Route profile
DFW→FLL
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Dallas–Fort Worth to Fort Lauderdale, 1,119 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 8% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 9,204 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
DFW → FLL arrives on time 70.9% of the time; the return trip, FLL → DFW, arrives on time 71.2% of the time.
DFW → FLL spends 25.1 minutes on the ground on a 1,119-mile trip: 18.4 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DFW and 6.7 minutes from touchdown to gate at FLL.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where DFW to FLL differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DFW to FLL struggles most at 10 AM: 64.6% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 16.7 points behind the 81.3% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 18.1 points.
Saturday is the day DFW to FLL slips furthest against routes of similar length, 69.4% on time where they average 77.1%, 7.7 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 9.7 points.
In June, DFW to FLL runs 12.4 points below routes of similar length, 59.4% on time to 71.8%. Against all other routes the gap is 13.3 points.
American Airlines’ flights on DFW to FLL arrive on time 69.3% of the time, 5 points below the 74.3% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 5.8 points.
DFW to FLL against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 10 AM departures | 64.6% | routes of similar length | 81.3% | −16.7 pts | 147 here, 138,306 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 69.4% | routes of similar length | 77.1% | −7.7 pts | 1,223 here, 342,055 there |
| Month: June | 59.4% | routes of similar length | 71.8% | −12.4 pts | 737 here, 203,980 there |
| Airline: American Airlines | 69.3% | routes of similar length | 74.3% | −5.0 pts | 5,888 here, 527,478 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 1,119 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 DFW → FLL flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
DFW → FLL cancelled 233 of 9,204 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 40. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 81.1% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 49 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 233 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.
189 cancellations, 81.1% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
31 cancellations, 13.3% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
13 cancellations, 5.6% 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.
233 coded cancellations were recorded on DFW → FLL; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
65 min late
against a median of 2 min early
DFW → FLL has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 2 min early, but the worst tenth are 67 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 9,204 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at FLL after arriving from DFW.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 45% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 28% | High risk |
| 60 min | 20% | High risk |
| 90 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 6.9% | 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 2.53% of the time and diverts 0.20% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 8,953 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 65 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 9,204 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DFW → FLL flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 82.6% of the time, against 59.2% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 23.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 86.9% on time from 979 flights
- 6 AM: 86.4% on time from 231 flights
- 7 AM: 80.1% on time from 1,226 flights
- 8 AM: 80.2% on time from 832 flights
- 9 AM: 77.5% on time from 296 flights
- 10 AM: 64.6% on time from 153 flights
- 11 AM: 65.2% on time from 164 flights
- 12 PM: 71.6% on time from 886 flights
- 1 PM: 65.1% on time from 406 flights
- 2 PM: 59.8% on time from 831 flights
- 3 PM: 64.6% on time from 152 flights
- 4 PM: 68.7% on time from 334 flights
- 5 PM: 66.2% on time from 812 flights
- 6 PM: 59.0% on time from 659 flights
- 7 PM: 63.4% on time from 852 flights
- 8 PM: 50.1% on time from 390 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why DFW → 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 DFW → FLL. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on DFW → FLL, at 39.9%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 82.6% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 59.2%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 6,064 | 69.3% | 2.67% | -1 min | 11.5% |
| Spirit Airlines | 2,748 | 74.7% | 2.22% | -4 min | 9.4% |
| JetBlue | 218 | 73.1% | 2.75% | 1 min | 11.3% |
American Airlines flew 67.2% of the 9,030 flights listed.
Spirit Airlines arrived on time 5.4 percentage points more often than American Airlines on this route.
Other ways to fly Dallas–Fort Worth to Miami
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DFW→MIA Dallas–Fort Worth to Miami | 14,847 | 69.5% | 1.90% | -1 min | 44 |
| DFW→FLL this route Dallas–Fort Worth to Fort Lauderdale | 9,204 | 70.9% | 2.53% | -2 min | 44 |
Flying to FLL from the Dallas–Fort Worth area? Compare DFW, DAL for FLL, with the same test for what counts as a real difference.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 7.1 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 72.9%
- Feb: 79.7%
- Mar: 64.3%
- Apr: 73.3%
- May: 65.7%
- Jun: 59.4%
- Jul: 61.8%
- Aug: 68.1%
- Sep: 77.8%
- Oct: 80.4%
- Nov: 81.5%
- Dec: 74.4%
June is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 22.1 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 63.3% from 250 flights
- August 2023: 72.1% from 253 flights
- September 2023: 79.7% from 222 flights
- October 2023: 81.9% from 239 flights
- November 2023: 83.8% from 234 flights
- December 2023: 76.3% from 237 flights
- January 2024: 62.3% from 249 flights
- February 2024: 83.5% from 248 flights
- March 2024: 62.3% from 288 flights
- April 2024: 69.5% from 232 flights
- May 2024: 55.9% from 275 flights
- June 2024: 60.7% from 273 flights
- July 2024: 66.5% from 276 flights
- August 2024: 68.4% from 244 flights
- September 2024: 77.8% from 244 flights
- October 2024: 83.3% from 258 flights
- November 2024: 82.1% from 218 flights
- December 2024: 74.8% from 248 flights
- January 2025: 82.3% from 223 flights
- February 2025: 76.6% from 194 flights
- March 2025: 70.2% from 257 flights
- April 2025: 75.7% from 259 flights
- May 2025: 70.5% from 252 flights
- June 2025: 57.8% from 234 flights
- July 2025: 62.0% from 247 flights
- August 2025: 62.9% from 204 flights
- September 2025: 75.6% from 203 flights
- October 2025: 75.2% from 214 flights
- November 2025: 78.3% from 207 flights
- December 2025: 72.3% from 254 flights
- January 2026: 75.8% from 258 flights
- February 2026: 78.3% from 246 flights
- March 2026: 61.6% from 346 flights
- April 2026: 74.2% from 297 flights
- May 2026: 71.5% from 245 flights
- June 2026: 59.6% from 264 flights
- July 2026: 56.1% from 312 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 69.4% against 73.3% in the 12 months before — declining by 3.9 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 9,204 DFW → 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