Route profile
BUF→FLL
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Buffalo to Fort Lauderdale, 1,166 miles.
Right now
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Route reliability
July 2023 – July 2026
Better than 14% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 1,641 flights. How this is calculated
BUF → FLL arrives on time 73.6% of the time; the return trip, FLL → BUF, arrives on time 70.4% of the time, a 3.1-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
BUF → FLL spends 22.1 minutes on the ground on a 1,166-mile trip: 15.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at BUF and 6.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at FLL.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route's worst arrivals run unusually far past its typical one, a bigger gap than 93% of 4,598 comparable routes.
A typical arrival is 5 min early, but the worst tenth run 73 minutes worse than that.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · Ranked against every other route with the same kind of figure and at least 4,598 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where BUF to FLL differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
BUF to FLL struggles most at 6 PM: 58.3% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 9.2 points behind the 67.5% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 10.3 points.
Friday is the day BUF to FLL slips furthest against routes of similar length, 68.6% on time where they average 75.6%, 7 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 7.6 points.
In January, BUF to FLL runs 20.4 points below routes of similar length, 56.7% on time to 77.1%. Against all other routes the gap is 22.4 points.
May is kinder to BUF to FLL than to routes of similar length: 87.8% on time against 74.2%, 13.6 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 12.6 points.
JetBlue does better on BUF to FLL than on its routes of similar length: 73.9% on time here, 70.4% there, 3.5 points apart.
BUF to FLL against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 6 PM departures | 58.3% | routes of similar length | 67.5% | −9.2 pts | 211 here, 145,924 there |
| Weekday: Friday | 68.6% | routes of similar length | 75.6% | −7.0 pts | 220 here, 334,136 there |
| Month: January | 56.7% | routes of similar length | 77.1% | −20.4 pts | 150 here, 174,085 there |
| Month: May | 87.8% | routes of similar length | 74.2% | +13.6 pts | 123 here, 185,214 there |
| Airline: JetBlue | 73.9% | routes of similar length | 70.4% | +3.5 pts | 1,381 here, 141,507 there |
Each comparison pools the flights of other routes, with this route’s own left out. Similar length means within 15% of this route’s 1,166 miles, with at least 5 such routes. A bucket is set against the most comparable group that has enough flights: similar length, then the same origin (at least 3 routes), then all other routes. Hours, weekdays and months appear only where both sides have 120 completed flights, and airlines where both have 600. The gap must be at least 2 points and 2 standard errors, and only the largest gap each way is kept per measure. These are differences in the flights counted, not causes.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
68 min late
against a median of 5 min early
BUF → FLL has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 5 min early, but the worst tenth are 73 minutes worse than that. If the trip has something unmissable at the end of it, the median is the wrong number to plan against.
Percentiles over 1,641 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at FLL after arriving from BUF.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 41% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 26% | High risk |
| 60 min | 18% | High risk |
| 90 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 7.8% | Some risk |
This is one leg of a connection. Gate changes and the next flight's own schedule matter too. And a connection can fail before delay is even the question — this route cancels 1.71% of the time and diverts 0.30% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 1,608 arrivals on this route that landed later than the connection time less 30 minutes to reach the next gate.
The worst tenth of arrivals on this route land at least 68 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 1,641 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
BUF → FLL flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 83.7% of the time, against 56.5% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 27.2 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 82.9% on time from 238 flights
- 7 AM: 85.1% on time from 229 flights
- 8 AM: 83.7% on time from 211 flights
- 9 AM: too few flights to score
- 10 AM: 75.8% on time from 215 flights
- 11 AM to 5 PM: too few flights to score
- 6 PM: 58.3% on time from 217 flights
- 7 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why BUF → FLL runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for BUF → FLL. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on BUF → FLL, at 53.0%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 83.7% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 56.5%.
Airlines on this route
Carriers with at least 200 flights, by the airline that operated each one.
| Carrier | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Severe |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JetBlue | 1,407 | 73.9% | 1.56% | -6 min | 11.7% |
| Southwest Airlines | 234 | 71.4% | 2.56% | -1 min | 11.5% |
JetBlue flew 85.7% of the 1,641 flights listed. Southwest Airlines cancelled 2.56% of its flights here against 1.56% for JetBlue.
JetBlue arrived on time 2.5 percentage points more often than Southwest Airlines on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| B62465 JetBlue | 6:00 AM | 953 | 75.2% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 12.1 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 75.1% against 77.1% in the 12 months before — declining by 2.0 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 1,641 BUF → FLL flight records from the US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, covering July 2023 – July 2026. Late means 15 or more minutes past scheduled arrival; cancelled and diverted flights are left out of on-time rates.
Full methodology · Data sources · Report a problem
Related research: How Long a Layover Needs to Be · Two Airlines on One Route · Best Time of Day to Fly From Major US Airports
Analysis last recomputed