Route profile
FLL→DEN
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Fort Lauderdale to Denver, 1,703 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 62% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 4,998 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
FLL → DEN arrives on time 80.0% of the time; the return trip, DEN → FLL, arrives on time 74.2% of the time, a 5.7-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
FLL → DEN spends 28.9 minutes on the ground on a 1,703-mile trip: 19.0 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at FLL and 9.8 minutes from touchdown to gate at DEN.
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 98% of 5,368 comparable routes.
82.8% on time over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), against 82.7% 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.
What sets this route apart
Where FLL to DEN differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
FLL to DEN struggles most at 1 PM: 64.3% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 10.7 points behind the 75.0% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 12.8 points.
FLL to DEN is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 8 AM: 92.2% arrive on time, 7.6 points ahead of the 84.6% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 6.3 points.
FLL to DEN holds up on Thursdays better than routes of similar length do: 83.9% on time to their 76.6%, a 7.3 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 7.1 points.
April is kinder to FLL to DEN than to routes of similar length: 85.2% on time against 79.7%, 5.5 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 5.3 points.
Southwest Airlines’ flights on FLL to DEN arrive on time 70.6% of the time, 4.9 points below the 75.5% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 6.8 points.
FLL to DEN against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 1 PM departures | 64.3% | routes of similar length | 75.0% | −10.7 pts | 129 here, 79,136 there |
| Hour: 8 AM departures | 92.2% | routes of similar length | 84.6% | +7.6 pts | 523 here, 105,507 there |
| Weekday: Thursday | 83.9% | routes of similar length | 76.6% | +7.3 pts | 703 here, 213,371 there |
| Month: April | 85.2% | routes of similar length | 79.7% | +5.5 pts | 366 here, 116,591 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 70.6% | routes of similar length | 75.5% | −4.9 pts | 1,215 here, 288,345 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 1,703 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
41 min late
against a median of 6 min early
Percentiles over 4,998 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at DEN after arriving from FLL.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 35% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 20% | High risk |
| 60 min | 13% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.7% | 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 0.72% of the time and diverts 0.50% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 4,937 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 41 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 4,998 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
FLL → DEN flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 91.7% of the time, against 59.1% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 32.6 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 92.1% on time from 659 flights
- 8 AM: 92.2% on time from 528 flights
- 9 AM: 89.2% on time from 823 flights
- 10 AM: 85.7% on time from 322 flights
- 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 84.9% on time from 404 flights
- 1 PM: 64.3% on time from 129 flights
- 2 PM: 66.7% on time from 168 flights
- 3 PM: 73.0% on time from 1,190 flights
- 4 PM to 7 PM: too few flights to score
- 8 PM: 58.8% on time from 343 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why FLL → DEN 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 → DEN. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on FLL → DEN, at 35.8%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 91.7% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 59.1%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 3,560 | 85.1% | 0.96% | -9 min | 5.5% |
| Southwest Airlines | 1,223 | 70.6% | 0.08% | 0 min | 8.7% |
United Airlines flew 74.4% of the 4,783 flights listed.
United Airlines arrived on time 14.5 percentage points more often than Southwest Airlines on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 12.6 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 78.7%
- Feb: 84.6%
- Mar: 75.9%
- Apr: 85.2%
- May: 79.6%
- Jun: 75.6%
- Jul: 73.8%
- Aug: 73.4%
- Sep: 82.3%
- Oct: 84.2%
- Nov: 87.2%
- Dec: 80.0%
August is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 13.8 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 54.4% from 128 flights
- August 2023: 61.3% from 126 flights
- September 2023: 79.2% from 120 flights
- October 2023: 78.7% from 127 flights
- November 2023: 80.1% from 156 flights
- December 2023: 76.4% from 174 flights
- January 2024: 70.1% from 154 flights
- February 2024: 83.5% from 141 flights
- March 2024: 69.1% from 166 flights
- April 2024: 83.9% from 124 flights
- May 2024: 76.6% from 124 flights
- June 2024: 75.9% from 120 flights
- July 2024: 83.7% from 124 flights
- August 2024: too few flights to score (111)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (94)
- October 2024: 84.6% from 125 flights
- November 2024: 91.8% from 134 flights
- December 2024: 84.9% from 152 flights
- January 2025: 78.1% from 160 flights
- February 2025: 90.3% from 154 flights
- March 2025: 78.6% from 187 flights
- April 2025: 85.1% from 122 flights
- May 2025: 78.9% from 124 flights
- June 2025: 76.1% from 120 flights
- July 2025: 77.3% from 124 flights
- August 2025: too few flights to score (116)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (88)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (118)
- November 2025: 90.5% from 147 flights
- December 2025: 79.3% from 186 flights
- January 2026: 86.4% from 163 flights
- February 2026: 80.1% from 156 flights
- March 2026: 79.1% from 203 flights
- April 2026: 86.8% from 122 flights
- May 2026: too few flights to score (113)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (95)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (100)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 82.8% against 82.7% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 4,998 FLL → DEN 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