Spirit Airlines Reliability

Reliability

July 2023 – May 2026

Airline Reliability Score

54/ 100Fair

Better than 30% of US reporting carriers (15 compared)

Calculated from 635,598 flights. How this is calculated

On-time arrivals

75.5%

468,783 of 621,304

Cancellation rate

2.06%

13,092 cancelled

Median arrival delay

-6 min

Average 9.3 min

Severe delays

9.6%

60+ minutes late

Delay when late

71 min

Average, when 15+ min late

Departure punctuality

74.7%

Left the gate on time

Against the 15 carriers FlyerIntel covers — all measured over the same period, from the same source — Spirit Airlines ranks 12th of 15 for on-time arrivals, 10th for cancellations and 11th for arrivals more than an hour late. The full table is at the foot of this page.

Over the most recent 12 months (2025-06 to 2026-05) Spirit Airlines arrived on time 73.1% of the time, against 77.8% in the 12 months before (2024-06 to 2025-05) — declining by 4.7 percentage points.

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – May 2026

Why Spirit Airlines cancels flights

Every cancellation carries a reason code the operating carrier filed with US DOT. July 2023 – May 2026.

Spirit Airlines cancelled 13,092 of 635,598 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 49. The reason it filed most often was extreme weather, 67.9% of the cancellations it coded — about 1 in every 71 scheduled flights.

Share of cancellations

Weather67.9%

Airline24.0%

Air traffic8.0%

Security0.1%

Of 13,092 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.

What each reason means

Extreme weather1 in 71

Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.

8,893 cancellations, 67.9% of the total.

The airline1 in 202

Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.

3,143 cancellations, 24.0% of the total.

The air traffic system1 in 606

Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.

1,048 cancellations, 8.0% of the total.

Security1 in 79,450

A terminal evacuation, a security breach, screening equipment failure, or screening queues over 29 minutes.

8 cancellations, 0.1% of the total.

What these shares do not measure

A reason code is the operating carrier’s own filing. US DOT collects the reason the airline gave; it does not adjudicate it, and carriers differ in how they fill the form in. The split above describes what kind of disruption Spirit Airlines records, not who was at fault when it happened, and it cannot be set against another airline’s split to decide which of the two is better run.

That is measurable rather than a disclaimer. Across the 15 carriers FlyerIntel publishes, the correlation between how much of its own canceling a carrier attributes to itself and how often it actually cancels is -0.46 — negative, which is the wrong sign for a ranking of fault and about the right sign for a difference in filing convention. Hawaiian Airlines attributed 82.8% of its cancellations to itself and cancelled 1.00% of its flights; SkyWest Airlines attributed 2.7% and cancelled 1.33%. The airline taking the most blame is the one that cancels least.

The figure on this page that does compare cleanly between airlines is the cancellation rate in Reliability, because it counts cancellations instead of reading the reason filed for them. The First Flight of the Day sets out the same finding from the airport-carrier records, and declines on the strength of it to compare any two carriers’ codes.

Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.

By airport

Spirit Airlines cancellation causes by airport
Airport	Cancelled	Rate	Airline	Weather	Air traffic	Security
FLL Fort Lauderdale	1,329	1.97%	24%	67%	9%	0%
MCO Orlando	1,250	2.02%	21%	70%	8%	<1%
EWR Newark	1,089	3.90%	15%	72%	13%	<1%
LGA New York	646	3.37%	15%	74%	11%	0%
LAS Las Vegas	626	1.07%	31%	63%	6%	0%

Shares are of Spirit Airlines’s own coded cancellations at each airport and run across the row, so they total 100%. “Rate” is cancellations as a share of its scheduled departures there. Reading down a column compares one airline with itself in different weather and different airspace, which is the comparison these codes support — a carrier files the same way wherever it flies, so its filing habits largely cancel out of the differences between these rows in a way they never cancel out of a comparison between two airlines. Airports where Spirit Airlines recorded fewer coded cancellations than the published minimum are not listed.

