Route profile
DEN→FLL
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Denver to Fort Lauderdale, 1,703 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 40% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 5,000 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
DEN → FLL arrives on time 74.2% of the time; the return trip, FLL → DEN, arrives on time 80.0% of the time, a 5.7-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
DEN → FLL spends 27.7 minutes on the ground on a 1,703-mile trip: 21.1 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DEN and 6.5 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 has stayed remarkably steady year over year, a smaller swing than 98% of 5,368 comparable routes.
76.5% on time over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), against 76.4% in the 12 months before (2024-08 to 2025-07), virtually unchanged.
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 5,368 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where DEN to FLL differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DEN to FLL struggles most at 3 PM: 53.3% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 19 points behind the 72.3% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 19.4 points.
Saturday is the day DEN to FLL slips furthest against routes of similar length, 70.8% on time where they average 78.7%, 7.9 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 8.3 points.
In August, DEN to FLL runs 8.5 points below routes of similar length, 67.5% on time to 76.0%. Against all other routes the gap is 9 points.
Southwest Airlines’ flights on DEN to FLL arrive on time 63.6% of the time, 11.9 points below the 75.5% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 13.8 points.
DEN to FLL against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 3 PM departures | 53.3% | routes of similar length | 72.3% | −19.0 pts | 165 here, 73,027 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 70.8% | routes of similar length | 78.7% | −7.9 pts | 806 here, 194,353 there |
| Month: August | 67.5% | routes of similar length | 76.0% | −8.5 pts | 345 here, 125,638 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 63.6% | routes of similar length | 75.5% | −11.9 pts | 1,209 here, 288,351 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 1,703 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
50 min late
against a median of 2 min early
Percentiles over 5,000 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at FLL after arriving from DEN.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 45% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 25% | High risk |
| 60 min | 16% | High risk |
| 90 min | 8.4% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.6% | Low 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 0.70% of the time and diverts 0.44% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 4,943 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 50 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 5,000 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DEN → FLL flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 81.1% of the time, against 68.9% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 12.2 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 81.4% on time from 217 flights
- 9 AM: 79.6% on time from 591 flights
- 10 AM: 77.5% on time from 803 flights
- 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 64.5% on time from 180 flights
- 1 PM: 76.9% on time from 638 flights
- 2 PM: 66.2% on time from 268 flights
- 3 PM: 53.3% on time from 166 flights
- 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 71.1% on time from 1,110 flights
- 6 PM: 71.6% on time from 141 flights
- 7 PM to 10 PM: too few flights to score
- 11 PM: 76.3% on time from 551 flights
Why DEN → 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
screening or terminal security incidents
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for DEN → FLL. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on DEN → FLL, at 37.8%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 81.1% of the time and 3–6 PM departures 68.9%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 3,559 | 78.5% | 0.79% | -5 min | 7.2% |
| Southwest Airlines | 1,226 | 63.6% | 0.49% | 5 min | 11.0% |
United Airlines flew 74.4% of the 4,785 flights listed.
United Airlines arrived on time 14.9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| UA2188 United Airlines | 10:08 AM | 1,061 | 80.5% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Monday is historically the most reliable day and Saturday the least, a gap of 6.6 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 74.5%
- Feb: 77.0%
- Mar: 75.0%
- Apr: 76.2%
- May: 69.6%
- Jun: 69.2%
- Jul: 62.3%
- Aug: 67.5%
- Sep: 80.3%
- Oct: 81.9%
- Nov: 82.3%
- Dec: 75.6%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 20.0 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 67.7% from 128 flights
- August 2023: 67.5% from 129 flights
- September 2023: 78.8% from 121 flights
- October 2023: 77.2% from 123 flights
- November 2023: 77.9% from 155 flights
- December 2023: 67.8% from 174 flights
- January 2024: 62.4% from 154 flights
- February 2024: 66.9% from 142 flights
- March 2024: 66.5% from 169 flights
- April 2024: 76.0% from 125 flights
- May 2024: 69.1% from 123 flights
- June 2024: 70.4% from 120 flights
- July 2024: 66.1% from 124 flights
- August 2024: too few flights to score (110)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (95)
- October 2024: 84.6% from 125 flights
- November 2024: 79.1% from 134 flights
- December 2024: 84.8% from 151 flights
- January 2025: 75.5% from 161 flights
- February 2025: 79.2% from 154 flights
- March 2025: 85.5% from 187 flights
- April 2025: 70.5% from 122 flights
- May 2025: 64.2% from 124 flights
- June 2025: 72.9% from 120 flights
- July 2025: 64.5% from 124 flights
- August 2025: too few flights to score (116)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (88)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (119)
- November 2025: 89.7% from 147 flights
- December 2025: 75.5% from 185 flights
- January 2026: 84.0% from 163 flights
- February 2026: 84.0% from 156 flights
- March 2026: 72.3% from 202 flights
- April 2026: 82.0% from 122 flights
- May 2026: too few flights to score (113)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (95)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (100)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 76.5% against 76.4% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 5,000 DEN → 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