Route profile
LGA→MCO
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from New York to Orlando, 950 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 6% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 15,987 flights. How this is calculated
LGA → MCO arrives on time 73.0% of the time; the return trip, MCO → LGA, arrives on time 72.7% of the time.
LGA → MCO spends 35.9 minutes on the ground on a 950-mile trip: 23.9 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at LGA and 12.0 minutes from touchdown to gate at MCO.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route's worst arrivals run unusually far past its typical one, a bigger gap than 96% of 4,598 comparable routes.
A typical arrival is 7 min early, but the worst tenth run 79 minutes worse than that.
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 4,598 in the comparison.
Why LGA → MCO flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
LGA → MCO cancelled 456 of 15,987 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 35. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 59.9% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 59 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 456 cancelled departures carrying a reason code.
What each reason means
Conditions the carrier judged severe enough to stop the flight: a blizzard, a hurricane, a line of thunderstorms.
273 cancellations, 59.9% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
93 cancellations, 20.4% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
90 cancellations, 19.7% 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. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
456 coded cancellations were recorded on LGA → MCO; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
72 min late
against a median of 7 min early
LGA → MCO has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 7 min early, but the worst tenth are 79 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 15,987 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at MCO after arriving from LGA.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 40% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 26% | High risk |
| 60 min | 19% | High risk |
| 90 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 7.6% | 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 2.85% of the time and diverts 0.42% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 15,464 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 72 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 15,987 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
LGA → MCO flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 88.3% of the time, against 56.2% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 32.1 percentage points.
By day and hour
On-time arrival rate for each weekday and scheduled departure hour, in local time at the departure airport (LGA).
Hour of departure matters more than day of the week: hourly averages sit a typical 11.8 points from the route-wide rate, weekday averages 2.9 points.
| Hour | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
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| 7 PM–8 PM |
On-time rate, % · stronger color, fewer on time
- 40–49
- 50–59
- 60–69
- 70–79
- 80–89
- 90–99
- Fewer than 120 flights, not scored
Source: FlyerIntel analysis of US DOT BTS data · July 2023 – July 2026 · On time is arrival within 15 minutes of schedule. Cells round to whole percentages; the table shows one decimal.
No slot is named best or worst: too few reach 500 flights. Departures before 6 AM and after 8 PM (1,584 flights) are not drawn: no slot in those hours has enough flights to score.
View as tableHide table
| Hour | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 AM–7 AM | 90.4% on time217 flights | 92.1% on time210 flights | 88.8% on time214 flights | 91.4% on time216 flights | 92.9% on time215 flights | 87.3% on time210 flights | 91.2% on time210 flights |
| 7 AM–8 AM | 85.8% on time284 flights | 89.9% on time273 flights | 85.5% on time283 flights | 87.5% on time282 flights | 86.3% on time282 flights | 89.0% on time270 flights | 85.3% on time282 flights |
| 8 AM–9 AM | 59 flights, too few to score | 60 flights, too few to score | 60 flights, too few to score | 59 flights, too few to score | 57 flights, too few to score | 51 flights, too few to score | 59 flights, too few to score |
