Route profile
MCI→FLL
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Kansas City to Fort Lauderdale, 1,242 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 34% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 1,679 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
MCI → FLL arrives on time 74.0% of the time; the return trip, FLL → MCI, arrives on time 73.6% of the time.
MCI → FLL spends 19.6 minutes on the ground on a 1,242-mile trip: 12.5 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MCI and 7.0 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 MCI to FLL differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MCI to FLL is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 1 PM: 82.8% arrive on time, 7.8 points ahead of the 75.0% those routes manage at that hour.
MCI to FLL struggles most at 2 PM: 67.9% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 4.7 points behind the 72.6% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 6.7 points.
Thursday is the day MCI to FLL slips furthest against routes of similar length, 68.0% on time where they average 75.9%, 7.9 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 8.8 points.
In December, MCI to FLL runs 12.1 points below routes of similar length, 65.2% on time to 77.3%. Against all other routes the gap is 13.6 points.
MCI to FLL against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 1 PM departures | 82.8% | routes of similar length | 75.0% | +7.8 pts | 163 here, 104,452 there |
| Hour: 2 PM departures | 67.9% | routes of similar length | 72.6% | −4.7 pts | 364 here, 112,857 there |
| Weekday: Thursday | 68.0% | routes of similar length | 75.9% | −7.9 pts | 175 here, 280,826 there |
| Month: December | 65.2% | routes of similar length | 77.3% | −12.1 pts | 141 here, 161,611 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 1,242 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.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
45 min late
against a median of 1 min early
Percentiles over 1,679 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at FLL after arriving from MCI.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 48% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 25% | High risk |
| 60 min | 16% | High risk |
| 90 min | 7.2% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.4% | 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 1.31% of the time and diverts 0.36% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 1,651 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 45 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 1,679 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MCI → FLL flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 87.7% of the time, against 62.4% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 25.3 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 77.9% on time from 120 flights
- 1 PM: 82.8% on time from 165 flights
- 2 PM: 67.9% on time from 373 flights
- 3 PM: 70.3% on time from 280 flights
- 4 PM: 72.8% on time from 151 flights
- 5 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why MCI → 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 MCI → FLL. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on MCI → FLL, at 37.0%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 87.7% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 62.4%.
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 | 1,297 | 74.9% | 0.93% | 0 min | 6.6% |
| Spirit Airlines | 382 | 70.6% | 2.62% | -3 min | 9.7% |
Southwest Airlines flew 77.2% of the 1,679 flights listed. Spirit Airlines cancelled 2.62% of its flights here against 0.93% for Southwest Airlines.
Southwest Airlines arrived on time 4.3 percentage points more often than Spirit Airlines 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 12.5 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 70.4%
- Feb: 83.6%
- Mar: 63.8%
- Apr: 72.7%
- May: 69.1%
- Jun: 70.1%
- Jul: 73.6%
- Aug: 81.5%
- Sep to Oct: no data
- Nov: 80.6%
- Dec: 65.2%
March is historically the weakest month and February the strongest, a spread of 19.8 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 74.2% against 79.8% in the 12 months before — declining by 5.6 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 1,679 MCI → 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