Route profile
PHL→RSW
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Philadelphia to Fort Myers, 993 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 13% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 4,335 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
PHL → RSW arrives on time 74.2% of the time; the return trip, RSW → PHL, arrives on time 73.7% of the time.
PHL → RSW spends 28.7 minutes on the ground on a 993-mile trip: 22.1 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at PHL and 6.6 minutes from touchdown to gate at RSW.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route has stayed remarkably steady year over year, a smaller swing than 100% of 5,368 comparable routes.
72.9% on time over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), against 72.9% in the 12 months before (2024-08 to 2025-07), virtually unchanged.
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 5,368 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where PHL to RSW differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
PHL to RSW struggles most at 7 AM: 73.5% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 14.7 points behind the 88.2% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 14.3 points.
Saturday is the day PHL to RSW slips furthest against routes of similar length, 71.6% on time where they average 77.5%, 5.9 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 7.5 points.
In January, PHL to RSW runs 6.9 points below routes of similar length, 70.6% on time to 77.5%. Against all other routes the gap is 8.5 points.
Frontier Airlines’ flights on PHL to RSW arrive on time 70.1% of the time, 3.1 points below the 73.2% it manages on its routes of similar length.
PHL to RSW against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 7 AM departures | 73.5% | routes of similar length | 88.2% | −14.7 pts | 147 here, 248,628 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 71.6% | routes of similar length | 77.5% | −5.9 pts | 584 here, 405,190 there |
| Month: January | 70.6% | routes of similar length | 77.5% | −6.9 pts | 415 here, 232,843 there |
| Airline: Frontier Airlines | 70.1% | routes of similar length | 73.2% | −3.1 pts | 1,139 here, 157,722 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 993 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 PHL → RSW flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
PHL → RSW cancelled 102 of 4,335 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 43. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 70.6% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 60 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 102 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.
72 cancellations, 70.6% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
27 cancellations, 26.5% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
3 cancellations, 2.9% 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.
102 coded cancellations were recorded on PHL → RSW; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
61 min late
against a median of 5 min early
PHL → RSW has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 5 min early, but the worst tenth are 66 minutes worse than that. If the trip has something unmissable at the end of it, the median is the wrong number to plan against.
Percentiles over 4,335 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at RSW after arriving from PHL.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 40% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 25% | High risk |
| 60 min | 18% | High risk |
| 90 min | 10% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 6.2% | 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 2.35% of the time and diverts 0.30% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 4,220 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 61 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 4,335 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
PHL → RSW flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 79.2% of the time, against 65.2% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 14.0 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 82.6% on time from 135 flights
- 6 AM: 80.4% on time from 149 flights
- 7 AM: 73.5% on time from 152 flights
- 8 AM: 79.5% on time from 798 flights
- 9 AM: too few flights to score
- 10 AM: 78.4% on time from 530 flights
- 11 AM: 74.2% on time from 365 flights
- 12 PM: too few flights to score
- 1 PM: 74.9% on time from 370 flights
- 2 PM: 71.6% on time from 230 flights
- 3 PM: 64.4% on time from 137 flights
- 4 PM: 65.4% on time from 142 flights
- 5 PM: 65.6% on time from 138 flights
- 6 PM: 68.0% on time from 131 flights
- 7 PM: 68.5% on time from 454 flights
- 8 PM: 71.4% on time from 236 flights
- 9 PM: 70.2% on time from 149 flights
- 10 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why PHL → RSW 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 PHL → RSW. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on PHL → RSW, at 45.6%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 79.2% of the time and 3–6 PM departures 65.2%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 3,046 | 75.4% | 1.94% | -5 min | 9.7% |
| Frontier Airlines | 1,183 | 70.1% | 3.55% | -5 min | 12.2% |
American Airlines flew 72.0% of the 4,229 flights listed. Frontier Airlines cancelled 3.55% of its flights here against 1.94% for American Airlines.
American Airlines arrived on time 5.3 percentage points more often than Frontier 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| F91577 Frontier Airlines | 6:00 AM | 617 | 71.8% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 10.4 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 70.6%
- Feb: 75.8%
- Mar: 70.2%
- Apr: 76.0%
- May: 76.7%
- Jun: 76.4%
- Jul: 65.7%
- Aug: 75.1%
- Sep: 78.9%
- Oct: 79.1%
- Nov: 81.9%
- Dec: 70.8%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 16.2 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: too few flights to score (119)
- August 2023: too few flights to score (105)
- September 2023: too few flights to score (109)
- October 2023: too few flights to score (109)
- November 2023: 79.4% from 127 flights
- December 2023: 80.1% from 163 flights
- January 2024: 74.2% from 184 flights
- February 2024: 80.7% from 166 flights
- March 2024: 70.2% from 173 flights
- April 2024: 85.2% from 129 flights
- May 2024: too few flights to score (83)
- June 2024: too few flights to score (78)
- July 2024: too few flights to score (79)
- August 2024: too few flights to score (77)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (76)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (76)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (105)
- December 2024: 65.5% from 142 flights
- January 2025: 65.1% from 127 flights
- February 2025: 70.6% from 123 flights
- March 2025: 75.7% from 150 flights
- April 2025: 74.7% from 180 flights
- May 2025: too few flights to score (116)
- June 2025: too few flights to score (101)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (107)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (80)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (73)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (81)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (116)
- December 2025: 64.9% from 133 flights
- January 2026: 71.2% from 121 flights
- February 2026: 74.2% from 142 flights
- March 2026: 65.2% from 166 flights
- April 2026: too few flights to score (108)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (115)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (102)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (94)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 72.9% against 72.9% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 4,335 PHL → 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