Route profile
TPA→FLL
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Tampa to Fort Lauderdale, 197 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 37% of comparable major US routes (4,598 compared)
Calculated from 3,958 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
TPA → FLL arrives on time 78.3% of the time; the return trip, FLL → TPA, arrives on time 75.2% of the time, a 3.1-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
TPA → FLL spends 21.9 minutes on the ground on a 197-mile trip: 13.5 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at TPA and 8.4 minutes from touchdown to gate at FLL.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – July 2026
What stands out
Reliability on this route has fallen unusually sharply over the past year, a bigger swing than 92% of 5,368 comparable routes.
73.1% on time over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), against 83.1% in the 12 months before (2024-08 to 2025-07), a change of 10.0 points.
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 FLL differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – July 2026.
TPA to FLL struggles most at 6 PM: 49.3% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 18.1 points behind the 67.4% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 19.3 points.
TPA to FLL is at its best against routes of similar length for flights scheduled at 3 PM: 80.3% arrive on time, 8.6 points ahead of the 71.7% those routes manage at that hour.
In March, TPA to FLL runs 7.9 points below routes of similar length, 69.8% on time to 77.7%. Against all other routes the gap is 8.1 points.
November is kinder to TPA to FLL than to routes of similar length: 89.3% on time against 82.9%, 6.4 points better. Against all other routes the gap is 5.9 points.
Spirit Airlines’ flights on TPA to FLL arrive on time 77.0% of the time, 2.8 points below the 79.8% it manages on its routes of similar length.
TPA to FLL against comparable routes
July 2023 – July 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 6 PM departures | 49.3% | routes of similar length | 67.4% | −18.1 pts | 209 here, 31,873 there |
| Hour: 3 PM departures | 80.3% | routes of similar length | 71.7% | +8.6 pts | 127 here, 28,953 there |
| Month: March | 69.8% | routes of similar length | 77.7% | −7.9 pts | 361 here, 44,350 there |
| Month: November | 89.3% | routes of similar length | 82.9% | +6.4 pts | 317 here, 43,347 there |
| Airline: Spirit Airlines | 77.0% | routes of similar length | 79.8% | −2.8 pts | 2,204 here, 19,376 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 197 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 → FLL flights are cancelled
July 2023 – July 2026
TPA → FLL cancelled 86 of 3,958 scheduled flights — about 1 in every 46. The reason filed most often was extreme weather, 59.3% of the cancellations coded on this route — about 1 in every 78 scheduled flights.
Share of cancellations
Of 86 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.
51 cancellations, 59.3% of the total.
Crew, maintenance, aircraft cleaning, baggage or fueling: what BTS counts as within the carrier’s own control.
24 cancellations, 27.9% of the total.
Airport capacity, air traffic control flow programs, heavy traffic and ordinary bad weather. A system decision, not the airline’s.
11 cancellations, 12.8% 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.
86 coded cancellations were recorded on TPA → FLL; the section appears from 50.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – July 2026
45 min late
against a median of 7 min early
Percentiles over 3,958 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at FLL after arriving from TPA.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 36% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 21% | High risk |
| 60 min | 14% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 7.8% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.5% | 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 2.17% of the time and diverts 0.08% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,869 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 45 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,958 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
TPA → FLL flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 90.1% of the time, against 65.0% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 25.1 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 4 AM: too few flights to score
- 5 AM: 92.5% on time from 212 flights
- 6 AM: 92.3% on time from 242 flights
- 7 AM: 96.0% on time from 154 flights
- 8 AM: 85.5% on time from 433 flights
- 9 AM: 90.0% on time from 170 flights
- 10 AM: 87.1% on time from 548 flights
- 11 AM to 2 PM: too few flights to score
- 3 PM: 80.3% on time from 132 flights
- 4 PM: 69.4% on time from 235 flights
- 5 PM: 65.6% on time from 237 flights
- 6 PM: 49.3% on time from 212 flights
- 7 PM: 69.3% on time from 142 flights
- 8 PM: 72.7% on time from 362 flights
- 9 PM: 68.8% on time from 450 flights
- 10 PM: 69.1% on time from 145 flights
- 11 PM: too few flights to score
Why TPA → 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 TPA → FLL. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on TPA → FLL, at 54.0%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 90.1% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 65.0%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spirit Airlines | 2,265 | 77.0% | 2.69% | -7 min | 9.0% |
| Southwest Airlines | 1,400 | 78.5% | 1.21% | -6 min | 6.4% |
| JetBlue | 293 | 87.3% | 2.73% | -10 min | 5.7% |
Spirit Airlines flew 57.2% of the 3,958 flights listed. JetBlue cancelled 2.73% of its flights here against 1.21% for Southwest Airlines.
JetBlue arrived on time 10.3 percentage points more often than Spirit Airlines on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Tuesday is historically the most reliable day and Thursday the least, a gap of 10.3 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 78.2%
- Feb: 74.6%
- Mar: 69.8%
- Apr: 83.9%
- May: 79.9%
- Jun: 77.1%
- Jul: 74.6%
- Aug: 76.8%
- Sep: 83.7%
- Oct: 78.7%
- Nov: 89.3%
- Dec: 75.1%
March is historically the weakest month and November the strongest, a spread of 19.5 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – July 2026
- July 2023: too few flights to score (119)
- August 2023: too few flights to score (105)
- September 2023: too few flights to score (117)
- October 2023: 86.0% from 136 flights
- November 2023: too few flights to score (118)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (116)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (117)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (108)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (114)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (112)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (116)
- June 2024: too few flights to score (91)
- July 2024: too few flights to score (91)
- August 2024: too few flights to score (93)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (83)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (89)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (89)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (94)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (84)
- March 2025: too few flights to score (93)
- April 2025: too few flights to score (87)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (92)
- June 2025: too few flights to score (90)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (90)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (104)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (107)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (113)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (118)
- December 2025: 69.7% from 150 flights
- January 2026: 74.5% from 156 flights
- February 2026: 60.9% from 140 flights
- March 2026: 56.1% from 165 flights
- April 2026: 76.7% from 137 flights
- May 2026: too few flights to score (65)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (73)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (93)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-08 to 2026-07), on-time arrivals averaged 73.1% against 83.1% in the 12 months before — declining by 10.0 percentage points.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,958 TPA → 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