Route profile
JFK→FLL
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from New York to Fort Lauderdale, 1,069 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 9% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 11,955 flights. How this is calculated
JFK → FLL arrives on time 72.5% of the time; the return trip, FLL → JFK, arrives on time 71.8% of the time.
JFK → FLL spends 32.8 minutes on the ground on a 1,069-mile trip: 26.0 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at JFK and 6.8 minutes from touchdown to gate at FLL.
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 98% of 4,023 comparable routes.
84.4% on time for 5–9 AM departures, against 47.7% 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.
Why JFK → FLL flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
JFK → FLL cancelled 330 of 11,955 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 36. The reason filed most often was the air traffic system, 37.0% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 98 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 330 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
122 cancellations, 37.0% of the total.
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
120 cancellations, 36.4% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
88 cancellations, 26.7% 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.
330 coded cancellations were recorded on JFK → FLL; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
65 min late
against a median of 6 min early
JFK → FLL has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 6 min early, but the worst tenth are 71 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 11,955 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at FLL after arriving from JFK.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 42% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 27% | High risk |
| 60 min | 19% | High risk |
| 90 min | 11% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 6.5% | 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 2.76% of the time and diverts 0.38% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 11,579 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 65 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 11,955 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
JFK → FLL flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 84.4% of the time, against 47.7% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 36.7 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 85.8% on time from 279 flights
- 6 AM: 85.7% on time from 961 flights
- 7 AM: 88.3% on time from 1,440 flights
- 8 AM: 72.9% on time from 626 flights
- 9 AM: 70.0% on time from 690 flights
- 10 AM: 62.1% on time from 197 flights
- 11 AM: 78.4% on time from 1,465 flights
- 12 PM: 71.8% on time from 298 flights
- 1 PM: 63.1% on time from 565 flights
- 2 PM: 68.9% on time from 707 flights
- 3 PM: 68.1% on time from 1,227 flights
- 4 PM: 62.4% on time from 217 flights
- 5 PM: 65.1% on time from 1,048 flights
- 6 PM: 60.2% on time from 263 flights
- 7 PM: 67.9% on time from 999 flights
- 8 PM: 62.1% on time from 739 flights
- 9 PM: 47.7% on time from 234 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why JFK → FLL runs late
July 2023 – July 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 JFK → FLL. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
How this route holds up in bad weather
July 2023 – July 2026
The harder-hit end is the one the flight leaves from, where a cancellation keeps it from departing at all. Bad weather cancels 3.5 times the normal rate at JFK against 2.1 times at FLL. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: JFK 6.0% against 1.7%, FLL 3.3% against 1.6%. Flights that did leave FLL in bad weather arrived on time 54.6% of the time, against 73.3% in normal hours.
Bad weather and normal hours at the airports
Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026| Departures from | JFK | FLL |
|---|---|---|
| Cancelled in bad weather | 6.0% | 3.3% |
| Cancelled in normal hours | 1.7% | 1.6% |
| Arrived on time, bad weather | 64.1% | 54.6% |
| Arrived on time, normal hours | 79.7% | 73.3% |
| Departures in bad weather | 46,497 | 13,418 |
Delta Air Lines (4.0% cancelled against 6.9% for the other carriers at JFK) cancelled fewer departures from JFK in bad weather than the other carriers there did in the same months. None of the route’s other carriers was clearly worse.
This route’s airlines in bad weather at JFK
All departures from JFK| Airline | Bad-weather departures | Cancelled | Other carriers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 12,657 | 4.0%below the others | 6.9% |
| JetBlue | 14,948 | 6.2%about level | 6.2% |
These are airport figures, not route figures: every scheduled departure from JFK and FLL, to any destination, in hours the weather report called bad. The airline rows count each carrier’s departures from JFK on every route.
Weather source and limits. In full: JFK (airlines), FLL, What Weather Costs Each Airport, Who Cancels More When the Weather Turns, Airports That Change Places When Weather Turns.
