Route profile
TPA→CLE
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Tampa to Cleveland, 927 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 30% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,410 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
TPA → CLE arrives on time 78.1% of the time; the return trip, CLE → TPA, arrives on time 75.6% of the time, a 2.5-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
TPA → CLE spends 29.0 minutes on the ground on a 927-mile trip: 17.2 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at TPA and 11.8 minutes from touchdown to gate at CLE.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
This route has stayed remarkably steady year over year, a smaller swing than 100% of 5,368 comparable routes.
78.3% on time over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), against 78.3% in the 12 months before (2024-08 to 2025-07), virtually unchanged.
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 5,368 in the comparison.
What sets this route apart
Where TPA to CLE differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
TPA to CLE is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 2 PM: 83.3% arrive on time, 9.5 points ahead of the 73.8% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 8.7 points.
TPA to CLE struggles most at 9 PM: 57.1% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 8.6 points behind the 65.7% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 12.4 points.
TPA to CLE holds up on Thursdays better than routes of similar length do: 80.7% on time to their 76.3%, a 4.4 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 3.9 points.
September is kinder to TPA to CLE than to routes of similar length: 88.2% on time against 82.1%, 6.1 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 5.8 points.
In March, TPA to CLE runs 4.9 points below routes of similar length, 71.8% on time to 76.7%. Against all other routes the gap is 6.1 points.
TPA to CLE against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 2 PM departures | 83.3% | routes of similar length | 73.8% | +9.5 pts | 227 here, 179,889 there |
| Hour: 9 PM departures | 57.1% | routes of similar length | 65.7% | −8.6 pts | 126 here, 83,097 there |
| Weekday: Thursday | 80.7% | routes of similar length | 76.3% | +4.4 pts | 513 here, 433,649 there |
| Month: September | 88.2% | routes of similar length | 82.1% | +6.1 pts | 238 here, 224,000 there |
| Month: March | 71.8% | routes of similar length | 76.7% | −4.9 pts | 401 here, 253,590 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 927 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 → CLE flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
TPA → CLE cancelled 67 of 3,410 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 51. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 52.2% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 97 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 67 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.
35 cancellations, 52.2% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
31 cancellations, 46.3% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
1 cancellation, 1.5% 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. With only one or two carriers on the route, the split mostly reflects how they file. Ordinary bad weather is filed under air traffic, so weather’s full share is larger than its bar.
67 coded cancellations were recorded on TPA → CLE; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
56 min late
against a median of 9 min early
TPA → CLE has an average that understates its risk: a typical arrival is 9 min early, but the worst tenth are 65 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 3,410 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at CLE after arriving from TPA.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 34% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 22% | High risk |
| 60 min | 15% | High risk |
| 90 min | 9.1% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 5.6% | 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 1.96% of the time and diverts 0.18% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,337 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 56 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,410 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
TPA → CLE flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 92.8% of the time, against 62.1% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 30.7 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 92.8% on time from 356 flights
- 6 AM: 93.1% on time from 225 flights
- 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 93.4% on time from 121 flights
- 9 AM: 78.8% on time from 258 flights
- 10 AM: 84.4% on time from 234 flights
- 11 AM: 87.8% on time from 271 flights
- 12 PM: 81.5% on time from 120 flights
- 1 PM: 73.7% on time from 138 flights
- 2 PM: 83.3% on time from 227 flights
- 3 PM: 63.7% on time from 158 flights
- 4 PM: 77.8% on time from 203 flights
- 5 PM: 69.8% on time from 174 flights
- 6 PM: 62.6% on time from 207 flights
- 7 PM to 8 PM: too few flights to score
- 9 PM: 57.1% on time from 130 flights
- 10 PM: 65.2% on time from 347 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why TPA → CLE 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 TPA → CLE. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on TPA → CLE, at 64.9%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 92.8% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 62.1%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frontier Airlines | 2,770 | 77.0% | 2.31% | -9 min | 10.2% |
| United Airlines | 480 | 83.7% | 0.42% | -9 min | 6.3% |
Frontier Airlines flew 85.2% of the 3,250 flights listed. Frontier Airlines cancelled 2.31% of its flights here against 0.42% for United Airlines.
United Airlines arrived on time 6.7 percentage points more often than Frontier Airlines on this route.
Flights on this route
Flight numbers with at least 600 operations here and still on the schedule.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 12.6 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 76.6%
- Feb: 84.0%
- Mar: 71.8%
- Apr: 80.6%
- May: 78.9%
- Jun: 69.8%
- Jul: 66.0%
- Aug: 70.5%
- Sep: 88.2%
- Oct: 87.8%
- Nov: 85.4%
- Dec: 78.5%
July is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 22.2 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: too few flights to score (67)
- August 2023: too few flights to score (74)
- September 2023: too few flights to score (113)
- October 2023: 89.7% from 127 flights
- November 2023: 88.7% from 133 flights
- December 2023: 83.6% from 124 flights
- January 2024: 79.4% from 129 flights
- February 2024: too few flights to score (114)
- March 2024: 60.6% from 134 flights
- April 2024: too few flights to score (102)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (84)
- June 2024: too few flights to score (65)
- July 2024: too few flights to score (70)
- August 2024: too few flights to score (59)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (70)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (74)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (65)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (87)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (95)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (106)
- March 2025: 78.2% from 139 flights
- April 2025: too few flights to score (117)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (96)
- June 2025: too few flights to score (69)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (68)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (68)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (60)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (54)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (64)
- December 2025: too few flights to score (82)
- January 2026: too few flights to score (80)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (86)
- March 2026: 76.5% from 139 flights
- April 2026: too few flights to score (106)
- May 2026: too few flights to score (108)
- 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 78.3% against 78.3% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,410 TPA → CLE 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