Route profile
STL→FLL
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from St. Louis to Fort Lauderdale, 1,057 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 46% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 2,612 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
STL → FLL arrives on time 75.1% of the time; the return trip, FLL → STL, arrives on time 76.3% of the time.
STL → FLL spends 18.1 minutes on the ground on a 1,057-mile trip: 11.8 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at STL and 6.3 minutes from touchdown to gate at FLL.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where STL to FLL differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
STL to FLL is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 6 PM: 75.4% arrive on time, 8.3 points ahead of the 67.1% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 6.8 points.
STL to FLL struggles most at 2 PM: 64.7% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 8.3 points behind the 73.0% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 9.9 points.
Saturday is the day STL to FLL slips furthest against routes of similar length, 71.7% on time where they average 77.1%, 5.4 points lower. Against all other routes the gap is 7.4 points.
In March, STL to FLL runs 7.3 points below routes of similar length, 68.0% on time to 75.3%. Against all other routes the gap is 9.9 points.
STL to FLL against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 6 PM departures | 75.4% | routes of similar length | 67.1% | +8.3 pts | 345 here, 178,470 there |
| Hour: 2 PM departures | 64.7% | routes of similar length | 73.0% | −8.3 pts | 190 here, 174,986 there |
| Weekday: Saturday | 71.7% | routes of similar length | 77.1% | −5.4 pts | 554 here, 382,583 there |
| Month: March | 68.0% | routes of similar length | 75.3% | −7.3 pts | 291 here, 252,592 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 1,057 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
42 min late
against a median of 2 min early
Percentiles over 2,612 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at FLL after arriving from STL.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 45% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 24% | High risk |
| 60 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 7.2% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.1% | 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 0.88% of the time and diverts 0.31% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 2,581 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 42 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 2,612 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
STL → FLL flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 86.4% of the time, against 64.2% for 12–3 PM departures, a gap of 22.2 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 91.3% on time from 128 flights
- 7 AM: 82.3% on time from 316 flights
- 8 AM: 86.3% on time from 190 flights
- 9 AM: too few flights to score
- 10 AM: 82.9% on time from 177 flights
- 11 AM to 1 PM: too few flights to score
- 2 PM: 64.7% on time from 193 flights
- 3 PM to 4 PM: too few flights to score
- 5 PM: 71.9% on time from 189 flights
- 6 PM: 75.4% on time from 351 flights
- 7 PM: 68.2% on time from 216 flights
- 8 PM: 62.9% on time from 258 flights
- 9 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why STL → FLL 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 STL → FLL. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on STL → FLL, at 46.6%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 86.4% of the time and 12–3 PM departures 64.2%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 2,308 | 75.8% | 0.61% | -2 min | 6.7% |
| Spirit Airlines | 300 | 69.7% | 3.00% | -3 min | 12.8% |
Southwest Airlines flew 88.5% of the 2,608 flights listed. Spirit Airlines cancelled 3.00% of its flights here against 0.61% for Southwest Airlines.
Southwest Airlines arrived on time 6.1 percentage points more often than Spirit Airlines on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 11.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 71.0%
- Feb: 83.9%
- Mar: 68.0%
- Apr: 80.2%
- May: 73.4%
- Jun: 70.9%
- Jul: 67.4%
- Aug: 69.3%
- Sep: 83.8%
- Oct: 78.5%
- Nov: 86.8%
- Dec: 73.5%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 19.4 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 74.3% against 80.0% in the 12 months before — declining by 5.7 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 2,612 STL → 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