Route profile
MIA→DEN
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Miami to Denver, 1,709 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 7,698 flights. How this is calculated
MIA → DEN arrives on time 75.1% of the time; the return trip, DEN → MIA, arrives on time 71.7% of the time, a 3.5-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
MIA → DEN spends 31.5 minutes on the ground on a 1,709-mile trip: 20.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MIA and 10.8 minutes from touchdown to gate at DEN.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where MIA to DEN differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MIA to DEN struggles most at 4 PM: 53.1% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 18.4 points behind the 71.5% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 17.6 points.
MIA to DEN is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 7 PM: 76.6% arrive on time, 11.3 points ahead of the 65.3% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 8.8 points.
In September, MIA to DEN runs 9 points below routes of similar length, 73.1% on time to 82.1%. Against all other routes the gap is 9.3 points.
Southwest Airlines’ flights on MIA to DEN arrive on time 66.8% of the time, 8.5 points below the 75.3% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 10.6 points.
Frontier Airlines does better on MIA to DEN than on its routes of similar length: 74.1% on time here, 68.8% there, 5.3 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 2.9 points.
MIA to DEN against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 4 PM departures | 53.1% | routes of similar length | 71.5% | −18.4 pts | 343 here, 74,550 there |
| Hour: 7 PM departures | 76.6% | routes of similar length | 65.3% | +11.3 pts | 141 here, 53,704 there |
| Month: September | 73.1% | routes of similar length | 82.1% | −9.0 pts | 412 here, 109,316 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 66.8% | routes of similar length | 75.3% | −8.5 pts | 929 here, 270,487 there |
| Airline: Frontier Airlines | 74.1% | routes of similar length | 68.8% | +5.3 pts | 1,162 here, 57,060 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 1,709 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 MIA → DEN flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
MIA → DEN cancelled 57 of 7,698 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 135. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 59.6% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 226 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 57 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.
34 cancellations, 59.6% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
16 cancellations, 28.1% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
7 cancellations, 12.3% 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.
57 coded cancellations were recorded on MIA → DEN; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
53 min late
against a median of 5 min early
Percentiles over 7,698 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at DEN after arriving from MIA.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 41% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 24% | High risk |
| 60 min | 16% | High risk |
| 90 min | 8.9% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 5.6% | 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 0.74% of the time and diverts 0.49% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 7,603 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 53 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 7,698 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MIA → DEN flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 87.6% of the time, against 60.0% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 27.6 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 81.5% on time from 146 flights
- 6 AM: 87.1% on time from 681 flights
- 7 AM: 89.4% on time from 1,045 flights
- 8 AM: 86.9% on time from 1,005 flights
- 9 AM: 81.6% on time from 643 flights
- 10 AM: too few flights to score
- 11 AM: 73.6% on time from 129 flights
- 12 PM: 74.7% on time from 155 flights
- 1 PM: too few flights to score
- 2 PM: 68.9% on time from 200 flights
- 3 PM: 68.2% on time from 1,289 flights
- 4 PM: 53.1% on time from 346 flights
- 5 PM: 63.2% on time from 258 flights
- 6 PM: 64.7% on time from 156 flights
- 7 PM: 76.6% on time from 143 flights
- 8 PM: 64.2% on time from 734 flights
- 9 PM: 61.3% on time from 508 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why MIA → DEN 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 MIA → DEN. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on MIA → DEN, 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 87.6% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 60.0%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 2,714 | 80.2% | 0.41% | -7 min | 7.3% |
| American Airlines | 2,694 | 72.5% | 0.85% | -4 min | 9.6% |
| Frontier Airlines | 1,181 | 74.1% | 1.35% | -4 min | 10.3% |
| Southwest Airlines | 947 | 66.8% | 0.74% | 1 min | 11.7% |
United Airlines flew 36.0% of the 7,536 flights listed.
United Airlines arrived on time 13.4 percentage points more often than Southwest Airlines on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| F91279 Frontier Airlines | 6:00 AM | 680 | 81.9% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 7.1 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 75.5%
- Feb: 79.1%
- Mar: 72.2%
- Apr: 79.9%
- May: 73.2%
- Jun: 70.4%
- Jul: 66.7%
- Aug: 67.8%
- Sep: 73.1%
- Oct: 84.5%
- Nov: 82.2%
- Dec: 79.5%
July is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 17.8 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 61.5% from 220 flights
- August 2023: 71.7% from 206 flights
- September 2023: 70.8% from 131 flights
- October 2023: 80.4% from 148 flights
- November 2023: 81.9% from 193 flights
- December 2023: 85.5% from 227 flights
- January 2024: 72.7% from 235 flights
- February 2024: 69.7% from 219 flights
- March 2024: 68.1% from 278 flights
- April 2024: 74.6% from 213 flights
- May 2024: 64.2% from 206 flights
- June 2024: 65.3% from 210 flights
- July 2024: 59.4% from 216 flights
- August 2024: 60.3% from 154 flights
- September 2024: 69.4% from 124 flights
- October 2024: 93.0% from 175 flights
- November 2024: 85.4% from 200 flights
- December 2024: 78.5% from 228 flights
- January 2025: 75.7% from 269 flights
- February 2025: 83.1% from 249 flights
- March 2025: 75.0% from 287 flights
- April 2025: 82.4% from 218 flights
- May 2025: 75.9% from 218 flights
- June 2025: 76.4% from 198 flights
- July 2025: 76.1% from 207 flights
- August 2025: 69.7% from 183 flights
- September 2025: 77.8% from 158 flights
- October 2025: 79.5% from 172 flights
- November 2025: 79.4% from 204 flights
- December 2025: 74.6% from 241 flights
- January 2026: 78.0% from 253 flights
- February 2026: 83.6% from 238 flights
- March 2026: 73.3% from 281 flights
- April 2026: 82.8% from 195 flights
- May 2026: 79.9% from 180 flights
- June 2026: 69.7% from 179 flights
- July 2026: 70.8% from 185 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 76.6% against 78.0% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 7,698 MIA → DEN 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