: the real time depends on the aircraft, wind and any stops.
On the St. Louis (STL) -> Chicago (MDW) route, on-time performance is 75% with an average delay of 13 minutes, based on 1076 tracked flights.
The cancellation rate on St. Louis-Chicago is 2.97% across 1076 monitored flights.
The route is operated by 1 airline: Southwest Airlines.
Enter your flight number on FlightGuard for a real-time analysis based on 9 factors: weather at Chicago, 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.
