These Are America's Most Delayed Flight Routes

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Unless you're a lover of Sbarros or an expert in airport drinking, you'll probably agree that flight delays are the absolute worst. And while the vast majority of flights take off and land without a hitch, there are some flight routes that have exceptionally bad records for on-time arrivals -- and now we know exactly which ones they are.

Data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (requested by the Wall Street Journal) measured the flight performance of all routes over the course of the past year, and ranked them by the percentage of flights which were not on time.

The absolute worst route, with a whopping 44.1% of all its flights being delayed, was from Chicago, IL to Knoxville, TN -- the national average, for reference, is 23.8%. Chicago took the silver medal as well, with 43.9% of its flights to Wichita, KS being delayed, while the bronze was awarded to the intrastate route from Denver, CO to Aspen, CO (43.1% delayed).

Really, though, Chicago ends up being the main whipping boy in this report: nine of the top 10 delayed routes either originated at or arrived in the Windy City.

Here's the top 10:

10. Chicago, IL to Oklahoma City, OK (42.3%)
9. Chicago, IL to Lincoln, NE (42.5%)
8. Chicago, IL to Colorado Springs, CO (42.6%)
7. Little Rock, AR to Chicago, IL (42.6%)
6. Chicago, IL to Lansing, MI (42.9%)
5. Des Moines, IA to Chicago, IL (43%)
4. Chicago, IL to Birmingham, AL (43.1%)
3. Denver, CO to Aspen, CO (43.1%)
2. Chicago, IL to Wichita, KS (43.9%)
1. Chicago, IL to Knoxville, TN (44.1%)

(h/t Wall Street Journal)


Gianni Jaccoma is a staff writer for Thrillist, and he'd love to know what the hell Chicago's deal is. Follow him on Twitter @gjaccoma, and send your news tips to news@thrillist.com