| 9 AM–10 AM | 82.6% on time155 flights | 83.4% on time153 flights | 84.1% on time154 flights | 86.1% on time156 flights | 80.8% on time154 flights | 77.4% on time167 flights | 77.8% on time150 flights |
| 10 AM–11 AM | 113 flights, too few to score | 108 flights, too few to score | 112 flights, too few to score | 109 flights, too few to score | 116 flights, too few to score | 92 flights, too few to score | 102 flights, too few to score |
| 11 AM–12 PM | 76.3% on time213 flights | 75.4% on time218 flights | 82.9% on time214 flights | 83.6% on time211 flights | 80.0% on time213 flights | 81.0% on time204 flights | 76.5% on time207 flights |
| 12 PM–1 PM | 46 flights, too few to score | 35 flights, too few to score | 45 flights, too few to score | 37 flights, too few to score | 51 flights, too few to score | 62 flights, too few to score | 39 flights, too few to score |
| 1 PM–2 PM | 108 flights, too few to score | 105 flights, too few to score | 98 flights, too few to score | 101 flights, too few to score | 107 flights, too few to score | 114 flights, too few to score | 107 flights, too few to score |
| 2 PM–3 PM | 118 flights, too few to score | 107 flights, too few to score | 117 flights, too few to score | 60.2% on time120 flights | 118 flights, too few to score | 103 flights, too few to score | 113 flights, too few to score |
| 3 PM–4 PM | 55.7% on time201 flights | 66.1% on time198 flights | 66.2% on time201 flights | 59.8% on time199 flights | 61.7% on time204 flights | 67.3% on time201 flights | 47.4% on time206 flights |
| 4 PM–5 PM | 73 flights, too few to score | 60 flights, too few to score | 66 flights, too few to score | 67 flights, too few to score | 73 flights, too few to score | 93 flights, too few to score | 67 flights, too few to score |
| 5 PM–6 PM | 56.4% on time187 flights | 67.6% on time194 flights | 63.5% on time200 flights | 61.5% on time187 flights | 67.4% on time194 flights | 70.5% on time175 flights | 57.6% on time195 flights |
| 6 PM–7 PM | 88 flights, too few to score | 85 flights, too few to score | 87 flights, too few to score | 88 flights, too few to score | 84 flights, too few to score | 80 flights, too few to score | 82 flights, too few to score |
| 7 PM–8 PM | 59.6% on time242 flights | 66.5% on time227 flights | 68.4% on time219 flights | 59.1% on time235 flights | 64.0% on time234 flights | 73.9% on time140 flights | 53.1% on time246 flights |
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 94.2% on time from 208 flights
- 6 AM: 90.6% on time from 1,492 flights
- 7 AM: 87.0% on time from 1,956 flights
- 8 AM: 83.0% on time from 405 flights
- 9 AM: 81.7% on time from 1,089 flights
- 10 AM: 80.0% on time from 752 flights
- 11 AM: 79.4% on time from 1,480 flights
- 12 PM: 74.4% on time from 315 flights
- 1 PM: 73.8% on time from 740 flights
- 2 PM: 59.8% on time from 796 flights
- 3 PM: 60.6% on time from 1,410 flights
- 4 PM: 58.7% on time from 499 flights
- 5 PM: 63.5% on time from 1,332 flights
- 6 PM: 67.1% on time from 594 flights
- 7 PM: 62.8% on time from 1,543 flights
- 8 PM: 60.1% on time from 581 flights
- 9 PM: 55.9% on time from 685 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why LGA → MCO 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 LGA → MCO. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on LGA → MCO, at 41.3%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 88.3% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 56.2%.
How this route holds up in bad weather
July 2023 – July 2026
Bad weather raises cancellations by a similar amount at both ends of LGA to MCO: 4.1 times the normal rate at LGA and 3.2 times at MCO. Cancelled in bad weather against normal hours: LGA 9.0% against 2.2%, MCO 4.0% against 1.3%. Flights that did leave MCO in bad weather arrived on time 54.1% of the time, against 76.3% in normal hours.
Bad weather and normal hours at the airports
Scheduled departures, July 2023 – July 2026| Departures from | LGA | MCO |
|---|---|---|
| Cancelled in bad weather | 9.0% | 4.0% |
| Cancelled in normal hours | 2.2% | 1.3% |
| Arrived on time, bad weather | 63.6% | 54.1% |
| Arrived on time, normal hours | 80.9% | 76.3% |
| Departures in bad weather | 56,339 | 33,297 |
Of the carriers on this route, Delta Air Lines (6.5% cancelled against 9.9% for the other carriers at LGA) cancelled the fewest departures from LGA in bad weather and Frontier Airlines (10.6% cancelled against 8.7% for the other carriers at LGA) the most.
