Route profile
DEN→TPA
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Denver to Tampa, 1,506 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 35% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 9,837 flights. How this is calculated
DEN → TPA arrives on time 74.4% of the time; the return trip, TPA → DEN, arrives on time 79.3% of the time, a 4.9-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
DEN → TPA spends 25.3 minutes on the ground on a 1,506-mile trip: 19.2 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DEN and 6.1 minutes from touchdown to gate at TPA.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Every day of the week performs about the same on this route, steadier than 95% of 4,467 comparable routes.
76.1% on time on the best day (Wednesday) against 72.0% on the worst (Saturday).
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 4,467 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where DEN to TPA differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DEN to TPA struggles most at 12 AM: 67.4% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 14.8 points behind the 82.2% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 14.3 points.
Saturday is the day DEN to TPA slips furthest against routes of similar length, 72.0% on time where they average 78.7%, 6.7 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 7.1 points.
In June, DEN to TPA runs 7.1 points below routes of similar length, 64.6% on time to 71.7%. Against all other routes the gap is 8.1 points.
Southwest Airlines’ flights on DEN to TPA arrive on time 70.3% of the time, 5.3 points below the 75.6% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 7.1 points.
DEN to TPA against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 12 AM departures | 67.4% | routes of similar length | 82.2% | −14.8 pts | 288 here, 14,826 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 72.0% | routes of similar length | 78.7% | −6.7 pts | 1,315 here, 193,245 there |
| Month: June | 64.6% | routes of similar length | 71.7% | −7.1 pts | 816 here, 127,217 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 70.3% | routes of similar length | 75.6% | −5.3 pts | 4,066 here, 305,588 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 1,506 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.
Why DEN → TPA flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
DEN → TPA cancelled 120 of 9,837 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 82. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 48.3% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 170 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 120 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.
58 cancellations, 48.3% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
38 cancellations, 31.7% 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, 20.0% 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.
120 coded cancellations were recorded on DEN → TPA; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
50 min late
against a median of 3 min early
Percentiles over 9,837 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at TPA after arriving from DEN.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 43% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 25% | High risk |
| 60 min | 16% | High risk |
| 90 min | 8.1% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.5% | 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 1.22% of the time and diverts 0.26% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 9,691 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 9,837 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DEN → TPA flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 87.3% of the time, against 57.9% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 29.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM: 67.4% on time from 297 flights
- 1 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 93.3% on time from 344 flights
- 6 AM: 88.0% on time from 590 flights
- 7 AM: 84.3% on time from 366 flights
- 8 AM: 84.7% on time from 518 flights
- 9 AM: 81.3% on time from 1,447 flights
- 10 AM: 77.5% on time from 395 flights
- 11 AM: 65.7% on time from 146 flights
- 12 PM: 76.4% on time from 127 flights
- 1 PM: 76.7% on time from 1,045 flights
- 2 PM: 77.2% on time from 462 flights
- 3 PM: 63.2% on time from 366 flights
- 4 PM: 64.0% on time from 621 flights
- 5 PM: 65.6% on time from 1,317 flights
- 6 PM: 60.9% on time from 617 flights
- 7 PM: 55.3% on time from 265 flights
- 8 PM to 10 PM: too few flights to score
- 11 PM: 77.9% on time from 811 flights
Why DEN → TPA 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 → TPA. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on DEN → TPA, at 41.1%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 87.3% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 57.9%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 4,116 | 70.3% | 0.95% | 1 min | 8.6% |
| United Airlines | 3,806 | 80.5% | 1.13% | -7 min | 6.7% |
| Frontier Airlines | 1,915 | 70.9% | 1.98% | -3 min | 10.4% |
Southwest Airlines flew 41.8% of the 9,837 flights listed. Frontier Airlines cancelled 1.98% of its flights here against 0.95% for Southwest Airlines.
United Airlines arrived on time 10.2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| F92746 Frontier Airlines | 11:59 PM | 618 | 68.3% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Saturday the least, a gap of 4.1 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 78.2%
- Feb: 79.3%
- Mar: 74.8%
- Apr: 74.8%
- May: 71.0%
- Jun: 64.6%
- Jul: 64.1%
- Aug: 69.5%
- Sep: 79.7%
- Oct: 79.0%
- Nov: 83.8%
- Dec: 78.7%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 19.7 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 58.0% from 274 flights
- August 2023: 68.6% from 245 flights
- September 2023: 76.7% from 218 flights
- October 2023: 74.8% from 243 flights
- November 2023: 86.1% from 280 flights
- December 2023: 76.1% from 309 flights
- January 2024: 71.0% from 298 flights
- February 2024: 78.9% from 286 flights
- March 2024: 69.5% from 362 flights
- April 2024: 75.0% from 275 flights
- May 2024: 70.7% from 268 flights
- June 2024: 62.0% from 279 flights
- July 2024: 70.9% from 291 flights
- August 2024: 68.8% from 220 flights
- September 2024: 82.1% from 205 flights
- October 2024: 84.7% from 239 flights
- November 2024: 75.0% from 260 flights
- December 2024: 81.0% from 273 flights
- January 2025: 77.1% from 266 flights
- February 2025: 76.6% from 265 flights
- March 2025: 80.5% from 338 flights
- April 2025: 67.1% from 249 flights
- May 2025: 69.4% from 245 flights
- June 2025: 64.5% from 275 flights
- July 2025: 57.7% from 287 flights
- August 2025: 71.0% from 232 flights
- September 2025: 80.6% from 211 flights
- October 2025: 78.1% from 242 flights
- November 2025: 90.5% from 243 flights
- December 2025: 79.4% from 280 flights
- January 2026: 87.8% from 246 flights
- February 2026: 82.8% from 239 flights
- March 2026: 74.5% from 334 flights
- April 2026: 82.3% from 249 flights
- May 2026: 72.7% from 268 flights
- June 2026: 67.4% from 267 flights
- July 2026: 70.0% from 276 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 77.8% against 73.6% in the 12 months before — improving by 4.2 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 9,837 DEN → TPA 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