Route profile
FLL→STL
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Fort Lauderdale to St. Louis, 1,057 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 49% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 2,611 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
FLL → STL arrives on time 76.3% of the time; the return trip, STL → FLL, arrives on time 75.1% of the time.
FLL → STL spends 22.9 minutes on the ground on a 1,057-mile trip: 17.3 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at FLL and 5.6 minutes from touchdown to gate at STL.
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.
93.2% on time for 5–9 AM departures, against 57.6% for 6–9 PM.
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 STL differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
FLL to STL struggles most at 3 PM: 57.9% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 12.3 points behind the 70.2% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 14.8 points.
FLL to STL is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 7 AM: 93.9% arrive on time, 6 points ahead of the 87.9% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 6.1 points.
In February, FLL to STL runs 8.6 points below routes of similar length, 71.7% on time to 80.3%. Against all other routes the gap is 9.8 points.
FLL to STL against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 3 PM departures | 57.9% | routes of similar length | 70.2% | −12.3 pts | 171 here, 169,871 there |
| Hour: 7 AM departures | 93.9% | routes of similar length | 87.9% | +6.0 pts | 457 here, 235,311 there |
| Month: February | 71.7% | routes of similar length | 80.3% | −8.6 pts | 251 here, 213,868 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 1,057 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
44 min late
against a median of 3 min early
Percentiles over 2,611 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at STL after arriving from FLL.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 41% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 23% | High risk |
| 60 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.7% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.8% | 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 1.07% of the time and diverts 0.15% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 2,579 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 44 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 2,611 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
FLL → STL flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 93.2% of the time, against 57.6% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 35.6 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 95.1% on time from 163 flights
- 6 AM: 94.3% on time from 159 flights
- 7 AM: 93.9% on time from 462 flights
- 8 AM: 89.4% on time from 212 flights
- 9 AM to 1 PM: too few flights to score
- 2 PM: 64.4% on time from 137 flights
- 3 PM: 57.9% on time from 181 flights
- 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 70.1% on time from 128 flights
- 6 PM: 57.3% on time from 303 flights
- 7 PM: 58.6% on time from 239 flights
- 8 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why FLL → STL 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 → STL. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on FLL → STL, at 41.7%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 93.2% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 57.6%.
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 | 2,307 | 76.5% | 0.82% | -3 min | 6.8% |
| Spirit Airlines | 300 | 74.7% | 3.00% | -7 min | 9.0% |
Southwest Airlines flew 88.5% of the 2,607 flights listed. Spirit Airlines cancelled 3.00% of its flights here against 0.82% 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
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 14.7 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 75.8%
- Feb: 71.7%
- Mar: 71.7%
- Apr: 81.7%
- May: 77.0%
- Jun: 74.3%
- Jul: 71.2%
- Aug: 69.5%
- Sep: 85.5%
- Oct: 79.6%
- Nov: 84.1%
- Dec: 78.9%
August is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 16.0 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 77.3% against 82.7% in the 12 months before — declining by 5.4 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 2,611 FLL → STL 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