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 | 7,069 | 68.9% | 3.15% | -2 min | 12.8% |
| Delta Air Lines | 4,886 | 77.6% | 2.19% | -10 min | 8.8% |
JetBlue flew 59.1% of the 11,955 flights listed.
Delta Air Lines arrived on time 8.7 percentage points more often than JetBlue on this route.
Other ways to fly New York to Miami
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
| Route | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Median delay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LGA→MIA New York to Miami | 17,949 | 74.0% | 2.69% | -8 min | 46 |
| JFK→MIA New York to Miami | 15,837 | 75.0% | 2.10% | -7 min | 51 |
| EWR→FLL Newark to Fort Lauderdale | 15,393 | 75.3% | 2.81% | -8 min | 49 |
| LGA→FLL New York to Fort Lauderdale | 14,072 | 72.5% | 2.86% | -6 min | 43 |
| EWR→MIA Newark to Miami | 12,777 | 75.7% | 2.65% | -8 min | 51 |
| JFK→FLL this route New York to Fort Lauderdale | 11,955 | 72.5% | 2.76% | -6 min | 45 |
EWR → MIA is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 75.7% on time, against 72.5% for LGA → FLL.
Flying to FLL from the New York area? Compare JFK, LGA, EWR for FLL, 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.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| B61601 JetBlue | 1:00 PM | 926 | 73.9% |
| DL1422 Delta Air Lines | 7:00 AM | 905 | 89.6% |
| DL305 Delta Air Lines | 11:10 AM | 902 | 79.2% |
| DL1419 Delta Air Lines | 2:59 PM | 890 | 72.7% |
| B61 JetBlue | 6:00 AM | 824 | 80.0% |
| B61501 JetBlue | 5:00 PM | 781 | 64.0% |
| DL1414 Delta Air Lines | 7:55 PM | 746 | 67.4% |
| B62201 JetBlue | 9:30 AM | 695 | 69.1% |
DL1422 (7:00 AM) arrived on time 89.6% of the time, 25.6 points more often than B61501 (5:00 PM) at 64.0%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 13.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 69.6%
- Feb: 72.9%
- Mar: 68.8%
- Apr: 79.8%
- May: 78.3%
- Jun: 71.8%
- Jul: 64.0%
- Aug: 67.4%
- Sep: 74.2%
- Oct: 76.5%
- Nov: 83.8%
- Dec: 65.2%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 19.8 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 56.1% from 310 flights
- August 2023: 68.8% from 315 flights
- September 2023: 65.7% from 276 flights
- October 2023: 69.9% from 278 flights
- November 2023: 81.4% from 297 flights
- December 2023: 73.1% from 360 flights
- January 2024: 69.1% from 308 flights
- February 2024: 70.5% from 309 flights
- March 2024: 62.5% from 362 flights
- April 2024: 76.5% from 410 flights
- May 2024: 74.6% from 313 flights
- June 2024: 69.3% from 301 flights
- July 2024: 67.8% from 310 flights
- August 2024: 59.6% from 310 flights
- September 2024: 77.2% from 270 flights
- October 2024: 87.6% from 285 flights
- November 2024: 92.0% from 337 flights
- December 2024: 66.8% from 393 flights
- January 2025: 72.6% from 346 flights
- February 2025: 75.8% from 336 flights
- March 2025: 76.0% from 372 flights
- April 2025: 85.6% from 370 flights
- May 2025: 74.5% from 300 flights
- June 2025: 65.3% from 297 flights
- July 2025: 67.8% from 293 flights
- August 2025: 73.6% from 293 flights
- September 2025: 79.9% from 259 flights
- October 2025: 71.6% from 279 flights
- November 2025: 77.3% from 334 flights
- December 2025: 55.6% from 385 flights
- January 2026: 66.8% from 338 flights
- February 2026: 72.2% from 347 flights
- March 2026: 67.7% from 388 flights
- April 2026: 77.8% from 380 flights
- May 2026: 85.9% from 303 flights
- June 2026: 81.2% from 285 flights
- July 2026: 64.4% from 306 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 72.3% against 75.1% in the 12 months before — declining by 2.8 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 11,955 JFK → 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