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – May 2026 · These are the reason codes Spirit Airlines itself filed with US DOT — the reason the airline gave, not an independent finding of fault, and airlines differ in how they apply them. FlyerIntel publishes the split only for carriers with at least 500 coded cancellations in the period; 13,092 were recorded. Whatever the reason code, a cancelled flight may qualify for an automatic refund under DOT’s rule — the refund checker covers eligibility.

Reliability over time

24

25

26

Each column is one month of Spirit Airlines operations. The strongest single month of the period was November 2024 at 85.7% on time; the weakest was March 2026 at 54.2%. Individual months move for reasons that do not repeat — a hurricane season, a technology outage, a winter storm — which is why the section below combines the same data by calendar month instead.

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – May 2026

Best and worst months to fly

Every Spirit Airlines January stacked on every other January, and so on through the year.

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Spirit Airlines — best and worst months to fly
Month	Flights	On time	Cancelled
January	49,874	76.2%	3.47%
February	47,673	77.1%	2.60%
March	55,665	71.0%	3.51%
April	50,770	79.2%	1.32%
May	41,396	73.8%	1.28%
June	41,060	73.8%	2.05%
July	63,263	66.7%	3.28%
August	63,345	71.0%	2.16%
September	56,493	80.7%	1.24%
October	58,598	82.4%	1.60%
November	54,416	80.0%	0.75%
December	53,045	74.4%	1.20%

Combining 2 to 3 years of operations by calendar month, Spirit Airlines is at its best in October, when 82.4% of arrivals were on time, and at its worst in July at 66.7% — a spread of 15.6 percentage points between two months of the same airline. Cancellations peak in a month of their own: March at 3.51% of flights, against 0.75% in November.

This is the shape of the calendar, not a forecast. It says that if you book Spirit Airlines in July you are booking into the part of the year when this airline has historically been least punctual, and that an October itinerary starts from a better position. It does not say anything about a particular date, and it cannot: the figure behind each month is 2 to 3 years of that same month combined, precisely so that one storm does not decide the answer.

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – May 2026 · Rates are recalculated from the summed monthly counts, so a heavy month carries more weight than a light one.

Best time to fly Spirit Airlines

How Spirit Airlines departures have done at each hour of each weekday, across its whole network.

By day and hour

On-time arrival rate for each weekday and scheduled departure hour, in local time at the airport each flight leaves from, so the grid mixes time zones across the network.

Wednesday 5–6 AM was the most reliable slot for Spirit Airlines (90.7% on time, 4,342 flights) and Sunday 6–7 PM the least (60.3%, 5,792 flights).

Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 8.1 points from the network-wide rate, weekday averages 2.9 points.

On-time arrival rate for Spirit Airlines by weekday and scheduled departure hour, local time. Each button reads out one slot.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
12 AM–1 AM
1 AM–2 AM
2 AM–3 AM
3 AM–4 AM
4 AM–5 AM
5 AM–6 AM
6 AM–7 AM
7 AM–8 AM
8 AM–9 AM
9 AM–10 AM
10 AM–11 AM
11 AM–12 PM
12 PM–1 PM
1 PM–2 PM
2 PM–3 PM
3 PM–4 PM
4 PM–5 PM
5 PM–6 PM
6 PM–7 PM
7 PM–8 PM
8 PM–9 PM
9 PM–10 PM
10 PM–11 PM
11 PM–12 AM

On-time rate, % · stronger color, fewer on time

60–64
65–69
70–74
75–79
80–84
85–89
90–94

Fewer than 120 flights, not scored
Most reliable slot
Least reliable slot

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – May 2026 · On time is arrival within 15 minutes of schedule. Cells round to whole percentages; the table shows one decimal.

Best and worst slots are named only among slots with 500+ flights, and only when the gap is larger than sampling error.

