Route profile
TPA→DTW
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Tampa to Detroit, 983 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 51% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 7,313 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
TPA → DTW arrives on time 81.2% of the time; the return trip, DTW → TPA, arrives on time 79.4% of the time.
TPA → DTW spends 25.7 minutes on the ground on a 983-mile trip: 15.9 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at TPA and 9.9 minutes from touchdown to gate at DTW.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What sets this route apart
Where TPA to DTW differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
TPA to DTW is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 7 PM: 75.2% arrive on time, 8.9 points ahead of the 66.3% those routes manage at that hour. Against all other routes the gap is 7.4 points.
TPA to DTW holds up on Fridays better than routes of similar length do: 81.5% on time to their 75.6%, a 5.9 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 5.3 points.
June is kinder to TPA to DTW than to routes of similar length: 80.3% on time against 71.5%, 8.8 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 7.6 points.
Spirit Airlines does better on TPA to DTW than on its routes of similar length: 82.8% on time here, 73.9% there, 8.9 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 7.6 points.
TPA to DTW against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 7 PM departures | 75.2% | routes of similar length | 66.3% | +8.9 pts | 435 here, 199,031 there |
| Weekday: Friday | 81.5% | routes of similar length | 75.6% | +5.9 pts | 1,080 here, 459,415 there |
| Month: June | 80.3% | routes of similar length | 71.5% | +8.8 pts | 478 here, 248,862 there |
| Airline: Spirit Airlines | 82.8% | routes of similar length | 73.9% | +8.9 pts | 1,821 here, 175,979 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 983 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 → DTW flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
TPA → DTW cancelled 117 of 7,313 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 63. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 60.7% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 103 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 117 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.
71 cancellations, 60.7% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
40 cancellations, 34.2% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
6 cancellations, 5.1% 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.
117 coded cancellations were recorded on TPA → DTW; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
40 min late
against a median of 6 min early
Percentiles over 7,313 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at DTW after arriving from TPA.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 34% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 18% | High risk |
| 60 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.9% | 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 1.60% of the time and diverts 0.11% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 7,188 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 40 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 7,313 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
TPA → DTW flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 90.9% of the time, against 72.6% for 3–6 PM departures, a gap of 18.3 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 94.5% on time from 184 flights
- 6 AM: 91.7% on time from 1,095 flights
- 7 AM: too few flights to score
- 8 AM: 89.4% on time from 839 flights
- 9 AM: 79.2% on time from 153 flights
- 10 AM: 86.1% on time from 693 flights
- 11 AM: 84.5% on time from 294 flights
- 12 PM: 77.6% on time from 573 flights
- 1 PM: 80.0% on time from 493 flights
- 2 PM: 74.3% on time from 734 flights
- 3 PM: 77.4% on time from 135 flights
- 4 PM: 76.7% on time from 466 flights
- 5 PM: 65.8% on time from 387 flights
- 6 PM: 74.3% on time from 499 flights
- 7 PM: 75.2% on time from 438 flights
- 8 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why TPA → DTW 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 → DTW. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on TPA → DTW, at 44.2%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 90.9% of the time and 3–6 PM departures 72.6%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 4,948 | 81.4% | 1.39% | -6 min | 6.7% |
| Spirit Airlines | 1,865 | 82.8% | 2.36% | -7 min | 6.9% |
| Frontier Airlines | 485 | 74.8% | 0.82% | -5 min | 10.6% |
Delta Air Lines flew 67.8% of the 7,298 flights listed. Spirit Airlines cancelled 2.36% of its flights here against 0.82% for Frontier Airlines.
Spirit Airlines arrived on time 8.0 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 7.1 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 76.1%
- Feb: 82.2%
- Mar: 74.8%
- Apr: 82.6%
- May: 82.4%
- Jun: 80.3%
- Jul: 75.5%
- Aug: 80.0%
- Sep: 90.0%
- Oct: 88.8%
- Nov: 87.5%
- Dec: 80.5%
March is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 15.2 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: 74.8% from 147 flights
- August 2023: 82.8% from 166 flights
- September 2023: 87.8% from 197 flights
- October 2023: 89.2% from 222 flights
- November 2023: 85.8% from 219 flights
- December 2023: 86.5% from 229 flights
- January 2024: 74.9% from 203 flights
- February 2024: 86.3% from 212 flights
- March 2024: 69.7% from 280 flights
- April 2024: 82.9% from 249 flights
- May 2024: 77.7% from 209 flights
- June 2024: 77.5% from 175 flights
- July 2024: 72.0% from 174 flights
- August 2024: 76.5% from 171 flights
- September 2024: 89.6% from 132 flights
- October 2024: 88.7% from 157 flights
- November 2024: 89.6% from 173 flights
- December 2024: 85.0% from 200 flights
- January 2025: 75.8% from 179 flights
- February 2025: 82.2% from 211 flights
- March 2025: 75.9% from 308 flights
- April 2025: 82.5% from 236 flights
- May 2025: 87.1% from 178 flights
- June 2025: 79.9% from 175 flights
- July 2025: 77.7% from 182 flights
- August 2025: 80.8% from 169 flights
- September 2025: 93.3% from 149 flights
- October 2025: 88.5% from 182 flights
- November 2025: 87.5% from 174 flights
- December 2025: 70.6% from 231 flights
- January 2026: 77.4% from 226 flights
- February 2026: 78.4% from 233 flights
- March 2026: 78.3% from 321 flights
- April 2026: 82.5% from 230 flights
- May 2026: 83.6% from 141 flights
- June 2026: 84.7% from 133 flights
- July 2026: 77.7% from 140 flights
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 81.1% against 82.0% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 7,313 TPA → DTW 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