Route profile
DEN→MCO
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Denver to Orlando, 1,546 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 14,417 flights. How this is calculated
DEN → MCO arrives on time 76.2% of the time; the return trip, MCO → DEN, arrives on time 77.4% of the time.
DEN → MCO spends 27.8 minutes on the ground on a 1,546-mile trip: 19.0 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DEN and 8.8 minutes from touchdown to gate at MCO.
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 100% of 5,368 comparable routes.
77.7% on time over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), against 77.7% 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.
Why DEN → MCO flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
DEN → MCO cancelled 169 of 14,417 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 85. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 43.2% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 197 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 169 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
73 cancellations, 43.2% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
72 cancellations, 42.6% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
24 cancellations, 14.2% of the total.
A terminal evacuation, a security breach, screening equipment failure, or screening queues over 29 minutes.
0 cancellations, 0.0% of the total.
Reason codes are the operating airline’s own filing with US DOT, not an independent finding of fault. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
169 coded cancellations were recorded on DEN → MCO; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
48 min late
against a median of 5 min early
Percentiles over 14,417 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at MCO after arriving from DEN.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 40% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 23% | High risk |
| 60 min | 15% | High risk |
| 90 min | 8.1% | 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 1.17% 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 14,185 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 48 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 14,417 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DEN → MCO flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 87.2% of the time, against 63.7% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 23.5 percentage points.
By day and hour
On-time arrival rate for each weekday and scheduled departure hour, in local time at the departure airport (DEN).
Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 8.9 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 1.4 points.
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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
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · On time is arrival within 15 minutes of schedule. Cells round to whole percentages; the table shows one decimal.
No slot is named best or worst: too few reach 500 flights. Departures before 5 AM (742 flights) are not drawn: no slot in those hours has enough flights to score.
View as tableHide table
| Hour | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 AM–6 AM | 91.6% on time131 flights | 81 flights, too few to score | 78 flights, too few to score | 87.5% on time129 flights | 91.7% on time133 flights | 115 flights, too few to score | 89.3% on time131 flights |
| 6 AM–7 AM | 94.1% on time187 flights | 93.0% on time128 flights | 87.4% on time121 flights | 91.2% on time183 flights | 88.9% on time185 flights | 83.3% on time243 flights | 89.2% on time205 flights |
| 7 AM–8 AM | 67 flights, too few to score | 75 flights, too few to score | 70 flights, too few to score | 75 flights, too few to score | 76 flights, too few to score | 53 flights, too few to score | 49 flights, too few to score |
| 8 AM–9 AM | 88.0% on time237 flights | 88.5% on time223 flights | 88.2% on time223 flights | 85.7% on time237 flights | 82.3% on time225 flights | 82.8% on time211 flights | 82.9% on time223 flights |
| 9 AM–10 AM | 79.0% on time121 flights | 77 flights, too few to score | 70 flights, too few to score | 79.7% on time142 flights | 77.8% on time126 flights | 75.6% on time133 flights | 77.2% on time140 flights |
| 10 AM–11 AM | 77.0% on time210 flights | 83.2% on time218 flights | 75.7% on time204 flights | 74.2% on time194 flights | 77.1% on time226 flights | 80.3% on time195 flights | 71.5% on time198 flights |
| 11 AM–12 PM | 50 flights, too few to score | 49 flights, too few to score | 66 flights, too few to score | 41 flights, too few to score | 38 flights, too few to score | 75 flights, too few to score | 49 flights, too few to score |
| 12 PM–1 PM | 59 flights, too few to score | 53 flights, too few to score | 60 flights, too few to score | 57 flights, too few to score | 58 flights, too few to score | 50 flights, too few to score | 25 flights, too few to score |
| 1 PM–2 PM | 76.7% on time125 flights | 70.9% on time136 flights | 71.8% on time133 flights | 76.2% on time131 flights | 69.2% on time134 flights | 70.1% on time138 flights | 69.8% on time133 flights |
| 2 PM–3 PM | 63.3% on time128 flights | 74.8% on time128 flights | 71.5% on time124 flights | 70.7% on time126 flights | 68.6% on time122 flights | 67.8% on time146 flights | 96 flights, too few to score |
| 3 PM–4 PM | 98 flights, too few to score | 100 flights, too few to score | 97 flights, too few to score | 89 flights, too few to score | 96 flights, too few to score | 69 flights, too few to score | 105 flights, too few to score |
| 4 PM–5 PM | 83 flights, too few to score | 67 flights, too few to score | 73 flights, too few to score | 92 flights, too few to score | 89 flights, too few to score | 74 flights, too few to score | 81 flights, too few to score |
| 5 PM–6 PM | 65.3% on time168 flights | 65.0% on time200 flights | 68.8% on time203 flights | 67.6% on time171 flights | 67.8% on time173 flights | 63.5% on time190 flights | 62.4% on time168 flights |
| 6 PM–7 PM | 67.6% on time147 flights | 115 flights, too few to score | 100 flights, too few to score | 61.0% on time126 flights | 59.7% on time136 flights | 99 flights, too few to score | 66.4% on time129 flights |
| 7 PM–8 PM | 53 flights, too few to score | 27 flights, too few to score | 32 flights, too few to score | 60 flights, too few to score | 59 flights, too few to score | 24 flights, too few to score | 76 flights, too few to score |
| 8 PM–9 PM | 7 flights, too few to score | 6 flights, too few to score | 6 flights, too few to score | 6 flights, too few to score | 7 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 5 flights, too few to score |
| 9 PM–10 PM | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score | 0 flights, too few to score |
| 10 PM–11 PM | 3 flights, too few to score | 7 flights, too few to score | 3 flights, too few to score | 5 flights, too few to score | 3 flights, too few to score | 6 flights, too few to score | 10 flights, too few to score |
| 11 PM–12 AM | 81.3% on time153 flights | 109 flights, too few to score | 82.5% on time143 flights | 83.1% on time168 flights | 79.2% on time170 flights | 81.7% on time143 flights | 88.4% on time168 flights |
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM: 71.9% on time from 741 flights
- 1 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 90.3% on time from 798 flights
- 6 AM: 89.3% on time from 1,252 flights
- 7 AM: 82.4% on time from 465 flights
- 8 AM: 85.5% on time from 1,579 flights
- 9 AM: 79.3% on time from 809 flights
- 10 AM: 77.1% on time from 1,445 flights
- 11 AM: 76.9% on time from 368 flights
- 12 PM: 67.8% on time from 362 flights
- 1 PM: 72.0% on time from 930 flights
- 2 PM: 69.3% on time from 870 flights
- 3 PM: 62.3% on time from 654 flights
- 4 PM: 72.8% on time from 559 flights
- 5 PM: 65.8% on time from 1,273 flights
- 6 PM: 67.3% on time from 852 flights
- 7 PM: 56.6% on time from 331 flights
- 8 PM to 10 PM: too few flights to score
- 11 PM: 82.6% on time from 1,054 flights
Why DEN → MCO 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 → MCO. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on DEN → MCO, at 40.7%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 87.2% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 63.7%.
