Route profile
SFO→FLL
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from San Francisco to Fort Lauderdale, 2,584 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 66% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 4,081 flights. How this is calculated
SFO → FLL arrives on time 80.5% of the time; the return trip, FLL → SFO, arrives on time 76.1% of the time, a 4.4-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
SFO → FLL spends 28.1 minutes on the ground on a 2,584-mile trip: 20.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at SFO and 7.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at FLL.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Every day of the week performs about the same on this route, steadier than 91% of 4,467 comparable routes.
83.5% on time on the best day (Tuesday) against 78.7% on the worst (Friday).
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 4,467 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where SFO to FLL differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
SFO to FLL is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 8 PM: 81.7% arrive on time, 11.6 points ahead of the 70.1% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 14.3 points.
SFO to FLL holds up on Thursdays better than routes of similar length do: 81.4% on time to their 77.0%, a 4.4 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 4.6 points.
In March, SFO to FLL runs 10.2 points below routes of similar length, 69.0% on time to 79.2%. Against all other routes the gap is 8.9 points.
June is kinder to SFO to FLL than to routes of similar length: 83.5% on time against 74.4%, 9.1 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 10.8 points.
JetBlue does better on SFO to FLL than on its routes of similar length: 79.6% on time here, 75.4% there, 4.2 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 7.4 points.
SFO to FLL against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 8 PM departures | 81.7% | routes of similar length | 70.1% | +11.6 pts | 218 here, 28,879 there |
| Weekday: Thursday | 81.4% | routes of similar length | 77.0% | +4.4 pts | 590 here, 123,593 there |
| Month: March | 69.0% | routes of similar length | 79.2% | −10.2 pts | 397 here, 66,576 there |
| Month: June | 83.5% | routes of similar length | 74.4% | +9.1 pts | 278 here, 75,310 there |
| Airline: JetBlue | 79.6% | routes of similar length | 75.4% | +4.2 pts | 2,480 here, 108,881 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 2,584 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
37 min late
against a median of 7 min early
Percentiles over 4,081 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at FLL after arriving from SFO.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 35% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 19% | High risk |
| 60 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.0% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.2% | 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 0.93% 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 4,034 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 37 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 4,081 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
SFO → FLL flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 85.7% of the time, against 68.2% for 12–3 PM departures, a gap of 17.5 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 6 AM: too few flights to score
- 7 AM: 89.3% on time from 151 flights
- 8 AM: 85.5% on time from 854 flights
- 9 AM: too few flights to score
- 10 AM: 81.6% on time from 286 flights
- 11 AM: 77.7% on time from 366 flights
- 12 PM to 7 PM: too few flights to score
- 8 PM: 81.7% on time from 219 flights
- 9 PM: 79.5% on time from 625 flights
- 10 PM: 82.2% on time from 508 flights
- 11 PM: 77.8% on time from 627 flights
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why SFO → FLL runs late
July 2023 – July 2026
crew, maintenance, boarding and fueling, all within the carrier’s control
the inbound aircraft was late, so this flight started late
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 SFO → FLL. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JetBlue | 2,500 | 79.6% | 0.52% | -7 min | 7.4% |
| United Airlines | 1,441 | 82.6% | 0.90% | -7 min | 3.7% |
JetBlue flew 63.4% of the 3,941 flights listed.
United Airlines arrived on time 3.0 percentage points more often than JetBlue on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
B6578 (8:00 AM) arrived on time 83.7% of the time, 8.2 points more often than B6278 (8:35 PM) at 75.5%.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Friday the least, a gap of 4.8 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 84.0%
- Feb: 83.7%
- Mar: 69.0%
- Apr: 80.3%
- May: 80.4%
- Jun: 83.5%
- Jul: 71.6%
- Aug: 80.1%
- Sep: 84.3%
- Oct: 89.3%
- Nov: 90.3%
- Dec: 76.5%
March is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 21.3 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: too few flights to score (93)
- August 2023: too few flights to score (93)
- September 2023: too few flights to score (65)
- October 2023: too few flights to score (77)
- November 2023: too few flights to score (100)
- December 2023: 73.4% from 154 flights
- January 2024: 76.8% from 165 flights
- February 2024: 80.5% from 160 flights
- March 2024: 61.4% from 167 flights
- April 2024: 80.0% from 150 flights
- May 2024: 79.2% from 125 flights
- June 2024: too few flights to score (102)
- July 2024: too few flights to score (93)
- August 2024: too few flights to score (92)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (89)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (96)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (119)
- December 2024: 76.6% from 143 flights
- January 2025: 92.1% from 127 flights
- February 2025: too few flights to score (104)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (115)
- April 2025: too few flights to score (106)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- June 2025: too few flights to score (90)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (113)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (80)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (67)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (99)
- November 2025: 91.0% from 122 flights
- December 2025: 79.7% from 143 flights
- January 2026: 84.4% from 122 flights
- February 2026: too few flights to score (105)
- March 2026: 69.7% from 121 flights
- April 2026: too few flights to score (115)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (93)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (90)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (93)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 80.4% against 84.5% in the 12 months before — declining by 4.1 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 4,081 SFO → 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