Route profile
MCO→HOU
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Orlando to Houston, 849 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 41% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 6,265 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
MCO → HOU arrives on time 75.2% of the time; the return trip, HOU → MCO, arrives on time 78.7% of the time, a 3.6-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
MCO → HOU spends 23.3 minutes on the ground on an 849-mile trip: 17.2 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MCO and 6.1 minutes from touchdown to gate at HOU.
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 92% of 4,023 comparable routes.
91.9% on time for 5–9 AM departures, against 60.4% for 6–9 PM.
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.
What sets this route apart
Where MCO to HOU differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MCO to HOU struggles most at 7 PM: 56.6% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 10.5 points behind the 67.1% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 11.2 points.
MCO to HOU is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 6 AM: 94.1% arrive on time, 3.5 points ahead of the 90.6% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 3.3 points.
Saturday is the day MCO to HOU slips furthest against routes of similar length, 70.8% on time where they average 78.5%, 7.7 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 8.3 points.
In January, MCO to HOU runs 6.9 points below routes of similar length, 71.8% on time to 78.7%. Against all other routes the gap is 7.3 points.
MCO to HOU against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 7 PM departures | 56.6% | routes of similar length | 67.1% | −10.5 pts | 385 here, 154,604 there |
| Hour: 6 AM departures | 94.1% | routes of similar length | 90.6% | +3.5 pts | 866 here, 189,674 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 70.8% | routes of similar length | 78.5% | −7.7 pts | 837 here, 334,015 there |
| Month: January | 71.8% | routes of similar length | 78.7% | −6.9 pts | 457 here, 191,088 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 849 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 MCO → HOU flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
MCO → HOU cancelled 77 of 6,265 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 81. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 49.4% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 165 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 77 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.
38 cancellations, 49.4% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
23 cancellations, 29.9% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
16 cancellations, 20.8% 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.
77 coded cancellations were recorded on MCO → HOU; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
48 min late
against a median of 3 min early
Percentiles over 6,265 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at HOU after arriving from MCO.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 42% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 24% | High risk |
| 60 min | 15% | High risk |
| 90 min | 7.5% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.3% | 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 1.23% of the time and diverts 0.27% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 6,171 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 48 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 6,265 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MCO → HOU flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 91.9% of the time, against 60.4% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 31.5 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 94.1% on time from 884 flights
- 7 AM: 91.4% on time from 315 flights
- 8 AM: 87.7% on time from 444 flights
- 9 AM: 84.9% on time from 293 flights
- 10 AM: 83.3% on time from 334 flights
- 11 AM: 77.7% on time from 251 flights
- 12 PM: 83.1% on time from 290 flights
- 1 PM: 72.5% on time from 329 flights
- 2 PM: 73.5% on time from 297 flights
- 3 PM: 73.2% on time from 194 flights
- 4 PM: 66.8% on time from 316 flights
- 5 PM: 66.4% on time from 411 flights
- 6 PM: 61.2% on time from 446 flights
- 7 PM: 56.6% on time from 392 flights
- 8 PM: 62.7% on time from 471 flights
- 9 PM: 62.8% on time from 389 flights
- 10 PM: 56.8% on time from 207 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why MCO → HOU 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 → HOU. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on MCO → HOU, at 45.7%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 91.9% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 60.4%.
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 | 6,104 | 75.4% | 1.15% | -3 min | 7.6% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 9.0 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 71.8%
- Feb: 81.7%
- Mar: 75.1%
- Apr: 80.8%
- May: 70.1%
- Jun: 68.8%
- Jul: 63.5%
- Aug: 73.3%
- Sep: 75.4%
- Oct: 81.3%
- Nov: 85.6%
- Dec: 79.2%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 22.1 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 60.0% from 178 flights
- August 2023: 81.5% from 154 flights
- September 2023: 62.2% from 144 flights
- October 2023: 84.9% from 188 flights
- November 2023: 84.7% from 191 flights
- December 2023: 73.7% from 196 flights
- January 2024: 54.8% from 179 flights
- February 2024: 81.9% from 166 flights
- March 2024: 68.4% from 178 flights
- April 2024: 78.2% from 172 flights
- May 2024: 64.3% from 175 flights
- June 2024: 67.4% from 186 flights
- July 2024: 57.5% from 193 flights
- August 2024: 66.0% from 152 flights
- September 2024: 78.9% from 134 flights
- October 2024: 82.5% from 173 flights
- November 2024: 92.7% from 181 flights
- December 2024: 83.1% from 173 flights
- January 2025: 81.8% from 143 flights
- February 2025: 84.7% from 139 flights
- March 2025: 79.9% from 166 flights
- April 2025: 85.5% from 153 flights
- May 2025: 71.0% from 156 flights
- June 2025: 72.0% from 173 flights
- July 2025: 71.3% from 181 flights
- August 2025: 72.2% from 145 flights
- September 2025: 85.5% from 138 flights
- October 2025: 76.6% from 176 flights
- November 2025: 79.3% from 182 flights
- December 2025: 81.2% from 191 flights
- January 2026: 83.2% from 143 flights
- February 2026: 78.5% from 138 flights
- March 2026: 77.3% from 188 flights
- April 2026: 79.1% from 182 flights
- May 2026: 74.7% from 183 flights
- June 2026: 67.1% from 176 flights
- July 2026: 65.0% from 199 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 76.3% against 79.2% in the 12 months before — declining by 2.9 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 6,265 MCO → HOU 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