How this route holds up in bad weather
July 2023 – July 2026
Bad weather raises cancellations by a similar amount at both ends of DEN to MCO: 4.0 times the normal rate at DEN and 3.2 times at MCO. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: DEN 2.8% against 0.7%, MCO 4.0% against 1.3%. Flights that did leave DEN in bad weather arrived on time 51.5% of the time, against 78.8% in normal hours.
Bad weather and normal hours at the airports
Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026| Departures from | DEN | MCO |
|---|---|---|
| Cancelled in bad weather | 2.8% | 4.0% |
| Cancelled in normal hours | 0.7% | 1.3% |
| Arrived on time, bad weather | 51.5% | 54.1% |
| Arrived on time, normal hours | 78.8% | 76.3% |
| Departures in bad weather | 92,610 | 33,297 |
United Airlines (1.5% cancelled against 3.5% for the other carriers at DEN) and Southwest Airlines (2.4% cancelled against 3.1% for the other carriers at DEN) cancelled fewer departures from DEN in bad weather than the other carriers there did in the same months. None of the route’s other carriers was clearly worse.
This route’s airlines in bad weather at DEN
All departures from DEN| Airline | Bad-weather departures | Cancelled | Other carriers |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 30,853 | 1.5%below the others | 3.5% |
| Southwest Airlines | 28,467 | 2.4%below the others | 3.1% |
| Frontier Airlines | 6,740 | 3.1%about level | 2.8% |
These are airport figures, not route figures: every scheduled departure from DEN and MCO, to any destination, in hours the weather report called bad. The airline rows count each carrier’s departures from DEN on every route.
Weather source and limits. In full: DEN (airlines), MCO, What Weather Costs Each Airport, Who Cancels More When the Weather Turns, Airports That Change Places When Weather Turns.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 5,950 | 72.4% | 0.89% | -1 min | 8.1% |
| United Airlines | 5,733 | 80.7% | 1.22% | -9 min | 7.8% |
| Frontier Airlines | 2,734 | 74.7% | 1.68% | -7 min | 9.5% |
Southwest Airlines flew 41.3% of the 14,417 flights listed.
United Airlines arrived on time 8.3 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.
F93312 (6:00 AM) arrived on time 78.2% of the time, 7.4 points more often than UA501 (2:00 PM) at 70.8%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Saturday the least, a gap of 3.9 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 78.3%
- Feb: 81.3%
- Mar: 76.1%
- Apr: 76.3%
- May: 76.1%
- Jun: 67.6%
- Jul: 67.2%
- Aug: 69.6%
- Sep: 82.2%
- Oct: 80.5%
- Nov: 84.0%
- Dec: 79.8%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 16.8 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 63.7% from 381 flights
- August 2023: 66.5% from 375 flights
- September 2023: 80.2% from 347 flights
- October 2023: 75.8% from 386 flights
- November 2023: 83.1% from 384 flights
- December 2023: 78.3% from 402 flights
- January 2024: 72.1% from 408 flights
- February 2024: 80.9% from 394 flights
- March 2024: 69.8% from 477 flights
- April 2024: 77.4% from 392 flights
- May 2024: 71.9% from 398 flights
- June 2024: 70.1% from 430 flights
- July 2024: 65.7% from 441 flights
- August 2024: 73.9% from 365 flights
- September 2024: 85.2% from 328 flights
- October 2024: 85.9% from 387 flights
- November 2024: 81.2% from 365 flights
- December 2024: 83.7% from 403 flights
- January 2025: 79.5% from 401 flights
- February 2025: 78.9% from 370 flights
- March 2025: 86.3% from 470 flights
- April 2025: 70.5% from 356 flights
- May 2025: 78.5% from 358 flights
- June 2025: 63.3% from 419 flights
- July 2025: 66.7% from 438 flights
- August 2025: 68.7% from 358 flights
- September 2025: 81.4% from 318 flights
- October 2025: 80.1% from 370 flights
- November 2025: 87.8% from 350 flights
- December 2025: 77.3% from 403 flights
- January 2026: 83.3% from 390 flights
- February 2026: 84.0% from 375 flights
- March 2026: 72.2% from 468 flights
- April 2026: 81.0% from 342 flights
- May 2026: 78.4% from 351 flights
- June 2026: 69.3% from 420 flights
- July 2026: 72.9% from 397 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 77.7% against 77.7% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 14,417 DEN → MCO 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