Route profile
LAX→MCO
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Los Angeles to Orlando, 2,218 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 60% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 9,918 flights. How this is calculated
LAX → MCO arrives on time 79.1% of the time; the return trip, MCO → LAX, arrives on time 79.3% of the time.
LAX → MCO spends 28.6 minutes on the ground on a 2,218-mile trip: 18.4 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at LAX and 10.2 minutes from touchdown to gate at MCO.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
The airline matters unusually much on this route, a wider carrier-to-carrier gap than 100% of 2,692 comparable routes.
United Airlines arrived on time 88.9% of the time, against 51.6% for Frontier Airlines, flying the exact same route.
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 2,692 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where LAX to MCO differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
LAX to MCO struggles most at 1 PM: 58.3% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 18.1 points behind the 76.4% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 18.8 points.
LAX to MCO is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 4 PM: 80.3% arrive on time, 5.9 points ahead of the 74.4% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 9.6 points.
In March, LAX to MCO runs 11 points below routes of similar length, 68.6% on time to 79.6%. Against all other routes the gap is 9.3 points.
September is kinder to LAX to MCO than to routes of similar length: 89.0% on time against 82.9%, 6.1 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 6.7 points.
United Airlines does better on LAX to MCO than on its routes of similar length: 88.9% on time here, 81.9% there, 7 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 9 points.
LAX to MCO against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 1 PM departures | 58.3% | routes of similar length | 76.4% | −18.1 pts | 206 here, 47,624 there |
| Hour: 4 PM departures | 80.3% | routes of similar length | 74.4% | +5.9 pts | 874 here, 57,047 there |
| Month: March | 68.6% | routes of similar length | 79.6% | −11.0 pts | 830 here, 86,214 there |
| Month: September | 89.0% | routes of similar length | 82.9% | +6.1 pts | 725 here, 87,696 there |
| Airline: United Airlines | 88.9% | routes of similar length | 81.9% | +7.0 pts | 2,324 here, 210,536 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 2,218 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 LAX → MCO flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
LAX → MCO cancelled 74 of 9,918 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 134. The reason filed most often was the airline, 56.8% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 236 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 74 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.
42 cancellations, 56.8% of the total.
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
23 cancellations, 31.1% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
9 cancellations, 12.2% 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. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
74 coded cancellations were recorded on LAX → MCO; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
40 min late
against a median of 5 min early
Percentiles over 9,918 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at MCO after arriving from LAX.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 38% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 20% | High risk |
| 60 min | 13% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.7% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.1% | 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 0.75% of the time and diverts 0.48% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 9,796 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 40 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 9,918 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
LAX → MCO flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 85.2% of the time, against 59.9% for 12–3 PM departures, a gap of 25.3 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 82.2% on time from 157 flights
- 7 AM: 85.4% on time from 978 flights
- 8 AM: 86.0% on time from 354 flights
- 9 AM: 78.9% on time from 500 flights
- 10 AM: 79.5% on time from 1,900 flights
- 11 AM: 69.6% on time from 593 flights
- 12 PM: too few flights to score
- 1 PM: 58.3% on time from 209 flights
- 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 79.9% on time from 350 flights
- 4 PM: 80.3% on time from 887 flights
- 5 PM to 8 PM: too few flights to score
- 9 PM: 81.3% on time from 983 flights
- 10 PM: 80.6% on time from 1,356 flights
- 11 PM: 77.4% on time from 1,465 flights
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why LAX → MCO 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 LAX → 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 4,142 | 79.2% | 0.92% | -4 min | 6.9% |
| United Airlines | 2,353 | 88.9% | 0.89% | -13 min | 3.1% |
| American Airlines | 2,214 | 77.2% | 0.41% | -3 min | 8.4% |
| JetBlue | 431 | 62.9% | 0.23% | 5 min | 13.1% |
| Southwest Airlines | 361 | 75.3% | 0.00% | -2 min | 1.4% |
| Frontier Airlines | 349 | 51.6% | 0.86% | 14 min | 17.4% |
Delta Air Lines flew 42.1% of the 9,850 flights listed.
United Airlines arrived on time 37.3 percentage points more often than Frontier Airlines on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
UA1730 (9:35 PM) arrived on time 89.3% of the time, 15.9 points more often than DL867 (10:55 AM) at 73.4%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 8.2 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 83.3%
- Feb: 87.2%
- Mar: 68.6%
- Apr: 82.1%
- May: 80.9%
- Jun: 71.7%
- Jul: 66.9%
- Aug: 77.0%
- Sep: 89.0%
- Oct: 88.0%
- Nov: 85.3%
- Dec: 77.4%
July is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 22.1 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 72.0% from 307 flights
- August 2023: 79.2% from 308 flights
- September 2023: 85.3% from 255 flights
- October 2023: 92.7% from 259 flights
- November 2023: 89.2% from 250 flights
- December 2023: 80.3% from 265 flights
- January 2024: 84.5% from 262 flights
- February 2024: 88.3% from 240 flights
- March 2024: 72.3% from 266 flights
- April 2024: 84.7% from 250 flights
- May 2024: 79.8% from 264 flights
- June 2024: 69.5% from 261 flights
- July 2024: 67.2% from 266 flights
- August 2024: 74.8% from 246 flights
- September 2024: 90.9% from 220 flights
- October 2024: 88.4% from 232 flights
- November 2024: 89.6% from 222 flights
- December 2024: 75.9% from 233 flights
- January 2025: 88.2% from 229 flights
- February 2025: 89.9% from 208 flights
- March 2025: 72.9% from 266 flights
- April 2025: 79.1% from 254 flights
- May 2025: 84.2% from 269 flights
- June 2025: 72.9% from 260 flights
- July 2025: 63.8% from 272 flights
- August 2025: 76.7% from 288 flights
- September 2025: 90.9% from 255 flights
- October 2025: 83.5% from 281 flights
- November 2025: 78.1% from 269 flights
- December 2025: 76.0% from 308 flights
- January 2026: 78.5% from 303 flights
- February 2026: 84.0% from 269 flights
- March 2026: 61.3% from 308 flights
- April 2026: 82.5% from 321 flights
- May 2026: 79.0% from 317 flights
- June 2026: 72.6% from 296 flights
- July 2026: 64.5% from 339 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 76.9% against 80.3% in the 12 months before — declining by 3.4 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 9,918 LAX → 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