Flights St. Louis → Washington
STL → DCA
Route overview
The flight route from St. Louis to Washington operates with a Canadair Regional Jet 700 aircraft and has an on-time performance rate of 73%, with average delays of 17.6 minutes per flight. 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 St. Louis (STL) → Washington (DCA) route is operated by American Airlines, Southwest Airlines. Across 774 flights monitored in recent months, 75% arrived on time (within 15 min of schedule), with an average delay of 20 minutes. The cancellation rate is 3.23%. FlightGuard's average computed risk is 23.3/100 (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 St. Louis the average ATFM delay is 2.0 minutes.
Heading to Washington: what to expect in this direction
Flying from St. Louis (STL) to Washington (DCA) heads east for about 1,154 km, a flight time of roughly 1h 52m.
Departures from St. Louis on this leg cluster in the overnight window: about 43% of STL-DCA flights take off then.
Air-traffic congestion: departing St. Louis the average ATFM delay is 2.0 min (atfm); arriving into Washington it is 2.0 min (atfm).
Across 774 tracked STL-DCA flights, 75% left on time with an average delay of 20 min and a 3.2% cancellation rate.
Route facts
Flights on this route
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Airline punctuality on this route
| Airline | On-time | Average delay | Cancellations |
|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines (AA) | 74% | 16 min | 3.0% |
| Southwest Airlines (WN) | 73% | 6 min | 3.1% |
Airlines operating STL-DCA
Airports
Frequently asked questions about STL-DCA
On the St. Louis (STL) -> Washington (DCA) route, on-time performance is 75% with an average delay of 20 minutes, based on 774 tracked flights.
The cancellation rate on St. Louis-Washington is 3.23% across 774 monitored flights.
The route is operated by 2 airlines: American Airlines, Southwest 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.
