Route profile
DTW→TPA
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Detroit to Tampa, 983 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 47% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 7,314 flights. How this is calculated
DTW → TPA arrives on time 79.4% of the time; the return trip, TPA → DTW, arrives on time 81.2% of the time.
DTW → TPA spends 23.0 minutes on the ground on a 983-mile trip: 17.0 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DTW and 5.9 minutes from touchdown to gate at TPA.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Reliability here swings unusually widely by season, a wider month-to-month spread than 95% of 3,357 comparable routes.
92.1% on time in a typical September, against 65.8% in January.
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 3,357 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where DTW to TPA differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
DTW to TPA struggles most at 6 AM: 73.9% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 16.6 points behind the 90.5% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 16.9 points.
DTW to TPA is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 5 PM: 78.1% arrive on time, 10.7 points ahead of the 67.4% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 8.3 points.
In January, DTW to TPA runs 11.8 points below routes of similar length, 65.8% on time to 77.6%. Against all other routes the gap is 13.3 points.
June is kinder to DTW to TPA than to routes of similar length: 82.1% on time against 71.5%, 10.6 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 9.4 points.
Spirit Airlines does better on DTW to TPA than on its routes of similar length: 79.5% on time here, 73.9% there, 5.6 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 4.3 points.
DTW to TPA against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 6 AM departures | 73.9% | routes of similar length | 90.5% | −16.6 pts | 157 here, 228,514 there |
| Hour: 5 PM departures | 78.1% | routes of similar length | 67.4% | +10.7 pts | 237 here, 186,305 there |
| Month: January | 65.8% | routes of similar length | 77.6% | −11.8 pts | 603 here, 236,266 there |
| Month: June | 82.1% | routes of similar length | 71.5% | +10.6 pts | 481 here, 248,859 there |
| Airline: Spirit Airlines | 79.5% | routes of similar length | 73.9% | +5.6 pts | 1,816 here, 175,984 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 983 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 DTW → TPA flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
DTW → TPA cancelled 118 of 7,314 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 62. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 59.3% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 104 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 118 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.
70 cancellations, 59.3% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
42 cancellations, 35.6% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
6 cancellations, 5.1% 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.
118 coded cancellations were recorded on DTW → TPA; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
43 min late
against a median of 6 min early
Percentiles over 7,314 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at TPA after arriving from DTW.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 35% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 20% | High risk |
| 60 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 7.3% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.4% | 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 1.61% of the time and diverts 0.31% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 7,173 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 43 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 7,314 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
DTW → TPA flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 86.3% of the time, against 66.8% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 19.5 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 93.5% on time from 126 flights
- 6 AM: 73.9% on time from 169 flights
- 7 AM: 89.9% on time from 826 flights
- 8 AM: 83.3% on time from 638 flights
- 9 AM: 84.7% on time from 131 flights
- 10 AM: 80.3% on time from 1,074 flights
- 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 82.8% on time from 623 flights
- 1 PM: 79.2% on time from 155 flights
- 2 PM: 78.6% on time from 745 flights
- 3 PM: 74.8% on time from 291 flights
- 4 PM: 77.0% on time from 323 flights
- 5 PM: 78.1% on time from 241 flights
- 6 PM: 76.6% on time from 830 flights
- 7 PM: 67.6% on time from 238 flights
- 8 PM: 72.6% on time from 470 flights
- 9 PM: 66.8% on time from 314 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why DTW → TPA runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
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 DTW → TPA. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 4,950 | 80.1% | 1.39% | -6 min | 7.0% |
| Spirit Airlines | 1,867 | 79.5% | 2.36% | -9 min | 7.4% |
| Frontier Airlines | 482 | 72.7% | 1.04% | -7 min | 12.2% |
Delta Air Lines flew 67.8% of the 7,299 flights listed. Spirit Airlines cancelled 2.36% of its flights here against 1.04% for Frontier Airlines.
Delta Air Lines arrived on time 7.4 percentage points more often than Frontier Airlines on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 10.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 65.8%
- Feb: 79.5%
- Mar: 74.5%
- Apr: 82.0%
- May: 81.6%
- Jun: 82.1%
- Jul: 73.9%
- Aug: 81.5%
- Sep: 92.1%
- Oct: 89.7%
- Nov: 85.5%
- Dec: 73.2%
January is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 26.3 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 65.1% from 147 flights
- August 2023: 76.2% from 166 flights
- September 2023: 90.2% from 197 flights
- October 2023: 88.4% from 225 flights
- November 2023: 82.1% from 218 flights
- December 2023: 82.5% from 229 flights
- January 2024: 63.5% from 204 flights
- February 2024: 90.6% from 212 flights
- March 2024: 64.9% from 281 flights
- April 2024: 87.5% from 246 flights
- May 2024: 82.8% from 208 flights
- June 2024: 81.7% from 175 flights
- July 2024: 74.4% from 174 flights
- August 2024: 82.3% from 170 flights
- September 2024: 90.5% from 132 flights
- October 2024: 91.4% from 157 flights
- November 2024: 89.7% from 174 flights
- December 2024: 75.5% from 200 flights
- January 2025: 68.9% from 180 flights
- February 2025: 67.6% from 211 flights
- March 2025: 81.7% from 308 flights
- April 2025: 81.2% from 236 flights
- May 2025: 79.2% from 178 flights
- June 2025: 78.3% from 176 flights
- July 2025: 76.7% from 182 flights
- August 2025: 85.5% from 170 flights
- September 2025: 95.9% from 149 flights
- October 2025: 90.1% from 181 flights
- November 2025: 85.6% from 173 flights
- December 2025: 61.8% from 233 flights
- January 2026: 65.5% from 225 flights
- February 2026: 80.1% from 234 flights
- March 2026: 76.0% from 320 flights
- April 2026: 77.0% from 229 flights
- May 2026: 83.0% from 141 flights
- June 2026: 87.8% from 133 flights
- July 2026: 79.0% from 140 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 79.1% against 79.8% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 7,314 DTW → 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