Route profile
FLL→PIT
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Fort Lauderdale to Pittsburgh, 994 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 7% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,346 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
FLL → PIT arrives on time 66.8% of the time; the return trip, PIT → FLL, arrives on time 77.3% of the time, a 10.5-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
FLL → PIT spends 23.1 minutes on the ground on a 994-mile trip: 16.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at FLL and 6.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at PIT.
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 93% of 4,467 comparable routes.
74.6% on time on a typical Tuesday, against 60.0% 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 PIT differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
FLL to PIT struggles most at 7 PM: 48.0% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 18.3 points behind the 66.3% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 19.8 points.
FLL to PIT is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 3 PM: 76.3% arrive on time, 6.1 points ahead of the 70.2% those routes manage at that hour.
Sunday is the day FLL to PIT slips furthest against routes of similar length, 60.0% on time where they average 73.6%, 13.6 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 14.8 points.
In March, FLL to PIT runs 19.6 points below routes of similar length, 56.2% on time to 75.8%. Against all other routes the gap is 21.7 points.
Spirit Airlines’ flights on FLL to PIT arrive on time 66.9% of the time, 7.2 points below the 74.1% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 8.4 points.
FLL to PIT against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 7 PM departures | 48.0% | routes of similar length | 66.3% | −18.3 pts | 125 here, 196,227 there |
| Hour: 3 PM departures | 76.3% | routes of similar length | 70.2% | +6.1 pts | 240 here, 187,738 there |
| Weekday: Sunday | 60.0% | routes of similar length | 73.6% | −13.6 pts | 513 here, 449,999 there |
| Month: March | 56.2% | routes of similar length | 75.8% | −19.6 pts | 333 here, 266,624 there |
| Airline: Spirit Airlines | 66.9% | routes of similar length | 74.1% | −7.2 pts | 1,748 here, 174,970 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 994 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
71 min late
against a median of 1 min late
FLL → PIT has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 1 min late, but the worst tenth are 70 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 3,346 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at PIT after arriving from FLL.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 51% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 32% | Likely to miss |
| 60 min | 23% | High risk |
| 90 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 7.5% | 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 1.43% of the time and diverts 0.21% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,291 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 71 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,346 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
FLL → PIT flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 89.9% of the time, against 58.1% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 31.8 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 89.7% on time from 181 flights
- 8 AM to 12 PM: too few flights to score
- 1 PM: 71.0% on time from 155 flights
- 2 PM: 76.6% on time from 158 flights
- 3 PM: 76.3% on time from 240 flights
- 4 PM: 61.1% on time from 213 flights
- 5 PM: 57.9% on time from 289 flights
- 6 PM: 55.2% on time from 294 flights
- 7 PM: 48.0% on time from 127 flights
- 8 PM: 61.7% on time from 605 flights
- 9 PM: 63.0% on time from 518 flights
- 10 PM: 52.8% on time from 129 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why FLL → PIT 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 → PIT. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on FLL → PIT, at 46.3%: 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 58.1%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spirit Airlines | 1,785 | 66.9% | 1.96% | -1 min | 12.1% |
| Southwest Airlines | 1,288 | 68.7% | 0.70% | 1 min | 10.6% |
| JetBlue | 273 | 56.9% | 1.47% | 7 min | 19.1% |
Spirit Airlines flew 53.3% of the 3,346 flights listed. Spirit Airlines cancelled 1.96% of its flights here against 0.70% for Southwest Airlines.
Southwest Airlines arrived on time 11.8 percentage points more often than JetBlue on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 14.6 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 74.1%
- Feb: 67.0%
- Mar: 56.2%
- Apr: 67.0%
- May: 73.4%
- Jun: 64.6%
- Jul: 57.2%
- Aug: 64.4%
- Sep: 73.2%
- Oct: 73.9%
- Nov: 69.1%
- Dec: 65.3%
March is historically the weakest month and January the strongest, a spread of 17.9 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: too few flights to score (71)
- August 2023: too few flights to score (68)
- September 2023: too few flights to score (86)
- October 2023: too few flights to score (96)
- November 2023: too few flights to score (95)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (97)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (93)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (91)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (107)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (98)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (99)
- June 2024: too few flights to score (99)
- July 2024: too few flights to score (100)
- August 2024: too few flights to score (96)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (98)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (105)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (89)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (90)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (87)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (84)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (116)
- April 2025: too few flights to score (79)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (60)
- June 2025: too few flights to score (64)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (69)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (58)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (74)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (81)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (108)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (119)
- January 2026: 76.5% from 124 flights
- February 2026: too few flights to score (111)
- March 2026: 42.9% from 122 flights
- April 2026: too few flights to score (112)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (65)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (66)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (69)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 65.2% against 75.9% in the 12 months before — declining by 10.7 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,346 FLL → PIT 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