Route profile
RSW→LGA
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Fort Myers to New York, 1,080 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 6% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,047 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
RSW → LGA arrives on time 74.0% of the time; the return trip, LGA → RSW, arrives on time 75.1% of the time.
RSW → LGA spends 24.3 minutes on the ground on a 1,080-mile trip: 16.3 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at RSW and 8.0 minutes from touchdown to gate at LGA.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route's worst arrivals run unusually far past its typical one, a bigger gap than 97% of 4,598 comparable routes.
A typical arrival is 8 min early, but the worst tenth run 82 minutes worse than that.
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 4,598 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where RSW to LGA differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
RSW to LGA is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 4 PM: 80.6% arrive on time, 12.7 points ahead of the 67.9% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 9.9 points.
Monday is the day RSW to LGA slips furthest against routes of similar length, 68.3% on time where they average 75.8%, 7.5 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 9 points.
In March, RSW to LGA runs 10.9 points below routes of similar length, 64.3% on time to 75.2%. Against all other routes the gap is 13.6 points.
Delta Air Lines’ flights on RSW to LGA arrive on time 74.7% of the time, 5.9 points below the 80.6% it manages on its routes of similar length. Against all other routes the gap is 6.8 points.
RSW to LGA against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 4 PM departures | 80.6% | routes of similar length | 67.9% | +12.7 pts | 139 here, 159,969 there |
| Weekday: Monday | 68.3% | routes of similar length | 75.8% | −7.5 pts | 420 here, 429,970 there |
| Month: March | 64.3% | routes of similar length | 75.2% | −10.9 pts | 294 here, 257,524 there |
| Airline: Delta Air Lines | 74.7% | routes of similar length | 80.6% | −5.9 pts | 2,146 here, 473,700 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 1,080 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 RSW → LGA flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
RSW → LGA cancelled 82 of 3,047 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 37. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 57.3% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 65 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 82 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.
47 cancellations, 57.3% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
27 cancellations, 32.9% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
8 cancellations, 9.8% 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.
82 coded cancellations were recorded on RSW → LGA; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
74 min late
against a median of 8 min early
RSW → LGA has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 8 min early, but the worst tenth are 82 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 3,047 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at LGA after arriving from RSW.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 38% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 25% | High risk |
| 60 min | 19% | High risk |
| 90 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 7.7% | 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 2.69% of the time and diverts 0.59% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 2,947 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 74 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,047 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
RSW → LGA flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 89.1% of the time, against 65.1% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 24.0 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 92.1% on time from 166 flights
- 8 AM to 9 AM: too few flights to score
- 10 AM: 82.6% on time from 121 flights
- 11 AM: 77.2% on time from 592 flights
- 12 PM: 79.3% on time from 249 flights
- 1 PM: too few flights to score
- 2 PM: 67.1% on time from 150 flights
- 3 PM: 70.1% on time from 511 flights
- 4 PM: 80.6% on time from 140 flights
- 5 PM: too few flights to score
- 6 PM: 69.9% on time from 180 flights
- 7 PM: 63.8% on time from 687 flights
- 8 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why RSW → LGA 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
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for RSW → LGA. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on RSW → LGA, at 47.0%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 89.1% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 65.1%.
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 | 2,218 | 74.7% | 2.71% | -9 min | 11.9% |
| JetBlue | 452 | 75.8% | 2.21% | -9 min | 12.3% |
| American Airlines | 377 | 67.5% | 3.18% | -2 min | 14.9% |
Delta Air Lines flew 72.8% of the 3,047 flights listed.
JetBlue arrived on time 8.3 percentage points more often than American Airlines on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Saturday is historically the most reliable day and Monday the least, a gap of 9.8 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 75.8%
- Feb: 70.8%
- Mar: 64.3%
- Apr: 76.2%
- May: 74.6%
- Jun: 73.4%
- Jul: 68.4%
- Aug: 76.1%
- Sep: 84.5%
- Oct: 82.5%
- Nov: 76.4%
- Dec: 70.6%
March is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 20.2 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 78.3% from 124 flights
- August 2023: 82.6% from 124 flights
- September 2023: too few flights to score (95)
- October 2023: too few flights to score (96)
- November 2023: too few flights to score (100)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (113)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (94)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (102)
- March 2024: 71.9% from 123 flights
- April 2024: too few flights to score (90)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (62)
- June 2024: too few flights to score (60)
- July 2024: too few flights to score (62)
- August 2024: too few flights to score (62)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (60)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (62)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (84)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (91)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (91)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (84)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- April 2025: too few flights to score (90)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (66)
- June 2025: too few flights to score (60)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (62)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (60)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (60)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (59)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (84)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (91)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (89)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (80)
- March 2026: too few flights to score (92)
- April 2026: too few flights to score (90)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (82)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (55)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (55)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 70.5% against 71.3% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,047 RSW → LGA 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