View as tableHide table

On-time arrival rate (%) with flights beneath, by scheduled departure hour and weekday for Spirit Airlines. A dash means fewer than 120 flights, which are not scored.
Hour	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
12 AM–1 AM	68.5% on time425 flights	72.3% on time335 flights	81.1% on time288 flights	88.5% on time374 flights	73.9% on time416 flights	75.3% on time395 flights	82.8% on time388 flights
1 AM–2 AM	74.7% on time210 flights	67.4% on time192 flights	74.0% on time203 flights	82.8% on time196 flights	68.9% on time198 flights	75.7% on time210 flights	75.1% on time208 flights
2 AM–3 AM	102 flights, too few to score	82 flights, too few to score	81 flights, too few to score	86 flights, too few to score	113 flights, too few to score	98 flights, too few to score	88 flights, too few to score
3 AM–4 AM	61 flights, too few to score	59 flights, too few to score	30 flights, too few to score	47 flights, too few to score	61 flights, too few to score	56 flights, too few to score	52 flights, too few to score
4 AM–5 AM	58 flights, too few to score	53 flights, too few to score	46 flights, too few to score	54 flights, too few to score	46 flights, too few to score	61 flights, too few to score	59 flights, too few to score
5 AM–6 AM	89.0% on time5,347 flights	90.4% on time4,561 flights	90.7% on time4,342 flights	90.3% on time5,212 flights	89.4% on time5,364 flights	88.8% on time4,931 flights	88.8% on time5,370 flights
6 AM–7 AM	87.0% on time7,714 flights	89.8% on time6,343 flights	90.1% on time6,138 flights	89.2% on time7,444 flights	87.6% on time7,665 flights	86.8% on time6,871 flights	86.2% on time7,448 flights
7 AM–8 AM	83.7% on time5,520 flights	86.1% on time4,741 flights	88.1% on time4,776 flights	85.4% on time5,548 flights	84.8% on time5,572 flights	83.5% on time5,247 flights	84.8% on time5,722 flights
8 AM–9 AM	81.9% on time5,130 flights	86.0% on time4,309 flights	87.2% on time4,234 flights	83.8% on time5,034 flights	82.4% on time5,049 flights	83.0% on time4,591 flights	81.7% on time5,041 flights
9 AM–10 AM	82.2% on time5,311 flights	85.2% on time4,401 flights	86.4% on time4,329 flights	83.6% on time5,146 flights	81.7% on time5,432 flights	81.8% on time5,049 flights	81.6% on time5,205 flights
10 AM–11 AM	79.2% on time4,917 flights	83.1% on time4,121 flights	84.1% on time4,054 flights	80.1% on time4,894 flights	78.3% on time4,872 flights	80.7% on time4,366 flights	77.0% on time5,020 flights
11 AM–12 PM	76.8% on time4,784 flights	82.5% on time3,714 flights	82.7% on time3,809 flights	78.6% on time4,689 flights	75.4% on time4,805 flights	77.1% on time4,302 flights	74.9% on time4,672 flights
12 PM–1 PM	74.3% on time4,748 flights	80.7% on time3,940 flights	81.5% on time3,898 flights	76.8% on time4,775 flights	73.6% on time4,775 flights	76.7% on time4,175 flights	73.0% on time4,853 flights
1 PM–2 PM	74.3% on time4,485 flights	80.1% on time3,610 flights	80.2% on time3,653 flights	75.1% on time4,507 flights	73.1% on time4,527 flights	76.4% on time4,111 flights	71.3% on time4,457 flights
2 PM–3 PM	71.2% on time5,114 flights	76.7% on time3,920 flights	78.5% on time3,876 flights	70.7% on time5,023 flights	68.9% on time5,022 flights	73.2% on time4,511 flights	68.2% on time5,145 flights
3 PM–4 PM	69.1% on time5,080 flights	76.3% on time4,108 flights	76.3% on time4,090 flights	69.1% on time5,079 flights	67.2% on time5,081 flights	71.4% on time4,476 flights	65.9% on time5,164 flights
4 PM–5 PM	64.5% on time5,204 flights	73.5% on time4,237 flights	73.0% on time4,298 flights	65.2% on time5,092 flights	63.3% on time5,296 flights	68.0% on time4,603 flights	60.8% on time5,140 flights
5 PM–6 PM	66.7% on time5,552 flights	74.1% on time4,339 flights	74.5% on time4,245 flights	66.0% on time5,647 flights	66.0% on time5,473 flights	68.7% on time4,862 flights	63.1% on time5,709 flights
6 PM–7 PM	63.5% on time5,926 flights	72.2% on time4,569 flights	70.4% on time4,766 flights	63.6% on time5,829 flights	61.4% on time5,829 flights	66.9% on time5,144 flights	60.3% on time5,792 flights
7 PM–8 PM	63.6% on time5,373 flights	72.9% on time4,213 flights	72.2% on time4,316 flights	62.6% on time5,203 flights	63.5% on time5,392 flights	68.0% on time4,980 flights	60.8% on time5,284 flights
8 PM–9 PM	64.9% on time6,011 flights	73.9% on time4,960 flights	73.7% on time4,949 flights	65.4% on time6,026 flights	65.6% on time6,049 flights	68.9% on time5,479 flights	61.1% on time6,202 flights
9 PM–10 PM	66.5% on time5,778 flights	74.8% on time4,434 flights	74.1% on time4,488 flights	65.2% on time5,758 flights	66.3% on time5,769 flights	69.2% on time5,049 flights	63.2% on time5,753 flights
10 PM–11 PM	67.2% on time3,470 flights	75.8% on time2,576 flights	76.2% on time2,712 flights	66.9% on time3,617 flights	67.8% on time3,531 flights	70.1% on time3,082 flights	63.9% on time3,636 flights
11 PM–12 AM	75.1% on time1,421 flights	81.2% on time1,082 flights	79.4% on time1,134 flights	70.8% on time1,456 flights	74.6% on time1,389 flights	75.7% on time1,202 flights	70.8% on time1,482 flights

