Route profile
IND→FLL
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Indianapolis to Fort Lauderdale, 1,005 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 39% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,259 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
IND → FLL arrives on time 76.8% of the time; the return trip, FLL → IND, arrives on time 69.4% of the time, a 7.4-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
IND → FLL spends 21.4 minutes on the ground on a 1,005-mile trip: 13.6 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at IND and 7.8 minutes from touchdown to gate at FLL.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where IND to FLL differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
IND to FLL struggles most at 6 AM: 80.4% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 10.2 points behind the 90.6% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 10.4 points.
June is kinder to IND to FLL than to routes of similar length: 83.4% on time against 71.6%, 11.8 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 10.7 points.
In March, IND to FLL runs 8.8 points below routes of similar length, 66.9% on time to 75.7%. Against all other routes the gap is 11 points.
Southwest Airlines does better on IND to FLL than on its routes of similar length: 81.4% on time here, 75.6% there, 5.8 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 4 points.
IND to FLL against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 6 AM departures | 80.4% | routes of similar length | 90.6% | −10.2 pts | 460 here, 220,051 there |
| Month: June | 83.4% | routes of similar length | 71.6% | +11.8 pts | 241 here, 238,720 there |
| Month: March | 66.9% | routes of similar length | 75.7% | −8.8 pts | 408 here, 261,018 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 81.4% | routes of similar length | 75.6% | +5.8 pts | 1,346 here, 683,508 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 1,005 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.
IND to FLL in context
This route against IND and FLL as a whole, against similar routes from IND, and against its own first year, July 2023 – July 2026.
Leaving IND, IND to FLL is on time 76.8% of the time, 5.2 points worse than the airport’s other departures at IND (82.0%, from 141,225 flights).
Arriving at FLL, IND to FLL is on time 76.8% of the time, 2.8 points better than the airport’s other arrivals at FLL (74.0%, from 269,820 flights).
IND to FLL cancels 1.32% of its scheduled flights, 0.54 points above the 0.78% on 5 other routes from IND of similar length (within 15% of 1,005 miles).
IND to FLL arrived on time 78.1% of the time in its latest twelve months (August 2025 to July 2026), 8.1 points above the 70.0% of its first twelve (July 2023 to June 2024).
Of the 2,783 flights scheduled in hours with at least 120 flights, 6 AM is the busiest hour with 468 (16.8%), 80.4% of them on time, and 8 PM the quietest with 124 (4.5%), 61.7% of them on time.
Airport comparisons take this route’s flights out of the airport total. Length means within 15% of this route’s distance, with at least 3 other routes from the same origin. On-time gaps are stated at 2 points and 2 standard errors, cancellation gaps at 0.5 points and 2 standard errors, and every group needs 750 flights. These are differences in the flights counted, not causes.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
47 min late
against a median of 5 min early
Percentiles over 3,259 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at FLL after arriving from IND.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 38% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 22% | High risk |
| 60 min | 15% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 7.9% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 5.4% | 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 1.32% of the time and diverts 0.31% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,206 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 47 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,259 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
IND → FLL flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 85.1% of the time, against 61.4% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 23.7 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 91.3% on time from 215 flights
- 6 AM: 80.4% on time from 468 flights
- 7 AM: 88.5% on time from 245 flights
- 8 AM: 85.2% on time from 245 flights
- 9 AM: 88.2% on time from 189 flights
- 10 AM: 80.1% on time from 236 flights
- 11 AM: 78.3% on time from 167 flights
- 12 PM: 74.2% on time from 227 flights
- 1 PM: 70.6% on time from 172 flights
- 2 PM: 72.1% on time from 136 flights
- 3 PM: 69.9% on time from 197 flights
- 4 PM to 7 PM: too few flights to score
- 8 PM: 61.7% on time from 124 flights
- 9 PM: 70.3% on time from 162 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why IND → FLL runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s 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 IND → FLL. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on IND → FLL, at 36.2%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 85.1% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 61.4%.
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 | 1,357 | 81.4% | 0.66% | -6 min | 4.8% |
| Spirit Airlines | 1,265 | 75.3% | 2.29% | -6 min | 10.1% |
| Allegiant Air | 614 | 69.8% | 0.49% | -1 min | 11.4% |
Southwest Airlines flew 41.9% of the 3,236 flights listed. Spirit Airlines cancelled 2.29% of its flights here against 0.49% for Allegiant Air.
Southwest Airlines arrived on time 11.6 percentage points more often than Allegiant Air 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 11.9 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 69.6%
- Feb: 80.1%
- Mar: 66.9%
- Apr: 81.0%
- May: 68.1%
- Jun: 83.4%
- Jul: 76.6%
- Aug: 80.5%
- Sep: 81.3%
- Oct: 86.2%
- Nov: 86.5%
- Dec: 69.0%
March is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 19.6 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: too few flights to score (62)
- August 2023: too few flights to score (45)
- September 2023: too few flights to score (62)
- October 2023: too few flights to score (90)
- November 2023: too few flights to score (79)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (79)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (98)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (107)
- March 2024: 57.7% from 147 flights
- April 2024: too few flights to score (93)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (81)
- June 2024: too few flights to score (90)
- July 2024: too few flights to score (88)
- August 2024: too few flights to score (64)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (80)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (99)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (93)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (109)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (104)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (85)
- March 2025: 78.6% from 135 flights
- April 2025: too few flights to score (92)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (79)
- June 2025: too few flights to score (89)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (91)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (67)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (79)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (80)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (80)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (87)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (109)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (97)
- March 2026: 65.2% from 142 flights
- April 2026: too few flights to score (90)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (56)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (66)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (65)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 78.0% against 82.4% in the 12 months before — declining by 4.4 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,259 IND → FLL 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