Route profile
TPA→DEN
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Tampa to Denver, 1,506 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 52% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 9,846 flights. How this is calculated
TPA → DEN arrives on time 79.3% of the time; the return trip, DEN → TPA, arrives on time 74.4% of the time, a 4.9-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
TPA → DEN spends 25.6 minutes on the ground on a 1,506-mile trip: 15.7 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at TPA and 9.9 minutes from touchdown to gate at DEN.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where TPA to DEN differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
TPA to DEN struggles most at 10 PM: 56.2% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 12.1 points behind the 68.3% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 15.5 points.
TPA to DEN is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 8 PM: 75.5% arrive on time, 9.7 points ahead of the 65.8% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 8.1 points.
December is kinder to TPA to DEN than to routes of similar length: 84.1% on time against 79.1%, 5 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 5.3 points.
In August, TPA to DEN runs 4.2 points below routes of similar length, 72.1% on time to 76.3%. Against all other routes the gap is 4.4 points.
Frontier Airlines does better on TPA to DEN than on its routes of similar length: 76.0% on time here, 69.3% there, 6.7 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 4.8 points.
TPA to DEN against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 10 PM departures | 56.2% | routes of similar length | 68.3% | −12.1 pts | 203 here, 18,400 there |
| Hour: 8 PM departures | 75.5% | routes of similar length | 65.8% | +9.7 pts | 400 here, 46,537 there |
| Month: December | 84.1% | routes of similar length | 79.1% | +5.0 pts | 856 here, 120,120 there |
| Month: August | 72.1% | routes of similar length | 76.3% | −4.2 pts | 664 here, 126,018 there |
| Airline: Frontier Airlines | 76.0% | routes of similar length | 69.3% | +6.7 pts | 1,868 here, 61,209 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 1,506 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 → DEN flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
TPA → DEN cancelled 130 of 9,846 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 76. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 47.7% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 159 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 130 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.
62 cancellations, 47.7% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
42 cancellations, 32.3% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
26 cancellations, 20.0% 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.
130 coded cancellations were recorded on TPA → DEN; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
41 min late
against a median of 6 min early
Percentiles over 9,846 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at DEN after arriving from TPA.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 38% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 20% | High risk |
| 60 min | 13% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 7.0% | 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 1.32% of the time and diverts 0.42% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 9,675 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 41 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 9,846 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
TPA → DEN flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 89.8% of the time, against 59.6% for 9 PM–5 AM departures, a gap of 30.2 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 93.1% on time from 573 flights
- 6 AM: 90.3% on time from 594 flights
- 7 AM: 88.5% on time from 591 flights
- 8 AM: 88.8% on time from 1,352 flights
- 9 AM: 84.7% on time from 361 flights
- 10 AM: 87.1% on time from 656 flights
- 11 AM: 83.1% on time from 183 flights
- 12 PM: 86.3% on time from 1,271 flights
- 1 PM: 79.1% on time from 396 flights
- 2 PM: 63.6% on time from 246 flights
- 3 PM: 65.7% on time from 434 flights
- 4 PM: 70.5% on time from 1,252 flights
- 5 PM: 64.3% on time from 469 flights
- 6 PM: 58.4% on time from 221 flights
- 7 PM: 64.0% on time from 316 flights
- 8 PM: 75.5% on time from 411 flights
- 9 PM: 65.0% on time from 270 flights
- 10 PM: 56.2% on time from 205 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why TPA → DEN 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
screening or terminal security incidents
Share of the delay minutes US DOT attributed to each cause for TPA → DEN. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed.
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on TPA → DEN, at 46.4%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 89.8% of the time and 9 PM–5 AM departures 59.6%.
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 | 4,127 | 77.5% | 1.07% | -3 min | 6.5% |
| United Airlines | 3,806 | 83.0% | 1.13% | -8 min | 6.5% |
| Frontier Airlines | 1,913 | 76.0% | 2.25% | -7 min | 9.9% |
Southwest Airlines flew 41.9% of the 9,846 flights listed. Frontier Airlines cancelled 2.25% of its flights here against 1.07% for Southwest Airlines.
United Airlines arrived on time 7.0 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.
| Flight | Scheduled | Operations | On time |
|---|---|---|---|
| F91113 Frontier Airlines | 7:00 AM | 709 | 84.0% |
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 5.7 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 81.8%
- Feb: 83.9%
- Mar: 76.9%
- Apr: 80.6%
- May: 75.8%
- Jun: 71.1%
- Jul: 71.2%
- Aug: 72.1%
- Sep: 85.9%
- Oct: 85.9%
- Nov: 87.5%
- Dec: 84.1%
June is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 16.4 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 62.3% from 274 flights
- August 2023: 77.4% from 242 flights
- September 2023: 82.2% from 217 flights
- October 2023: 86.2% from 256 flights
- November 2023: 89.0% from 282 flights
- December 2023: 85.1% from 309 flights
- January 2024: 79.9% from 299 flights
- February 2024: 82.6% from 287 flights
- March 2024: 70.4% from 362 flights
- April 2024: 75.8% from 276 flights
- May 2024: 72.2% from 269 flights
- June 2024: 68.8% from 279 flights
- July 2024: 71.2% from 291 flights
- August 2024: 71.2% from 221 flights
- September 2024: 89.6% from 205 flights
- October 2024: 91.5% from 239 flights
- November 2024: 87.2% from 260 flights
- December 2024: 84.2% from 273 flights
- January 2025: 80.8% from 266 flights
- February 2025: 84.6% from 256 flights
- March 2025: 76.9% from 337 flights
- April 2025: 80.9% from 252 flights
- May 2025: 72.4% from 247 flights
- June 2025: 71.3% from 275 flights
- July 2025: 75.5% from 286 flights
- August 2025: 68.0% from 233 flights
- September 2025: 86.3% from 212 flights
- October 2025: 80.5% from 241 flights
- November 2025: 86.1% from 245 flights
- December 2025: 82.9% from 278 flights
- January 2026: 85.0% from 247 flights
- February 2026: 84.5% from 238 flights
- March 2026: 83.7% from 334 flights
- April 2026: 85.6% from 250 flights
- May 2026: 82.7% from 268 flights
- June 2026: 73.3% from 267 flights
- July 2026: 75.5% from 273 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 81.2% against 80.3% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 9,846 TPA → DEN 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