Route profile
MSP→FLL
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Minneapolis to Fort Lauderdale, 1,487 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 85% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 2,162 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
MSP → FLL arrives on time 83.1% of the time; the return trip, FLL → MSP, arrives on time 82.5% of the time.
MSP → FLL spends 26.4 minutes on the ground on a 1,487-mile trip: 18.9 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at MSP and 7.5 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 MSP to FLL differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
MSP to FLL is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 6 PM: 79.3% arrive on time, 8.9 points ahead of the 70.4% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 10.7 points.
MSP to FLL struggles most at 7 AM: 81.6% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 6.7 points behind the 88.3% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 6.2 points.
MSP to FLL holds up on Mondays better than routes of similar length do: 86.1% on time to their 77.2%, a 8.9 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 8.9 points.
July is kinder to MSP to FLL than to routes of similar length: 81.5% on time against 70.0%, 11.5 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 11.8 points.
MSP to FLL against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 6 PM departures | 79.3% | routes of similar length | 70.4% | +8.9 pts | 576 here, 100,129 there |
| Hour: 7 AM departures | 81.6% | routes of similar length | 88.3% | −6.7 pts | 370 here, 120,511 there |
| Weekday: Monday | 86.1% | routes of similar length | 77.2% | +8.9 pts | 302 here, 213,787 there |
| Month: July | 81.5% | routes of similar length | 70.0% | +11.5 pts | 130 here, 164,965 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 1,487 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
30 min late
against a median of 10 min early
Percentiles over 2,162 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at FLL after arriving from MSP.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 31% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 16% | High risk |
| 60 min | 9.8% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 5.0% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 3.0% | 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 0.83% of the time and diverts 0.32% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 2,137 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 30 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 2,162 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
MSP → FLL flights departing 9 AM–12 PM arrived on time 89.8% of the time, against 79.2% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 10.6 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 81.6% on time from 373 flights
- 8 AM: 86.4% on time from 563 flights
- 9 AM: 91.0% on time from 191 flights
- 10 AM to 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 81.0% on time from 158 flights
- 1 PM: 83.5% on time from 173 flights
- 2 PM to 5 PM: too few flights to score
- 6 PM: 79.3% on time from 581 flights
- 7 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why MSP → FLL runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
airspace and airport capacity, including weather-driven flow control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for MSP → FLL. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
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 | 2,142 | 83.4% | 0.79% | -10 min | 4.9% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 8.4 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 75.5%
- Feb: 83.9%
- Mar: 78.9%
- Apr: 79.0%
- May: 84.9%
- Jun: no data
- Jul: 81.5%
- Aug to Sep: no data
- Oct: 93.0%
- Nov: 90.9%
- Dec: 81.6%
January is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 17.5 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 81.8% against 82.6% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 2,162 MSP → 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