Why Spirit Airlines runs late

Share of total reported delay minutes by cause, as classified by the operating carrier.

Air traffic control41.1%

airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control

Late-arriving aircraft28.2%

the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late

The airline27.3%

crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control

Weather2.9%

weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically

Security0.5%

screening or terminal security incidents

Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for Spirit Airlines. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.

The largest single category for Spirit Airlines is air traffic control, at 41.1% of attributed minutes. The category squarely inside the carrier’s own control — crew, maintenance, boarding, fueling — accounts for 27.3% of its delay minutes, against 33.9% across the 15 carriers covered here. That is 6.6 percentage points less of its delay minutes falling inside the airline than is typical for this group.

These shares describe how delay minutes were divided, not how often delays happened. A carrier with an unusually large air-traffic-control share is not necessarily worse run; it may simply fly more of its schedule through congested airspace. The one category that is squarely the airline’s own is the carrier category, which is why it is the one compared above.

Source: US DOT BTS delay cause categories · July 2023 – May 2026 · Cause minutes are only reported for arrivals delayed 15 minutes or more.

How Spirit Airlines handles bad weather

Departures by the weather at the origin in the hour they were scheduled to leave, July 2023 – May 2026.

8% of Spirit Airlines’ weather-matched departures left in an hour of bad weather at the origin. 5.0% of them were cancelled, 2.9 times the 1.7% cancelled in normal hours, and 64.1% of those that flew arrived on time, against 76.3%. Those hours held 20% of the airline’s cancelled departures.

In bad weather Spirit Airlines cancelled more than other carriers did: 5.1% of its departures in those hours were cancelled, against 4.2% for the other carriers at the same airports in the same months. It was above them in normal hours too (1.7% against 1.2%), so part of the difference is there in clear conditions as well. Its flights that operated arrived on time 64.0% of the time, 1.2 points below the others’ 65.2%.

Bad-weather hours against normal hours

Scheduled departures, July 2023 – May 2026

Spirit Airlines cancellation and on-time rates in bad-weather and normal hours at the origin, with the other carriers at the same airports and months
Weather at the origin	Departures	Cancelled	Arrived on time
Normal hours	504,371	1.7%	76.3%
Other carriers	504,371compared	1.2%	78.8%
Bad-weather hours	49,1708% of all matched	5.0%2.9 times normal	64.1%12.2 points below normal
Other carriers	47,629compared	4.2%	65.2%

Bad weather means IFR or LIFR conditions, or a storm, snow, ice, fog, heavy rain or high wind, at the origin; normal means VFR with none of those. Marginal hours are in neither row, and were 8% of Spirit Airlines’ matched departures. Cancelled is the share of scheduled departures. The other carriers’ rows apply their rate in each airport and month to the departures Spirit Airlines had there.

