Route profile
TPA→BWI
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Tampa to Baltimore, 842 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 48% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 9,172 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
TPA → BWI arrives on time 80.1% of the time; the return trip, BWI → TPA, arrives on time 77.1% of the time, a 3.0-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
TPA → BWI spends 21.1 minutes on the ground on an 842-mile trip: 14.7 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at TPA and 6.4 minutes from touchdown to gate at BWI.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where TPA to BWI differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
TPA to BWI is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 2 PM: 81.7% arrive on time, 7.8 points ahead of the 73.9% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 7.1 points.
TPA to BWI holds up on Tuesdays better than routes of similar length do: 85.3% on time to their 80.9%, a 4.4 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 3.7 points.
January is kinder to TPA to BWI than to routes of similar length: 85.9% on time against 78.7%, 7.2 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 6.8 points.
Spirit Airlines does better on TPA to BWI than on its routes of similar length: 81.7% on time here, 74.5% there, 7.2 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 6.4 points.
TPA to BWI against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 2 PM departures | 81.7% | routes of similar length | 73.9% | +7.8 pts | 460 here, 149,942 there |
| Weekday: Tuesday | 85.3% | routes of similar length | 80.9% | +4.4 pts | 1,187 here, 350,910 there |
| Month: January | 85.9% | routes of similar length | 78.7% | +7.2 pts | 665 here, 189,542 there |
| Airline: Spirit Airlines | 81.7% | routes of similar length | 74.5% | +7.2 pts | 616 here, 114,609 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 842 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 TPA → BWI flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
TPA → BWI cancelled 182 of 9,172 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 50. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 74.2% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 68 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 182 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.
135 cancellations, 74.2% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
25 cancellations, 13.7% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
22 cancellations, 12.1% 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.
182 coded cancellations were recorded on TPA → BWI; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
39 min late
against a median of 6 min early
Percentiles over 9,172 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at BWI after arriving from TPA.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 36% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 19% | High risk |
| 60 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.6% | 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 1.98% of the time and diverts 0.26% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 8,966 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 39 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 9,172 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
TPA → BWI flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 93.7% of the time, against 66.0% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 27.7 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 94.8% on time from 649 flights
- 6 AM: 94.6% on time from 566 flights
- 7 AM: 93.0% on time from 727 flights
- 8 AM: 92.4% on time from 549 flights
- 9 AM: 87.4% on time from 697 flights
- 10 AM: 86.2% on time from 542 flights
- 11 AM: 80.3% on time from 413 flights
- 12 PM: 80.8% on time from 615 flights
- 1 PM: 78.4% on time from 373 flights
- 2 PM: 81.7% on time from 466 flights
- 3 PM: 74.7% on time from 445 flights
- 4 PM: 69.3% on time from 575 flights
- 5 PM: 68.1% on time from 474 flights
- 6 PM: 64.5% on time from 647 flights
- 7 PM: 66.0% on time from 504 flights
- 8 PM: 69.1% on time from 299 flights
- 9 PM: 65.3% on time from 485 flights
- 10 PM: 70.8% on time from 141 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why TPA → BWI 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 TPA → BWI. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on TPA → BWI, at 53.6%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 93.7% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 66.0%.
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 | 7,635 | 80.7% | 1.98% | -6 min | 6.1% |
| Frontier Airlines | 902 | 73.9% | 1.33% | -6 min | 12.0% |
| Spirit Airlines | 635 | 81.7% | 2.99% | -8 min | 6.7% |
Southwest Airlines flew 83.2% of the 9,172 flights listed. Spirit Airlines cancelled 2.99% of its flights here against 1.33% for Frontier Airlines.
Spirit Airlines arrived on time 7.8 percentage points more often than Frontier 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 11.5 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 85.9%
- Feb: 84.1%
- Mar: 76.4%
- Apr: 82.3%
- May: 78.9%
- Jun: 74.3%
- Jul: 66.0%
- Aug: 75.5%
- Sep: 86.4%
- Oct: 86.0%
- Nov: 88.8%
- Dec: 83.5%
July is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 22.8 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 63.2% from 264 flights
- August 2023: 76.8% from 237 flights
- September 2023: 80.1% from 199 flights
- October 2023: 86.8% from 242 flights
- November 2023: 87.8% from 287 flights
- December 2023: 80.3% from 305 flights
- January 2024: 83.8% from 268 flights
- February 2024: 88.8% from 249 flights
- March 2024: 69.6% from 294 flights
- April 2024: 85.8% from 283 flights
- May 2024: 76.3% from 289 flights
- June 2024: 74.6% from 285 flights
- July 2024: 64.9% from 290 flights
- August 2024: 73.1% from 266 flights
- September 2024: 89.0% from 251 flights
- October 2024: 88.5% from 254 flights
- November 2024: 92.4% from 263 flights
- December 2024: 88.1% from 261 flights
- January 2025: 87.0% from 217 flights
- February 2025: 84.7% from 206 flights
- March 2025: 79.8% from 271 flights
- April 2025: 77.4% from 275 flights
- May 2025: 82.1% from 252 flights
- June 2025: 67.6% from 252 flights
- July 2025: 63.7% from 261 flights
- August 2025: 76.8% from 229 flights
- September 2025: 89.5% from 200 flights
- October 2025: 82.5% from 215 flights
- November 2025: 85.6% from 205 flights
- December 2025: 82.3% from 211 flights
- January 2026: 87.4% from 206 flights
- February 2026: 77.4% from 204 flights
- March 2026: 80.6% from 262 flights
- April 2026: 83.7% from 266 flights
- May 2026: 78.7% from 255 flights
- June 2026: 81.9% from 203 flights
- July 2026: 74.5% from 195 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 81.7% against 80.9% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 9,172 TPA → BWI 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