Route profile
FLL→SAN
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Fort Lauderdale to San Diego, 2,269 miles.
Right now
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Route reliability
July 2023 – May 2026
Better than 13% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 1,027 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
FLL → SAN arrives on time 68.0% of the time; the return trip, SAN → FLL, arrives on time 69.1% of the time.
FLL → SAN spends 30.8 minutes on the ground on a 2,269-mile trip: 21.9 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at FLL and 8.9 minutes from touchdown to gate at SAN.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – May 2026
What stands out
Reliability on this route has improved unusually sharply over the past year, a bigger swing than 99% of 5,368 comparable routes.
83.3% on time over the most recent 12 months (2025-01 to 2026-05), against 63.3% in the 12 months before (2024-01 to 2024-12), a change of 20.0 points.
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – May 2026 · Ranked against every other route with the same kind of figure and at least 5,368 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where FLL to SAN differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – May 2026.
FLL to SAN struggles most at 5 PM: 60.7% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 12.4 points behind the 73.1% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 9.1 points.
Thursday is the day FLL to SAN slips furthest against routes of similar length, 62.0% on time where they average 77.6%, 15.6 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 14.8 points.
In December, FLL to SAN runs 20.4 points below routes of similar length, 59.0% on time to 79.4%. Against all other routes the gap is 19.8 points.
FLL to SAN against comparable routes
July 2023 – May 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 5 PM departures | 60.7% | routes of similar length | 73.1% | −12.4 pts | 229 here, 66,492 there |
| Weekday: Thursday | 62.0% | routes of similar length | 77.6% | −15.6 pts | 142 here, 170,955 there |
| Month: December | 59.0% | routes of similar length | 79.4% | −20.4 pts | 134 here, 93,769 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 2,269 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 – May 2026
57 min late
against a median of 1 min early
Percentiles over 1,027 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at SAN 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 | 19% | High risk |
| 90 min | 9.6% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 5.1% | 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 1.85% of the time and diverts 1.07% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 997 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 57 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 1,027 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
FLL → SAN flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 86.4% of the time, against 58.7% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 27.7 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 85.5% on time from 125 flights
- 9 AM: 78.6% on time from 140 flights
- 10 AM to 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 60.7% on time from 237 flights
- 6 PM: 58.0% on time from 341 flights
- 7 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why FLL → SAN runs late
July 2023 – May 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
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 → SAN. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska Airlines | 528 | 71.8% | 3.22% | -5 min | 9.7% |
| JetBlue | 499 | 64.1% | 0.40% | 4 min | 10.0% |
Alaska Airlines flew 51.4% of the 1,027 flights listed. Alaska Airlines cancelled 3.22% of its flights here against 0.40% for JetBlue.
Alaska Airlines arrived on time 7.7 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 Thursday the least, a gap of 17.4 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – May 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-01 to 2026-05), on-time arrivals averaged 83.3% against 63.3% in the 12 months before — improving by 20.0 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 1,027 FLL → SAN flight records from the US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, covering July 2023 – May 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