Route profile
FLL→MCI
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Fort Lauderdale to Kansas City, 1,242 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 36% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 1,681 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
FLL → MCI arrives on time 73.6% of the time; the return trip, MCI → FLL, arrives on time 74.0% of the time.
FLL → MCI spends 23.2 minutes on the ground on a 1,242-mile trip: 17.4 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at FLL and 5.8 minutes from touchdown to gate at MCI.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Every airline on this route performs about the same, a narrower carrier gap than 100% of 2,692 comparable routes.
Spirit Airlines (73.7% on time) and Southwest Airlines (73.6%) are close together here.
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 2,692 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where FLL to MCI differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
FLL to MCI struggles most at 2 PM: 60.1% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 12.5 points behind the 72.6% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 14.5 points.
FLL to MCI is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 10 AM: 88.8% arrive on time, 7.8 points ahead of the 81.0% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 6.1 points.
Saturday is the day FLL to MCI slips furthest against routes of similar length, 68.7% on time where they average 77.5%, 8.8 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 10.4 points.
In March, FLL to MCI runs 11.4 points below routes of similar length, 64.4% on time to 75.8%. Against all other routes the gap is 13.5 points.
FLL to MCI against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 2 PM departures | 60.1% | routes of similar length | 72.6% | −12.5 pts | 143 here, 113,078 there |
| Hour: 10 AM departures | 88.8% | routes of similar length | 81.0% | +7.8 pts | 169 here, 102,706 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 68.7% | routes of similar length | 77.5% | −8.8 pts | 361 here, 250,479 there |
| Month: March | 64.4% | routes of similar length | 75.8% | −11.4 pts | 174 here, 168,687 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 1,242 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
48 min late
against a median of 1 min early
Percentiles over 1,681 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at MCI after arriving from FLL.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 47% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 25% | High risk |
| 60 min | 15% | High risk |
| 90 min | 7.4% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.7% | 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 1.19% of the time and diverts 0.18% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 1,658 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 48 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 1,681 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
FLL → MCI flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 89.9% of the time, against 60.2% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 29.7 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 8 AM: too few flights to score
- 9 AM: 82.2% on time from 161 flights
- 10 AM: 88.8% on time from 169 flights
- 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 78.6% on time from 189 flights
- 1 PM: too few flights to score
- 2 PM: 60.1% on time from 146 flights
- 3 PM: 61.6% on time from 140 flights
- 4 PM: 57.7% on time from 138 flights
- 5 PM: 69.6% on time from 126 flights
- 6 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why FLL → MCI 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 → MCI. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on FLL → MCI, at 43.4%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 89.9% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 60.2%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 1,301 | 73.6% | 0.92% | -1 min | 7.2% |
| Spirit Airlines | 380 | 73.7% | 2.11% | -3 min | 8.6% |
Southwest Airlines flew 77.4% of the 1,681 flights listed. Spirit Airlines cancelled 2.11% of its flights here against 0.92% for Southwest Airlines.
Carriers on this route performed within a couple of percentage points of each other.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Saturday the least, a gap of 12.2 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 70.5%
- Feb: 72.9%
- Mar: 64.4%
- Apr: 73.6%
- May: 76.5%
- Jun: 72.1%
- Jul: 71.2%
- Aug: 70.4%
- Sep to Oct: no data
- Nov: 84.1%
- Dec: 71.1%
March is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 19.7 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 74.5% against 82.4% in the 12 months before — declining by 7.9 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 1,681 FLL → MCI 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