Route profile
MCO→FLL
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale, 177 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 42% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 4,107 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
MCO → FLL arrives on time 75.3% of the time; the return trip, FLL → MCO, arrives on time 74.5% of the time.
MCO → FLL spends 24.2 minutes on the ground on a 177-mile trip: 16.2 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MCO and 8.0 minutes from touchdown to gate at FLL.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Every airline on this route performs about the same, a narrower carrier gap than 93% of 2,692 comparable routes.
Spirit Airlines (76.0% on time) and Southwest Airlines (74.7%) are close together here.
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 MCO to FLL differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MCO to FLL struggles most at 9 PM: 62.1% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 8.1 points behind the 70.2% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 7.4 points.
Saturday is the day MCO to FLL slips furthest against routes of similar length, 72.3% on time where they average 79.4%, 7.1 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 6.8 points.
In March, MCO to FLL runs 8.9 points below routes of similar length, 68.6% on time to 77.5%. Against all other routes the gap is 9.3 points.
September is kinder to MCO to FLL than to routes of similar length: 87.2% on time against 80.7%, 6.5 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 4.8 points.
Southwest Airlines’ flights on MCO to FLL arrive on time 74.7% of the time, 4.4 points below the 79.1% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 2.7 points.
MCO to FLL against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 9 PM departures | 62.1% | routes of similar length | 70.2% | −8.1 pts | 383 here, 13,840 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 72.3% | routes of similar length | 79.4% | −7.1 pts | 545 here, 41,120 there |
| Month: March | 68.6% | routes of similar length | 77.5% | −8.9 pts | 341 here, 28,513 there |
| Month: September | 87.2% | routes of similar length | 80.7% | +6.5 pts | 327 here, 28,446 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 74.7% | routes of similar length | 79.1% | −4.4 pts | 1,693 here, 44,120 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 177 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
51 min late
against a median of 4 min early
Percentiles over 4,107 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at FLL after arriving from MCO.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 42% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 24% | High risk |
| 60 min | 16% | High risk |
| 90 min | 8.1% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.8% | 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 0.95% of the time and diverts 0.07% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 4,065 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 51 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 4,107 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MCO → FLL flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 92.3% of the time, against 62.9% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 29.4 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 92.6% on time from 778 flights
- 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 89.9% on time from 268 flights
- 9 AM: 87.3% on time from 268 flights
- 10 AM: 78.4% on time from 332 flights
- 11 AM to 5 PM: too few flights to score
- 6 PM: 62.0% on time from 306 flights
- 7 PM: 66.2% on time from 319 flights
- 8 PM: 63.1% on time from 995 flights
- 9 PM: 62.1% on time from 385 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why MCO → FLL runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
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 MCO → FLL. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on MCO → FLL, at 41.5%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 92.3% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 62.9%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spirit Airlines | 2,250 | 76.0% | 1.16% | -5 min | 8.6% |
| Southwest Airlines | 1,707 | 74.7% | 0.70% | -3 min | 7.4% |
Spirit Airlines flew 56.9% of the 3,957 flights listed.
Carriers on this route performed within a couple of percentage points of each other.
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: 76.2%
- Feb: 79.2%
- Mar: 68.6%
- Apr: 78.7%
- May: 74.1%
- Jun: 70.5%
- Jul: 64.4%
- Aug: 72.9%
- Sep: 87.2%
- Oct: 80.1%
- Nov: 83.6%
- Dec: 71.3%
July is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 22.8 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: too few flights to score (119)
- August 2023: too few flights to score (118)
- September 2023: too few flights to score (116)
- October 2023: 83.7% from 123 flights
- November 2023: 75.2% from 121 flights
- December 2023: 74.2% from 124 flights
- January 2024: 71.3% from 123 flights
- February 2024: too few flights to score (112)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (118)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (118)
- May 2024: 80.0% from 120 flights
- June 2024: too few flights to score (114)
- July 2024: too few flights to score (118)
- August 2024: too few flights to score (98)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (91)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (93)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (93)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (93)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (96)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (84)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (97)
- April 2025: too few flights to score (90)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- June 2025: too few flights to score (90)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- August 2025: 72.3% from 120 flights
- September 2025: 91.0% from 122 flights
- October 2025: 75.4% from 120 flights
- November 2025: too few flights to score (116)
- December 2025: 60.7% from 148 flights
- January 2026: 70.5% from 156 flights
- February 2026: 70.2% from 141 flights
- March 2026: 52.4% from 135 flights
- April 2026: 66.7% from 121 flights
- May 2026: too few flights to score (81)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (95)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (97)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 70.4% against 79.9% in the 12 months before — declining by 9.5 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 4,107 MCO → 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