The most exposed airports were LGA (8.9% of 2,577), EWR (8.7% of 3,882), TPA (8.0% of 966); the least, LAX (1.8% of 2,995), MSY (3.2% of 1,047), DTW (3.3% of 4,380). The widest gap above the other carriers was at BOS, Boston: 7.8% cancelled against 4.4%. The widest below them was at DFW, Dallas–Fort Worth: 5.4% cancelled against 9.9%.

Most exposed airports

Most exposed airports: Spirit Airlines departures in bad weather by airport
Airport	Departures	Cancelled	Other carriers	Normal hours
LGA New York	2,577	8.9%	8.4%	2.3%
EWR Newark	3,882	8.7%	6.4%	3.0%
TPA Tampa	966	8.0%	5.4%	1.8%

Least exposed airports

Least exposed airports: Spirit Airlines departures in bad weather by airport
Airport	Departures	Cancelled	Other carriers	Normal hours
LAX Los Angeles	2,995	1.8%	1.0%	1.2%
MSY New Orleans	1,047	3.2%	3.2%	1.9%
DTW Detroit	4,380	3.3%	2.3%	1.3%

Airports are listed with at least 500 of Spirit Airlines’ bad-weather departures and 500 weather-matched departures in all. Other carriers is their cancellation rate in the same airport and months, applied to Spirit Airlines’ departures there, and is left blank where Spirit Airlines was nearly the only carrier flying in the bad-weather hours of most months and there is no one to compare with.

This is the weather reported at the origin in the hour a flight was scheduled to leave, July 2023 – May 2026. It leaves out the weather at the destination and on the way, and an hour takes the worst conditions any report in it gave. Weather was matched to 94.9% of Spirit Airlines’ scheduled departures: the rest left from airports with no archived weather, in hours with no report, or at a scheduled time the flight records cannot place exactly. The comparison covers 1,212 airport-months in which Spirit Airlines flew in bad weather; the other carriers are held to the same airport and calendar month, not the same hour of the day or the same aircraft, so a carrier that schedules more of those departures at the busiest or the quietest times is not fully adjusted for. 1,541 of its bad-weather departures were in an airport and month where the other carriers had fewer than 120 of their own, and are not in that comparison.

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS flight records and Iowa Environmental Mesonet weather reports · July 2023 – May 2026 · Where the weather comes from, and its limits. All covered airports side by side: What Weather Costs Each Airport.

Turning aircraft around at Spirit Airlines

Time on the ground between one flight and the next of the same aircraft, and what a late arrival does to the next departure, July 2023 – May 2026.

The median Spirit Airlines turn is scheduled for 59 minutes on the ground and takes 68 minutes, against 56 minutes and 63 minutes across all airlines. Spirit Airlines gives its aircraft longer on the ground than the network does. 22.3% of its turns began with an aircraft that landed 15 or more minutes late, against 18.9% for the network.

When the aircraft landed 15 or more minutes late (105,293 turns, 61 minutes late on average), 63% of the turns were finished in no more than the scheduled ground time, against 68% across all airlines. 77% of those flights left 15 or more minutes late, against 72%. After an aircraft that landed on time, 12% did (network 11%).

Given the turn lengths it schedules, the network’s rates would give 71% finished in the schedule and 70% leaving late. By that measure Spirit Airlines finished fewer late turns in the schedule and passed lateness on to the next departure more often than the network would have. 46% of its late-inbound turns had a scheduled turn of 45 to 59 minutes, against 31% of the network’s.

