Route profile
IAD→MCO
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Washington to Orlando, 758 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 42% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 5,967 flights. How this is calculated
IAD → MCO arrives on time 78.1% of the time; the return trip, MCO → IAD, arrives on time 79.8% of the time.
IAD → MCO spends 31.7 minutes on the ground on a 758-mile trip: 22.1 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at IAD and 9.6 minutes from touchdown to gate at MCO.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where IAD to MCO differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
IAD to MCO is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 10 PM: 80.8% arrive on time, 14.1 points ahead of the 66.7% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 9.2 points.
IAD to MCO struggles most at 3 PM: 62.4% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 10 points behind the 72.4% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 10.3 points.
In August, IAD to MCO runs 5.7 points below routes of similar length, 70.2% on time to 75.9%. Against all other routes the gap is 6.3 points.
October is kinder to IAD to MCO than to routes of similar length: 87.2% on time against 82.9%, 4.3 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 4.2 points.
IAD to MCO against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 10 PM departures | 80.8% | routes of similar length | 66.7% | +14.1 pts | 1,054 here, 38,825 there |
| Hour: 3 PM departures | 62.4% | routes of similar length | 72.4% | −10.0 pts | 205 here, 128,543 there |
| Month: August | 70.2% | routes of similar length | 75.9% | −5.7 pts | 419 here, 184,680 there |
| Month: October | 87.2% | routes of similar length | 82.9% | +4.3 pts | 415 here, 192,064 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 758 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 IAD → MCO flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
IAD → MCO cancelled 73 of 5,967 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 82. The reason filed most often was the airline, 49.3% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 166 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 73 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
36 cancellations, 49.3% of the total.
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
24 cancellations, 32.9% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
13 cancellations, 17.8% 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. With only one or two carriers on the route, the split mostly reflects how they file. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
73 coded cancellations were recorded on IAD → MCO; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
49 min late
against a median of 7 min early
Percentiles over 5,967 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at MCO after arriving from IAD.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 35% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 21% | High risk |
| 60 min | 15% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 8.6% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 5.5% | 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 1.22% of the time and diverts 0.22% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 5,881 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 49 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 5,967 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
IAD → MCO flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 85.6% of the time, against 67.2% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 18.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 81.8% on time from 1,113 flights
- 9 AM: 86.7% on time from 649 flights
- 10 AM to 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 82.6% on time from 1,103 flights
- 1 PM: 70.0% on time from 135 flights
- 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 62.4% on time from 206 flights
- 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 66.2% on time from 1,045 flights
- 6 PM: 78.2% on time from 249 flights
- 7 PM to 9 PM: too few flights to score
- 10 PM: 80.8% on time from 1,061 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why IAD → MCO runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for IAD → MCO. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 5,463 | 79.0% | 1.13% | -7 min | 8.3% |
| Frontier Airlines | 504 | 68.6% | 2.18% | -4 min | 13.4% |
United Airlines flew 91.6% of the 5,967 flights listed. Frontier Airlines cancelled 2.18% of its flights here against 1.13% for United Airlines.
United Airlines arrived on time 10.4 percentage points more often than Frontier Airlines on this route.
Other ways to fly Washington to Orlando
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
IAD → MCO is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 78.1% on time, against 77.1% for DCA → MCO.
Flying to MCO from the Washington area? Compare IAD, DCA, BWI for MCO, with the same test for what counts as a real difference.
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 8.9 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 76.8%
- Feb: 82.8%
- Mar: 78.5%
- Apr: 83.9%
- May: 75.5%
- Jun: 74.7%
- Jul: 63.5%
- Aug: 70.2%
- Sep: 86.3%
- Oct: 87.2%
- Nov: 84.2%
- Dec: 77.6%
July is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 23.7 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 55.4% from 123 flights
- August 2023: 66.7% from 124 flights
- September 2023: 79.8% from 120 flights
- October 2023: 87.7% from 123 flights
- November 2023: too few flights to score (112)
- December 2023: 78.6% from 126 flights
- January 2024: 72.5% from 141 flights
- February 2024: 84.2% from 139 flights
- March 2024: 72.3% from 155 flights
- April 2024: 84.6% from 150 flights
- May 2024: 79.2% from 145 flights
- June 2024: 73.1% from 120 flights
- July 2024: 65.8% from 124 flights
- August 2024: 73.3% from 124 flights
- September 2024: 86.7% from 120 flights
- October 2024: 93.1% from 124 flights
- November 2024: 85.9% from 163 flights
- December 2024: 77.6% from 164 flights
- January 2025: 74.7% from 192 flights
- February 2025: 79.6% from 187 flights
- March 2025: 76.9% from 217 flights
- April 2025: 76.1% from 218 flights
- May 2025: 63.1% from 206 flights
- June 2025: 71.6% from 197 flights
- July 2025: 69.4% from 176 flights
- August 2025: 70.5% from 178 flights
- September 2025: 90.6% from 171 flights
- October 2025: 83.1% from 177 flights
- November 2025: 77.5% from 171 flights
- December 2025: 76.7% from 172 flights
- January 2026: 82.0% from 186 flights
- February 2026: 85.3% from 170 flights
- March 2026: 85.3% from 197 flights
- April 2026: 91.4% from 212 flights
- May 2026: 85.8% from 197 flights
- June 2026: 79.5% from 169 flights
- July 2026: 61.8% from 177 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 81.0% against 76.4% in the 12 months before — improving by 4.6 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 5,967 IAD → MCO 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