Route profile
FLL→DTW
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Fort Lauderdale to Detroit, 1,127 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 41% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 7,909 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
FLL → DTW arrives on time 77.5% of the time; the return trip, DTW → FLL, arrives on time 75.8% of the time.
FLL → DTW spends 27.1 minutes on the ground on a 1,127-mile trip: 17.2 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at FLL and 9.9 minutes from touchdown to gate at DTW.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
On-time performance swings unusually widely by time of day here, wider than 92% of 4,023 comparable routes.
90.1% on time for 5–9 AM departures, against 58.5% for 9 PM–5 AM.
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 4,023 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where FLL to DTW differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
FLL to DTW struggles most at 12 PM: 70.3% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 7.5 points behind the 77.8% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 9.1 points.
FLL to DTW is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 4 PM: 72.0% arrive on time, 4 points ahead of the 68.0% those routes manage at that hour.
FLL to DTW holds up on Wednesdays better than routes of similar length do: 83.3% on time to their 79.4%, a 3.9 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 2.5 points.
June is kinder to FLL to DTW than to routes of similar length: 82.8% on time against 71.5%, 11.3 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 10.1 points.
In March, FLL to DTW runs 6.7 points below routes of similar length, 68.4% on time to 75.1%. Against all other routes the gap is 9.5 points.
FLL to DTW against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 12 PM departures | 70.3% | routes of similar length | 77.8% | −7.5 pts | 273 here, 150,420 there |
| Hour: 4 PM departures | 72.0% | routes of similar length | 68.0% | +4.0 pts | 762 here, 141,737 there |
| Weekday: Wednesday | 83.3% | routes of similar length | 79.4% | +3.9 pts | 1,050 here, 342,329 there |
| Month: June | 82.8% | routes of similar length | 71.5% | +11.3 pts | 513 here, 199,908 there |
| Month: March | 68.4% | routes of similar length | 75.1% | −6.7 pts | 873 here, 224,059 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 1,127 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 → DTW flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
FLL → DTW cancelled 93 of 7,909 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 85. The reason filed most often was the airline, 58.1% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 146 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 93 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
54 cancellations, 58.1% of the total.
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
32 cancellations, 34.4% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
7 cancellations, 7.5% 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. With only one or two carriers on the route, the split mostly reflects how they file. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
93 coded cancellations were recorded on FLL → DTW; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
50 min late
against a median of 5 min early
Percentiles over 7,909 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at DTW after arriving from FLL.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 39% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 22% | High risk |
| 60 min | 15% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 8.3% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 5.0% | 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 1.18% of the time and diverts 0.13% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 7,806 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 50 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 7,909 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
FLL → DTW flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 90.1% of the time, against 58.5% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 31.6 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 91.7% on time from 1,111 flights
- 7 AM: 90.1% on time from 456 flights
- 8 AM: 88.0% on time from 816 flights
- 9 AM: 81.4% on time from 279 flights
- 10 AM: too few flights to score
- 11 AM: 82.4% on time from 1,043 flights
- 12 PM: 70.3% on time from 281 flights
- 1 PM: 73.7% on time from 355 flights
- 2 PM: 72.6% on time from 776 flights
- 3 PM: 71.7% on time from 121 flights
- 4 PM: 72.0% on time from 771 flights
- 5 PM: 70.2% on time from 192 flights
- 6 PM: 69.7% on time from 380 flights
- 7 PM: 61.0% on time from 387 flights
- 8 PM: 63.8% on time from 784 flights
- 9 PM: 58.5% on time from 148 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why FLL → DTW 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 → DTW. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on FLL → DTW, at 40.0%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 90.1% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 58.5%.
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 | 5,128 | 79.5% | 0.99% | -6 min | 7.9% |
| Spirit Airlines | 2,619 | 74.8% | 1.34% | -4 min | 9.0% |
Delta Air Lines flew 66.2% of the 7,747 flights listed.
Delta Air Lines arrived on time 4.7 percentage points more often than Spirit 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| DL2631 Delta Air Lines | 6:00 AM | 758 | 93.1% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 12.7 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 70.4%
- Feb: 77.6%
- Mar: 68.4%
- Apr: 76.0%
- May: 80.3%
- Jun: 82.8%
- Jul: 73.8%
- Aug: 75.4%
- Sep: 86.0%
- Oct: 87.4%
- Nov: 86.9%
- Dec: 74.5%
March is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 19.0 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 73.5% from 153 flights
- August 2023: 69.4% from 148 flights
- September 2023: 89.6% from 164 flights
- October 2023: 89.7% from 203 flights
- November 2023: 89.1% from 201 flights
- December 2023: 90.2% from 234 flights
- January 2024: 75.9% from 220 flights
- February 2024: 79.9% from 214 flights
- March 2024: 76.7% from 281 flights
- April 2024: 80.5% from 259 flights
- May 2024: 78.3% from 246 flights
- June 2024: 82.8% from 190 flights
- July 2024: 78.7% from 185 flights
- August 2024: 73.0% from 177 flights
- September 2024: 80.1% from 141 flights
- October 2024: 89.3% from 168 flights
- November 2024: 89.3% from 168 flights
- December 2024: 75.1% from 221 flights
- January 2025: 72.2% from 210 flights
- February 2025: 82.7% from 220 flights
- March 2025: 72.5% from 287 flights
- April 2025: 79.5% from 255 flights
- May 2025: 79.1% from 235 flights
- June 2025: 78.6% from 214 flights
- July 2025: 73.8% from 211 flights
- August 2025: 81.6% from 207 flights
- September 2025: 87.4% from 167 flights
- October 2025: 83.5% from 201 flights
- November 2025: 83.3% from 230 flights
- December 2025: 60.6% from 280 flights
- January 2026: 64.1% from 256 flights
- February 2026: 71.4% from 264 flights
- March 2026: 57.1% from 328 flights
- April 2026: 68.4% from 273 flights
- May 2026: 84.4% from 182 flights
- June 2026: 90.6% from 120 flights
- July 2026: 69.5% from 196 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 72.8% against 78.3% in the 12 months before — declining by 5.5 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 7,909 FLL → DTW 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