Turns, Spirit Airlines against the network

472,810 turns, July 2023 – May 2026

Spirit Airlines aircraft turns against all airlines: scheduled and actual time on the ground and what a late inbound aircraft does
Measure	Spirit Airlines	All airlines	All airlines, same turn lengths
Median scheduled turn	59 min	56 min	—
Median actual turn	68 min	63 min	—
Turns that began with an aircraft 15+ minutes late	22%	19%	—
Late turns finished within the schedule	63%	68%	71%
Late inbound that left 15+ minutes late	77%	72%	70%
On-time inbound that left 15+ minutes late	12%	11%	—

Late means 15 or more minutes. A turn finishes within the schedule when the aircraft spent no more time on the ground than the schedule gave it. The last column applies the network’s rate in each scheduled-turn band (under 30 minutes up to 3 to 6 hours) to the number of Spirit Airlines turns in that band, so it shows what the same turn lengths would give across all airlines.

A turn pairs an aircraft’s landing with its next departure by tail number; the aircraft is never named. These 472,810 turns are 74% of Spirit Airlines’ flights in the period; the rest are an aircraft’s first flight after a long stay, flights without a usable inbound, and cancelled flights. Ground time is measured from the gate: the scheduled turn plus the departing flight’s delay minus the inbound’s arrival delay. Overnight stays (6 hours or more on the ground), cancelled flights and flights whose inbound diverted are not turns here. Turns scheduled under 30 minutes are a small share and are kept, but they are rarely a plan for that aircraft (more often a swap or recovery, with the flight waiting for an aircraft that was not the one scheduled), so most of them across the network leave late even after an on-time landing. A flight that an airline covered with a different aircraft is linked to the one that flew it, not the one first planned.

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS flight records · July 2023 – May 2026 · All airlines side by side: How Fast an Aircraft Turns When It Has To.

What sets Spirit Airlines apart

Where Spirit Airlines differs most from the other covered airlines, July 2023 – May 2026.

1 AM is where Spirit Airlines falls furthest behind the other airlines: 74.2% of its 1 AM departures arrive on time, 6.6 points below the 80.8% for that hour elsewhere.

Spirit Airlines’ weakest month against the field is March, 71.0% on time to 78.6% for the other airlines, 7.6 points short.

MKE is where Spirit Airlines stands out most against local competition: 84.9% of its departures arrive on time, 4.2 points above the 80.7% of the other airlines out of the same airport.

Out of RDU, Spirit Airlines arrives on time 66.3% of the time, 13.2 points below the 79.5% the other airlines there manage.

Taxi-out for Spirit Airlines averages 16.2 minutes, 2.1 minutes less than the 18.3 minutes at the other covered airlines.

Spirit Airlines against the other airlines

July 2023 – May 2026

Where Spirit Airlines differs most from the other covered airlines, with the flights behind each figure
Measure	Spirit Airlines	Elsewhere	Gap	Flights behind it
Hour: 1 AM departures	74.2%	80.8%	−6.6 pts	1,351 here, 10,087 elsewhere
Month: March	71.0%	78.6%	−7.6 pts	53,611 here, 1,716,357 elsewhere
Airport: MKE	84.9%	80.7%	+4.2 pts	1,676 here, 84,531 elsewhere
Airport: RDU	66.3%	79.5%	−13.2 pts	1,533 here, 174,722 elsewhere
Taxi-out: Departures	16.2 min	18.3 min	−2.1 min	622,936 here, 20,770,038 elsewhere

“Elsewhere” is every other covered airline together, from the same aggregates as this page. Hours and months appear only where both sides have at least 120 completed flights; airports only where Spirit Airlines and everyone else there each have at least 500. Gaps must be at least 2 points and 2 standard errors, and only the largest in each direction is shown. Airlines fly different airports, so the hour and month rows partly compare different traffic; the airport rows compare like with like. The taxi figure is weighted by departures, mixes airports, and has no error estimate, so it appears from 2 minutes.

Where this airline flies

Departure performance at the airports FlyerIntel covers.

