Route profile
ORD→RSW
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Chicago to Fort Myers, 1,120 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 45% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 8,915 flights. How this is calculated
ORD → RSW arrives on time 79.0% of the time; the return trip, RSW → ORD, arrives on time 78.5% of the time.
ORD → RSW spends 29.8 minutes on the ground on a 1,120-mile trip: 24.2 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at ORD and 5.6 minutes from touchdown to gate at RSW.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where ORD to RSW differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
ORD to RSW struggles most at 8 AM: 76.9% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 8.9 points behind the 85.8% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 9 points.
ORD to RSW is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 2 PM: 80.0% arrive on time, 6.9 points ahead of the 73.1% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 5.4 points.
ORD to RSW holds up on Thursdays better than routes of similar length do: 81.4% on time to their 75.8%, a 5.6 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 4.6 points.
June is kinder to ORD to RSW than to routes of similar length: 80.1% on time against 71.8%, 8.3 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 7.4 points.
In January, ORD to RSW runs 3.4 points below routes of similar length, 73.5% on time to 76.9%. Against all other routes the gap is 5.6 points.
ORD to RSW against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 8 AM departures | 76.9% | routes of similar length | 85.8% | −8.9 pts | 864 here, 172,041 there |
| Hour: 2 PM departures | 80.0% | routes of similar length | 73.1% | +6.9 pts | 400 here, 161,108 there |
| Weekday: Thursday | 81.4% | routes of similar length | 75.8% | +5.6 pts | 1,282 here, 376,745 there |
| Month: June | 80.1% | routes of similar length | 71.8% | +8.3 pts | 502 here, 204,427 there |
| Month: January | 73.5% | routes of similar length | 76.9% | −3.4 pts | 896 here, 197,316 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 1,120 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 ORD → RSW flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
ORD → RSW cancelled 137 of 8,915 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 65. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 54.7% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 119 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 137 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.
75 cancellations, 54.7% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
42 cancellations, 30.7% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
20 cancellations, 14.6% 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.
137 coded cancellations were recorded on ORD → RSW; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
49 min late
against a median of 8 min early
Percentiles over 8,915 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at RSW after arriving from ORD.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 34% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 20% | High risk |
| 60 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 8.1% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.7% | 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 1.54% of the time and diverts 0.34% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 8,748 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 49 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 8,915 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
ORD → RSW flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 85.2% of the time, against 66.0% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 19.2 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 87.8% on time from 624 flights
- 7 AM: 89.1% on time from 1,505 flights
- 8 AM: 76.9% on time from 882 flights
- 9 AM: 80.4% on time from 682 flights
- 10 AM: 82.6% on time from 1,339 flights
- 11 AM: 76.6% on time from 401 flights
- 12 PM: 74.9% on time from 737 flights
- 1 PM: 74.1% on time from 235 flights
- 2 PM: 80.0% on time from 413 flights
- 3 PM: 73.0% on time from 176 flights
- 4 PM: 70.2% on time from 555 flights
- 5 PM: 72.8% on time from 367 flights
- 6 PM: 72.2% on time from 483 flights
- 7 PM: 60.1% on time from 384 flights
- 8 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why ORD → RSW 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 ORD → RSW. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on ORD → RSW, at 39.0%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 85.2% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 66.0%.
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 | 4,627 | 83.2% | 1.23% | -9 min | 6.0% |
| American Airlines | 2,743 | 75.8% | 1.28% | -7 min | 10.1% |
| Spirit Airlines | 1,231 | 71.4% | 3.01% | -5 min | 12.4% |
| Southwest Airlines | 211 | 73.2% | 2.84% | -4 min | 10.2% |
United Airlines flew 52.5% of the 8,812 flights listed. Spirit Airlines cancelled 3.01% of its flights here against 1.23% for United Airlines.
United Airlines arrived on time 11.8 percentage points more often than Spirit 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| UA1740 United Airlines | 7:25 AM | 1,123 | 91.2% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 7.4 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 73.5%
- Feb: 83.4%
- Mar: 72.0%
- Apr: 79.2%
- May: 81.8%
- Jun: 80.1%
- Jul: 73.8%
- Aug: 79.1%
- Sep: 87.9%
- Oct: 88.2%
- Nov: 84.7%
- Dec: 75.2%
March is historically the weakest month and October the strongest, a spread of 16.2 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 68.8% from 159 flights
- August 2023: 78.3% from 161 flights
- September 2023: 80.9% from 152 flights
- October 2023: 89.7% from 216 flights
- November 2023: 85.4% from 226 flights
- December 2023: 79.3% from 295 flights
- January 2024: 64.2% from 323 flights
- February 2024: 86.5% from 303 flights
- March 2024: 72.6% from 344 flights
- April 2024: 83.5% from 308 flights
- May 2024: 78.7% from 217 flights
- June 2024: 81.0% from 153 flights
- July 2024: 76.2% from 124 flights
- August 2024: 82.0% from 136 flights
- September 2024: 91.5% from 122 flights
- October 2024: 91.8% from 157 flights
- November 2024: 90.1% from 213 flights
- December 2024: 78.8% from 299 flights
- January 2025: 86.2% from 290 flights
- February 2025: 83.3% from 259 flights
- March 2025: 77.4% from 342 flights
- April 2025: 81.6% from 309 flights
- May 2025: 85.4% from 207 flights
- June 2025: 78.3% from 180 flights
- July 2025: 75.7% from 182 flights
- August 2025: 77.8% from 180 flights
- September 2025: 91.7% from 169 flights
- October 2025: 83.9% from 201 flights
- November 2025: 79.6% from 266 flights
- December 2025: 68.6% from 338 flights
- January 2026: 70.6% from 318 flights
- February 2026: 80.7% from 343 flights
- March 2026: 67.4% from 469 flights
- April 2026: 73.6% from 364 flights
- May 2026: 81.5% from 232 flights
- June 2026: 81.1% from 177 flights
- July 2026: 74.6% from 181 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 76.0% against 82.8% in the 12 months before — declining by 6.8 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 8,915 ORD → RSW 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