Route profile
FLL→BUF
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Fort Lauderdale to Buffalo, 1,166 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 9% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 1,646 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
FLL → BUF arrives on time 70.4% of the time; the return trip, BUF → FLL, arrives on time 73.6% of the time, a 3.1-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
FLL → BUF spends 23.5 minutes on the ground on a 1,166-mile trip: 18.6 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at FLL and 4.9 minutes from touchdown to gate at BUF.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Which day you fly matters unusually much here, a wider weekday spread than 97% of 4,467 comparable routes.
77.5% on time on a typical Thursday, against 60.8% on a Sunday.
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 FLL to BUF differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
FLL to BUF struggles most at 2 PM: 61.4% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 11.7 points behind the 73.1% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 13.2 points.
Sunday is the day FLL to BUF slips furthest against routes of similar length, 60.8% on time where they average 73.4%, 12.6 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 14 points.
In February, FLL to BUF runs 14.7 points below routes of similar length, 65.7% on time to 80.4%. Against all other routes the gap is 15.8 points.
FLL to BUF against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 2 PM departures | 61.4% | routes of similar length | 73.1% | −11.7 pts | 303 here, 138,218 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 60.8% | routes of similar length | 73.4% | −12.6 pts | 255 here, 330,848 there |
| Month: February | 65.7% | routes of similar length | 80.4% | −14.7 pts | 169 here, 170,294 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 1,166 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
69 min late
against a median of 2 min early
FLL → BUF has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 2 min early, but the worst tenth are 71 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 1,646 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at BUF after arriving from FLL.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 47% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 29% | High risk |
| 60 min | 21% | High risk |
| 90 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 7.1% | 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 1.76% of the time and diverts 0.24% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 1,613 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 69 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 1,646 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
FLL → BUF flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 91.4% of the time, against 63.9% for 12–3 PM departures, a gap of 27.5 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 93.8% on time from 130 flights
- 8 AM to 1 PM: too few flights to score
- 2 PM: 61.4% on time from 310 flights
- 3 PM: too few flights to score
- 4 PM: 57.1% on time from 162 flights
- 5 PM to 6 PM: too few flights to score
- 7 PM: 70.0% on time from 293 flights
- 8 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why FLL → BUF 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 FLL → BUF. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on FLL → BUF, at 40.9%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 91.4% of the time and 12–3 PM departures 63.9%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JetBlue | 1,409 | 70.9% | 1.70% | -2 min | 13.3% |
| Southwest Airlines | 237 | 67.7% | 2.11% | 4 min | 8.6% |
JetBlue flew 85.6% of the 1,646 flights listed.
JetBlue arrived on time 3.2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| B62466 JetBlue | 7:27 PM | 985 | 73.0% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Thursday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 16.7 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 64.4% against 77.4% in the 12 months before — declining by 13.0 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 1,646 FLL → BUF 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