Route profile
FLL→DFW
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Fort Lauderdale to Dallas–Fort Worth, 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 6% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 9,207 flights. How this is calculated
FLL → DFW arrives on time 71.2% of the time; the return trip, DFW → FLL, arrives on time 70.9% of the time.
FLL → DFW spends 32.3 minutes on the ground on a 1,119-mile trip: 17.4 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at FLL and 14.9 minutes from touchdown to gate at DFW.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route's worst arrivals run unusually far past its typical one, a bigger gap than 91% of 4,598 comparable routes.
A typical arrival is 3 min early, but the worst tenth run 72 minutes worse than that.
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 4,598 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where FLL to DFW differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
FLL to DFW struggles most at 4 PM: 50.3% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 17.9 points behind the 68.2% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 20.4 points.
Sunday is the day FLL to DFW slips furthest against routes of similar length, 64.7% on time where they average 73.3%, 8.6 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 10.1 points.
In March, FLL to DFW runs 10.9 points below routes of similar length, 64.4% on time to 75.3%. Against all other routes the gap is 13.5 points.
Spirit Airlines’ flights on FLL to DFW arrive on time 66.7% of the time, 7 points below the 73.7% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 8.6 points.
FLL to DFW against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 4 PM departures | 50.3% | routes of similar length | 68.2% | −17.9 pts | 195 here, 143,069 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 64.7% | routes of similar length | 73.3% | −8.6 pts | 1,330 here, 376,599 there |
| Month: March | 64.4% | routes of similar length | 75.3% | −10.9 pts | 862 here, 227,975 there |
| Airline: Spirit Airlines | 66.7% | routes of similar length | 73.7% | −7.0 pts | 2,689 here, 169,880 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 FLL → DFW flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
FLL → DFW cancelled 221 of 9,207 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 42. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 81.0% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 51 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 221 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.
179 cancellations, 81.0% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
30 cancellations, 13.6% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
12 cancellations, 5.4% 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.
221 coded cancellations were recorded on FLL → DFW; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
69 min late
against a median of 3 min early
FLL → DFW has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 3 min early, but the worst tenth are 72 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 9,207 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at DFW after arriving from FLL.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 44% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 28% | High risk |
| 60 min | 20% | High risk |
| 90 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 7.3% | 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 2.40% of the time and diverts 0.58% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 8,933 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 9,207 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
FLL → DFW flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 84.4% of the time, against 54.4% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 30.0 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 87.4% on time from 413 flights
- 6 AM: 83.2% on time from 1,121 flights
- 7 AM: 84.9% on time from 1,115 flights
- 8 AM: 83.2% on time from 432 flights
- 9 AM to 10 AM: too few flights to score
- 11 AM: 80.6% on time from 1,094 flights
- 12 PM: too few flights to score
- 1 PM: 72.1% on time from 978 flights
- 2 PM: 67.9% on time from 207 flights
- 3 PM: 55.2% on time from 329 flights
- 4 PM: 50.3% on time from 205 flights
- 5 PM: 55.1% on time from 942 flights
- 6 PM: 51.6% on time from 325 flights
- 7 PM: 54.2% on time from 904 flights
- 8 PM: 65.6% on time from 524 flights
- 9 PM: 61.4% on time from 260 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why FLL → DFW 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 → DFW. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on FLL → DFW, at 38.1%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 84.4% of the time and 3–6 PM departures 54.4%.
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 | 6,067 | 73.8% | 2.75% | -5 min | 11.0% |
| Spirit Airlines | 2,747 | 66.7% | 1.57% | 1 min | 11.9% |
| JetBlue | 219 | 70.9% | 2.28% | -4 min | 13.1% |
American Airlines flew 67.2% of the 9,033 flights listed. American Airlines cancelled 2.75% of its flights here against 1.57% for Spirit Airlines.
American Airlines arrived on time 7.1 percentage points more often than Spirit Airlines on this route.
Other ways to fly Miami to Dallas–Fort Worth
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MIA→DFW Miami to Dallas–Fort Worth | 14,840 | 71.3% | 1.91% | -2 min | 45 |
| FLL→DFW this route Fort Lauderdale to Dallas–Fort Worth | 9,207 | 71.2% | 2.40% | -3 min | 42 |
Flying to DFW from the Miami area? Compare FLL, MIA for DFW, 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 13.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 72.8%
- Feb: 76.5%
- Mar: 64.4%
- Apr: 70.6%
- May: 64.1%
- Jun: 66.9%
- Jul: 67.5%
- Aug: 68.9%
- Sep: 74.8%
- Oct: 79.4%
- Nov: 78.1%
- Dec: 75.5%
May is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 15.3 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 68.8% from 251 flights
- August 2023: 72.4% from 252 flights
- September 2023: 79.0% from 222 flights
- October 2023: 76.8% from 241 flights
- November 2023: 72.4% from 232 flights
- December 2023: 70.2% from 236 flights
- January 2024: 60.6% from 252 flights
- February 2024: 72.6% from 248 flights
- March 2024: 59.7% from 287 flights
- April 2024: 64.5% from 233 flights
- May 2024: 54.7% from 273 flights
- June 2024: 62.4% from 273 flights
- July 2024: 68.4% from 276 flights
- August 2024: 68.8% from 245 flights
- September 2024: 73.4% from 245 flights
- October 2024: 81.8% from 259 flights
- November 2024: 85.6% from 217 flights
- December 2024: 78.3% from 250 flights
- January 2025: 81.3% from 222 flights
- February 2025: 79.2% from 194 flights
- March 2025: 68.8% from 257 flights
- April 2025: 76.6% from 258 flights
- May 2025: 69.0% from 252 flights
- June 2025: 67.7% from 234 flights
- July 2025: 72.5% from 243 flights
- August 2025: 64.4% from 203 flights
- September 2025: 72.0% from 204 flights
- October 2025: 79.4% from 215 flights
- November 2025: 76.8% from 208 flights
- December 2025: 77.9% from 255 flights
- January 2026: 78.3% from 256 flights
- February 2026: 78.4% from 245 flights
- March 2026: 65.0% from 348 flights
- April 2026: 70.3% from 298 flights
- May 2026: 69.2% from 246 flights
- June 2026: 71.0% from 263 flights
- July 2026: 61.9% from 314 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 71.6% against 75.1% in the 12 months before — declining by 3.5 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 9,207 FLL → DFW 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