Route profile
PHX→TPA
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Phoenix to Tampa, 1,788 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 39% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,564 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
PHX → TPA arrives on time 73.7% of the time; the return trip, TPA → PHX, arrives on time 79.2% of the time, a 5.5-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
PHX → TPA spends 22.3 minutes on the ground on a 1,788-mile trip: 16.4 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at PHX and 5.9 minutes from touchdown to gate at TPA.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Reliability here swings unusually widely by season, a wider month-to-month spread than 92% of 3,357 comparable routes.
87.6% on time in a typical September, against 62.9% in June.
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 3,357 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where PHX to TPA differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
PHX to TPA struggles most at 12 PM: 57.5% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 19.7 points behind the 77.2% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 21.9 points.
Wednesday is the day PHX to TPA slips furthest against routes of similar length, 72.8% on time where they average 80.5%, 7.7 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 8 points.
In March, PHX to TPA runs 10.7 points below routes of similar length, 67.7% on time to 78.4%. Against all other routes the gap is 10.2 points.
Southwest Airlines’ flights on PHX to TPA arrive on time 67.7% of the time, 7.5 points below the 75.2% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 9.7 points.
PHX to TPA against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 12 PM departures | 57.5% | routes of similar length | 77.2% | −19.7 pts | 174 here, 70,060 there |
| Weekday: Wednesday | 72.8% | routes of similar length | 80.5% | −7.7 pts | 460 here, 174,133 there |
| Month: March | 67.7% | routes of similar length | 78.4% | −10.7 pts | 368 here, 101,937 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 67.7% | routes of similar length | 75.2% | −7.5 pts | 1,413 here, 228,221 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 1,788 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
47 min late
against a median of 1 min early
Percentiles over 3,564 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at TPA after arriving from PHX.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 47% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 25% | High risk |
| 60 min | 15% | High risk |
| 90 min | 7.2% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.4% | 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 0.87% of the time and diverts 0.22% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,525 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 47 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,564 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
PHX → TPA flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 83.0% of the time, against 61.8% for 12–3 PM departures, a gap of 21.2 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 88.5% on time from 122 flights
- 8 AM: 79.0% on time from 376 flights
- 9 AM: 77.4% on time from 603 flights
- 10 AM: 82.8% on time from 274 flights
- 11 AM: too few flights to score
- 12 PM: 57.5% on time from 178 flights
- 1 PM: too few flights to score
- 2 PM: 65.9% on time from 132 flights
- 3 PM: 67.4% on time from 481 flights
- 4 PM: 73.7% on time from 574 flights
- 5 PM: 65.7% on time from 253 flights
- 6 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why PHX → TPA 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
screening or terminal security incidents
weather severe enough to stop this flight specifically
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for PHX → TPA. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on PHX → TPA, at 43.3%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 83.0% of the time and 12–3 PM departures 61.8%.
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 | 2,076 | 77.3% | 0.92% | -3 min | 6.9% |
| Southwest Airlines | 1,421 | 67.7% | 0.56% | 3 min | 8.4% |
American Airlines flew 59.4% of the 3,497 flights listed.
American Airlines arrived on time 9.6 percentage points more often than Southwest Airlines on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 5.9 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 75.8%
- Feb: 77.9%
- Mar: 67.7%
- Apr: 78.0%
- May: 75.9%
- Jun: 62.9%
- Jul: 65.2%
- Aug: 71.3%
- Sep: 87.6%
- Oct: 76.2%
- Nov: 83.7%
- Dec: 72.2%
June is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 24.7 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 76.4% from 129 flights
- August 2023: too few flights to score (109)
- September 2023: too few flights to score (65)
- October 2023: too few flights to score (86)
- November 2023: too few flights to score (89)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (90)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (85)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (85)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (100)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (87)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (66)
- June 2024: too few flights to score (90)
- July 2024: too few flights to score (97)
- August 2024: too few flights to score (63)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (46)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (94)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (93)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (95)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (100)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (103)
- March 2025: 84.6% from 144 flights
- April 2025: too few flights to score (118)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (118)
- June 2025: too few flights to score (98)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (97)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (67)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (60)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (102)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (109)
- December 2025: 68.5% from 124 flights
- January 2026: too few flights to score (101)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (110)
- March 2026: 53.2% from 128 flights
- April 2026: 81.7% from 120 flights
- May 2026: too few flights to score (114)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (90)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (92)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 70.3% against 77.8% in the 12 months before — declining by 7.5 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,564 PHX → TPA 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