Airports served

69

47 of them covered in detail here

Departures from its largest base

10.6%

FLL · Fort Lauderdale

Departures from its top three

29.5%

FLL, MCO, LAS

Spirit Airlines departed from 69 airports in this period, with no single one accounting for more than 10.6% of departures and the largest three together 29.5%. Performance is spread across the network rather than resting on one or two hubs, so a single weak airport moves this carrier’s overall figure less than it would at a hub-and-spoke airline.

Where this airline flies
Airport	Departures	On time	Cancelled	Median delay
FLL Fort Lauderdale	67,556	68.8%	1.97%	-1 min
MCO Orlando	61,767	72.0%	2.02%	-3 min
LAS Las Vegas	58,276	80.8%	1.07%	-7 min
DTW Detroit	30,207	79.6%	1.64%	-9 min
EWR Newark	27,925	74.2%	3.90%	-9 min
ATL Atlanta	26,429	72.0%	1.82%	-3 min
LAX Los Angeles	25,910	81.0%	1.25%	-8 min
DFW Dallas–Fort Worth	23,318	74.2%	1.55%	-3 min
IAH Houston	22,948	75.8%	2.05%	-6 min
ORD Chicago	20,572	71.2%	2.18%	-5 min
LGA New York	19,151	78.6%	3.37%	-12 min
BWI Baltimore	15,908	76.3%	1.90%	-7 min

Strongest airports

SNA (86.1%), MEM (82.5%), OAK (82.0%)

Weakest airports

FLL (68.8%), AUS (68.8%), BOS (69.8%)

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – May 2026 · Airports where this carrier flew fewer than 500 departures are not listed.

Route performance

Spirit Airlines’ own on-time rate on each route — this carrier's flights only, which can differ from the route's rate across every airline that flies it.

Most reliable

LAS→SNALas Vegas to Santa Ana87.1%SNA→LASSanta Ana to Las Vegas85.1%LAS→BURLas Vegas to Burbank84.9%PDX→LASPortland to Las Vegas83.6%ATL→MSPAtlanta to Minneapolis83.2%LAX→EWRLos Angeles to Newark83.2%CLT→TPACharlotte to Tampa83.0%LAS→SJCLas Vegas to San Jose83.0%

Least reliable

FLL→ATLFort Lauderdale to Atlanta59.5%ATL→LASAtlanta to Las Vegas61.9%ORD→ATLChicago to Atlanta63.3%MIA→DFWMiami to Dallas–Fort Worth65.0%MCO→DFWOrlando to Dallas–Fort Worth65.2%MCO→ORDOrlando to Chicago65.3%BOS→MCOBoston to Orlando65.4%MCO→BWIOrlando to Baltimore66.5%

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – May 2026 · Routes with fewer than 600 flights by this carrier are not ranked.

Where Spirit Airlines flies best and worst

The airports and routes where Spirit Airlines is on time most and least often, set beside the other airlines at the same place.

Spirit Airlines arrives on time 86.1% of the time at SNA, 4 points better than the 82.1% for the other airlines there.

MEM is a strong airport for Spirit Airlines at 82.5%, but the other airlines there do about as well at 81.2%, so the airport is easy rather than the airline special.

OAK is a strong airport for Spirit Airlines at 82.0%, but the other airlines there do about as well at 82.0%, so the airport is easy rather than the airline special.

Spirit Airlines manages 68.8% at FLL, 5 points below the 73.8% for the other airlines there.

Spirit Airlines manages 68.8% at AUS, 9.3 points below the 78.1% for the other airlines there.

Spirit Airlines manages 69.8% at BOS, 7.7 points below the 77.5% for the other airlines there.

Spirit Airlines arrives on time 87.1% of the time on LAS to SNA, 7.6 points better than the 79.5% for the other airlines on it.

Spirit Airlines arrives on time 85.1% of the time on SNA to LAS, 4.8 points better than the 80.3% for the other airlines on it.

Spirit Airlines arrives on time 84.9% of the time on LAS to BUR, 7.2 points better than the 77.7% for the other airlines on it.

Spirit Airlines manages 59.5% on FLL to ATL, 15.1 points below the 74.6% for the other airlines on it.

Spirit Airlines manages 61.9% on ATL to LAS, 14.1 points below the 76.0% for the other airlines on it.

