Route profile
FLL→RDU
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Fort Lauderdale to Raleigh–Durham, 680 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 5% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 4,262 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
FLL → RDU arrives on time 67.8% of the time; the return trip, RDU → FLL, arrives on time 77.8% of the time, a 10.0-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
FLL → RDU spends 24.5 minutes on the ground on a 680-mile trip: 17.9 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at FLL and 6.6 minutes from touchdown to gate at RDU.
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 97% of 4,023 comparable routes.
90.4% on time for 5–9 AM departures, against 55.3% 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 RDU differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
FLL to RDU struggles most at 9 PM: 55.3% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 12.7 points behind the 68.0% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 14.2 points.
Saturday is the day FLL to RDU slips furthest against routes of similar length, 66.2% on time where they average 79.2%, 13 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 12.9 points.
In March, FLL to RDU runs 18.5 points below routes of similar length, 59.7% on time to 78.2%. Against all other routes the gap is 18.2 points.
Southwest Airlines’ flights on FLL to RDU arrive on time 68.9% of the time, 8.7 points below the 77.6% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 8.5 points.
FLL to RDU against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 9 PM departures | 55.3% | routes of similar length | 68.0% | −12.7 pts | 226 here, 72,992 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 66.2% | routes of similar length | 79.2% | −13.0 pts | 668 here, 275,575 there |
| Month: March | 59.7% | routes of similar length | 78.2% | −18.5 pts | 387 here, 182,568 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 68.9% | routes of similar length | 77.6% | −8.7 pts | 671 here, 554,708 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 680 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 → RDU flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
FLL → RDU cancelled 59 of 4,262 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 72. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 40.7% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 178 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 59 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.
24 cancellations, 40.7% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
23 cancellations, 39.0% 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, 20.3% 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.
59 coded cancellations were recorded on FLL → RDU; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
78 min late
against a median of 1 min early
FLL → RDU has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 1 min early, but the worst tenth are 79 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 4,262 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at RDU after arriving from FLL.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 48% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 31% | Likely to miss |
| 60 min | 23% | High risk |
| 90 min | 13% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 8.2% | 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 1.38% of the time and diverts 0.23% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 4,193 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 78 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 4,262 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
FLL → RDU flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 90.4% of the time, against 55.3% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 35.1 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 89.3% on time from 152 flights
- 8 AM to 10 AM: too few flights to score
- 11 AM: 81.9% on time from 155 flights
- 12 PM: 70.3% on time from 152 flights
- 1 PM: too few flights to score
- 2 PM: 72.2% on time from 310 flights
- 3 PM: 68.4% on time from 1,353 flights
- 4 PM: 63.8% on time from 252 flights
- 5 PM: 59.5% on time from 170 flights
- 6 PM to 7 PM: too few flights to score
- 8 PM: 61.5% on time from 886 flights
- 9 PM: 55.3% on time from 226 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why FLL → RDU 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 → RDU. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on FLL → RDU, at 46.1%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 90.4% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 55.3%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JetBlue | 1,441 | 64.0% | 1.87% | 0 min | 17.2% |
| Delta Air Lines | 1,124 | 72.4% | 0.62% | -3 min | 11.8% |
| Spirit Airlines | 929 | 67.3% | 1.94% | -1 min | 12.9% |
| Southwest Airlines | 679 | 68.9% | 1.03% | 1 min | 10.0% |
JetBlue flew 34.5% of the 4,173 flights listed. Spirit Airlines cancelled 1.94% of its flights here against 0.62% for Delta Air Lines.
Delta Air Lines arrived on time 8.4 percentage points more often than JetBlue on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
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: 66.6%
- Feb: 70.2%
- Mar: 59.7%
- Apr: 68.3%
- May: 71.4%
- Jun: 71.9%
- Jul: 61.7%
- Aug: 59.1%
- Sep: 72.2%
- Oct: 78.7%
- Nov: 74.5%
- Dec: 65.2%
August is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 19.6 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 46.7% from 124 flights
- August 2023: 54.6% from 147 flights
- September 2023: 67.2% from 124 flights
- October 2023: 66.1% from 124 flights
- November 2023: 67.5% from 120 flights
- December 2023: 69.5% from 142 flights
- January 2024: 59.4% from 130 flights
- February 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- March 2024: 60.5% from 129 flights
- April 2024: too few flights to score (108)
- May 2024: 68.0% from 123 flights
- June 2024: 69.6% from 120 flights
- July 2024: too few flights to score (117)
- August 2024: too few flights to score (115)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (89)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (106)
- November 2024: 82.3% from 130 flights
- December 2024: 70.1% from 139 flights
- January 2025: too few flights to score (112)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (98)
- March 2025: 66.1% from 128 flights
- April 2025: too few flights to score (100)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (82)
- June 2025: too few flights to score (84)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (102)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (81)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (90)
- November 2025: 73.0% from 122 flights
- December 2025: 55.1% from 131 flights
- January 2026: too few flights to score (116)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (103)
- March 2026: 52.7% from 135 flights
- April 2026: 62.8% from 130 flights
- May 2026: too few flights to score (111)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (104)
- July 2026: 63.1% from 137 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 67.3% against 72.7% in the 12 months before — declining by 5.4 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 4,262 FLL → RDU 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