This route’s airlines in bad weather at LGA
All departures from LGA| Airline | Bad-weather departures | Cancelled | Other carriers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 10,841 | 6.5%below the others | 9.9% |
| American Airlines | 6,685 | 7.6%below the others | 9.3% |
| JetBlue | 3,007 | 6.9%below the others | 8.3% |
| Spirit Airlines | 2,577 | 8.9%about level | 8.4% |
| Frontier Airlines | 864 | 10.6%above the others | 8.7% |
These are airport figures, not route figures: every scheduled departure from LGA and MCO, to any destination, in hours the weather report called bad. The airline rows count each carrier’s departures from LGA on every route.
Weather source and limits. In full: LGA (airlines), MCO, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 6,495 | 74.2% | 2.74% | -6 min | 10.8% |
| JetBlue | 4,486 | 70.1% | 2.59% | -5 min | 14.4% |
| Spirit Airlines | 2,530 | 80.4% | 3.40% | -14 min | 9.5% |
| American Airlines | 1,623 | 70.5% | 2.22% | -3 min | 13.5% |
| Frontier Airlines | 853 | 63.1% | 4.69% | -1 min | 17.3% |
Delta Air Lines flew 40.6% of the 15,987 flights listed. Frontier Airlines cancelled 4.69% of its flights here against 2.22% for American Airlines.
Spirit Airlines arrived on time 17.3 percentage points more often than Frontier Airlines on this route.
Other ways to fly New York to Orlando
Airport pairs in the same two city markets, as the DOT defines them.
EWR → MCO is the most reliable pairing for this journey at 76.4% on time, against 73.0% for LGA → MCO.
Flying to MCO from the New York area? Compare LGA, EWR, JFK 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.
B6299 (6:00 AM) arrived on time 86.6% of the time, 27.7 points more often than DL2520 (3:35 PM) at 58.9%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 9.0 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 74.7%
- Feb: 75.5%
- Mar: 71.2%
- Apr: 78.2%
- May: 70.2%
- Jun: 67.2%
- Jul: 60.2%
- Aug: 68.4%
- Sep: 78.2%
- Oct: 81.7%
- Nov: 80.7%
- Dec: 70.6%
July is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 21.5 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 52.7% from 431 flights
- August 2023: 70.3% from 434 flights
- September 2023: 67.6% from 434 flights
- October 2023: 91.2% from 479 flights
- November 2023: 84.1% from 473 flights
- December 2023: 78.0% from 465 flights
- January 2024: 74.7% from 471 flights
- February 2024: 75.6% from 472 flights
- March 2024: 70.9% from 489 flights
- April 2024: 83.6% from 417 flights
- May 2024: 75.5% from 374 flights
- June 2024: 73.6% from 341 flights
- July 2024: 66.0% from 371 flights
- August 2024: 64.0% from 382 flights
- September 2024: 83.6% from 318 flights
- October 2024: 86.9% from 364 flights
- November 2024: 90.2% from 450 flights
- December 2024: 73.5% from 480 flights
- January 2025: 74.1% from 481 flights
- February 2025: 76.3% from 461 flights
- March 2025: 77.1% from 517 flights
- April 2025: 77.7% from 447 flights
- May 2025: 62.0% from 431 flights
- June 2025: 58.8% from 385 flights
- July 2025: 60.5% from 404 flights
- August 2025: 70.3% from 433 flights
- September 2025: 84.7% from 395 flights
- October 2025: 66.6% from 422 flights
- November 2025: 67.3% from 446 flights
- December 2025: 59.5% from 466 flights
- January 2026: 75.4% from 512 flights
- February 2026: 74.6% from 470 flights
- March 2026: 65.0% from 523 flights
- April 2026: 73.9% from 475 flights
- May 2026: 74.2% from 371 flights
- June 2026: 70.6% from 345 flights
- July 2026: 62.9% from 358 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 70.3% against 73.8% in the 12 months before — declining by 3.5 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 15,987 LGA → 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