Spirit Airlines manages 63.3% on ORD to ATL, 12.8 points below the 76.1% for the other airlines on it.

Airports, best and worst

Airports, best and worst: Spirit Airlines on-time rate beside the other airlines, with the flights behind each figure
Place	Spirit Airlines	Other airlines	Flights behind it
SNA	86.1%	82.1%	3,370 here, 132,125 others
MEM	82.5%	81.2%	2,348 here, 69,005 others
OAK	82.0%	82.0%	5,327 here, 110,977 others
FLL	68.8%	73.8%	66,105 here, 206,979 others
AUS	68.8%	78.1%	3,544 here, 265,544 others
BOS	69.8%	77.5%	14,247 here, 416,647 others

Routes, best and worst

Routes, best and worst: Spirit Airlines on-time rate beside the other airlines, with the flights behind each figure
Place	Spirit Airlines	Other airlines	Flights behind it
LAS to SNA	87.1%	79.5%	2,610 here, 9,940 others
SNA to LAS	85.1%	80.3%	2,606 here, 9,933 others
LAS to BUR	84.9%	77.7%	3,200 here, 9,948 others
FLL to ATL	59.5%	74.6%	4,653 here, 17,752 others
ATL to LAS	61.9%	76.0%	1,353 here, 13,799 others
ORD to ATL	63.3%	76.1%	689 here, 17,544 others

July 2023 – May 2026. Airports need at least 2,000 completed flights by Spirit Airlines, routes 600. The other airlines are everyone else at the same airport or on the same route, compared only where they have at least 500 (airports) or 200 (routes) completed flights; a gap counts as ahead or behind only at 2 points and 2 standard errors. Route figures are for one direction. Airlines fly different times of day and aircraft, so a gap is a comparison, not a cause.

Flight numbers

Spirit Airlines operates too few individually-profiled flight numbers for a best-versus-worst comparison, but each one still has its own reliability page.

See all 1 Spirit Airlines flight numbers →

Compare airlines

Every carrier on FlyerIntel is measured the same way, over the same period, using the same source data. That is the whole point of the table: airline marketing reports punctuality on definitions of its own choosing, and this does not.

Compare airlines
Airline	Score	On time	Cancelled	60+ min late	Flights
Endeavor Air	70	85.1%	2.30%	6.0%	304,230
Hawaiian Airlines	80	83.7%	1.00%	2.9%	199,679
Republic Airways	61	82.3%	3.26%	6.7%	1,004,281
Delta Air Lines	71	82.1%	1.16%	6.3%	3,146,502
SkyWest Airlines	64	80.4%	1.33%	7.9%	2,433,643
Envoy Air	66	80.1%	1.80%	6.6%	886,878
United Airlines	66	79.7%	1.21%	7.5%	2,418,979
Alaska Airlines	71	78.9%	1.28%	5.0%	813,732
Southwest Airlines	71	78.2%	0.86%	6.0%	4,371,639
PSA Airlines	44	75.8%	3.43%	10.4%	717,562
Allegiant Air	58	75.7%	0.94%	9.5%	381,495
Spirit Airlines	54	75.5%	2.06%	9.6%	635,598
American Airlines	52	74.8%	1.76%	10.0%	3,019,376
JetBlue	45	72.5%	2.19%	11.7%	745,492
Frontier Airlines	45	71.8%	2.09%	11.5%	629,235

Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – May 2026 · Score is the FlyerIntel Airline Reliability Score. See all airlines ranked →

Data and methodology

Calculated by FlyerIntel from 635,598 Spirit Airlines flight records published by the US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, covering July 2023 – May 2026. A flight counts as delayed when it arrives 15 or more minutes after schedule. Cancelled and diverted flights are excluded from the on-time rate and reported separately, because folding them in would flatter a carrier that cancels rather than runs late. Figures below a published sample threshold are omitted rather than shown with a caveat.

Full methodology · Data sources · Report a problem

Analysis last recomputed September 26, 2026

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Spirit Airlines on-time performance, from FlyerIntel

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