Route profile
TPA→PHX
Flight reliability, delays and best times to fly from Tampa to Phoenix, 1,788 miles.
Right now
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Aviation weather is not currently a factor.
Route reliability
July 2023 – August 2026
Better than 53% of comparable major US routes (4,629 compared)
Calculated from 3,618 flights. How this is calculated · What counts as on time
TPA → PHX arrives on time 79.1% of the time; the return trip, PHX → TPA, arrives on time 73.5% of the time, a 5.6-point gap between the two directions of the same city pair.
TPA → PHX spends 24.3 minutes on the ground on a 1,788-mile trip: 15.4 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at TPA and 8.9 minutes from touchdown to gate at PHX.
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics · Data covering July 2023 – August 2026
What sets this route apart
Where TPA to PHX differs most from similar routes by hour, weekday, month and airline, July 2023 – August 2026.
TPA to PHX struggles most at 6 PM: 53.9% of its flights scheduled then arrive on time, 15.7 points behind the 69.6% on routes of similar length at the same hour. Against all other routes the gap is 14.7 points.
TPA to PHX holds up on Fridays better than routes of similar length do: 80.8% on time to their 76.1%, a 4.7 points lead. Against all other routes the gap is 4.6 points.
Southwest Airlines does better on TPA to PHX than on its routes of similar length: 80.8% on time here, 74.8% there, 6 points apart. Against all other routes the gap is 3.4 points.
TPA to PHX against comparable routes
July 2023 – August 2026| Measure | This route | Compared with | Them | Gap | Flights behind it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour: 6 PM departures | 53.9% | routes of similar length | 69.6% | −15.7 pts | 282 here, 74,127 there |
| Weekday: Friday | 80.8% | routes of similar length | 76.1% | +4.7 pts | 526 here, 192,330 there |
| Airline: Southwest Airlines | 80.8% | routes of similar length | 74.8% | +6.0 pts | 1,426 here, 235,153 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 1,788 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.
TPA to PHX in context
This route against TPA and PHX as a whole, against similar routes from TPA, and against its own first year, July 2023 – August 2026.
TPA to PHX arrived on time 80.5% of the time in its latest twelve months (September 2025 to August 2026), 3.5 points above the 77.0% of its first twelve (July 2023 to June 2024).
Of the 3,204 flights scheduled in hours with at least 120 flights, 7 AM is the busiest hour with 1,031 (32.2%), 84.6% of them on time, and 2 PM the quietest with 127 (4.0%), 73.8% of them on time.
Airport comparisons take this route’s flights out of the airport total. Length means within 15% of this route’s distance, with at least 3 other routes from the same origin. On-time gaps are stated at 2 points and 2 standard errors, cancellation gaps at 0.5 points and 2 standard errors, and every group needs 750 flights. These are differences in the flights counted, not causes.
When it goes wrong
July 2023 – August 2026
38 min late
against a median of 4 min early
Percentiles over 3,618 operations; cancelled and diverted flights are counted separately.
Will your connection be tight enough?
Layovers at PHX after arriving from TPA.
| Connection time | Chance of missing | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| 30 min | 41% | Likely to miss |
| 45 min | 20% | High risk |
| 60 min | 12% | Some risk |
| 90 min | 6.7% | Some risk |
| 120 min | 4.4% | 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 0.97% of the time and diverts 0.19% of the time, which a late arrival never shows up in.
Chance of missing is the share of 3,576 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 38 minutes late (90th-percentile gate arrival delay), over 3,618 operations.
Any other layover length: connection checker.
Best time to fly
TPA → PHX flights departing 5–9 AM arrived on time 86.6% of the time, against 57.6% for 6–9 PM departures, a gap of 29.0 percentage points.
By departure window
By departure hour
- 12 AM to 5 AM: too few flights to score
- 6 AM: 90.8% on time from 295 flights
- 7 AM: 84.6% on time from 1,031 flights
- 8 AM: 87.5% on time from 184 flights
- 9 AM: 83.0% on time from 158 flights
- 10 AM: 78.8% on time from 161 flights
- 11 AM to 1 PM: too few flights to score
- 2 PM: 73.8% on time from 127 flights
- 3 PM: too few flights to score
- 4 PM: 76.8% on time from 252 flights
- 5 PM: 74.9% on time from 712 flights
- 6 PM: 53.9% on time from 284 flights
- 7 PM to 11 PM: too few flights to score
Departure windows with fewer than 120 flights are not scored.
Why TPA → PHX runs late
July 2023 – August 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 → PHX. Only delays of 15 minutes or more are attributed. What the five causes mean
Late-arriving aircraft is the largest cause on TPA → PHX, at 42.0%: flights here mostly leave late because the plane came in late, and the day shows it: 5–9 AM departures arrived on time 86.6% of the time and 6–9 PM departures 57.6%.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | 2,112 | 77.9% | 0.95% | -4 min | 8.0% |
| Southwest Airlines | 1,439 | 80.8% | 0.90% | -4 min | 4.7% |
American Airlines flew 59.5% of the 3,551 flights listed.
Southwest Airlines arrived on time 2.9 percentage points more often than American Airlines on this route.
Weekly and seasonal patterns
By day of week
Wednesday is historically the most reliable day and Sunday the least, a gap of 9.6 percentage points.
By month
- Jan: 80.1%
- Feb: 81.4%
- Mar: 76.8%
- Apr: 81.5%
- May: 72.1%
- Jun: 76.3%
- Jul: 72.8%
- Aug: 79.0%
- Sep: 88.0%
- Oct: 84.0%
- Nov: 84.0%
- Dec: 80.7%
May is historically the weakest month and September the strongest, a spread of 15.9 percentage points.
Reliability over time
July 2023 – August 2026
- July 2023: 77.3% from 129 flights
- August 2023: too few flights to score (110)
- September 2023: too few flights to score (65)
- October 2023: too few flights to score (85)
- November 2023: too few flights to score (89)
- December 2023: too few flights to score (91)
- January 2024: too few flights to score (86)
- February 2024: too few flights to score (85)
- March 2024: too few flights to score (100)
- April 2024: too few flights to score (87)
- May 2024: too few flights to score (67)
- June 2024: too few flights to score (90)
- July 2024: too few flights to score (97)
- August 2024: too few flights to score (63)
- September 2024: too few flights to score (47)
- October 2024: too few flights to score (94)
- November 2024: too few flights to score (93)
- December 2024: too few flights to score (95)
- January 2025: too few flights to score (94)
- February 2025: too few flights to score (96)
- March 2025: 78.0% from 142 flights
- April 2025: too few flights to score (119)
- May 2025: too few flights to score (118)
- June 2025: too few flights to score (98)
- July 2025: too few flights to score (97)
- August 2025: too few flights to score (68)
- September 2025: too few flights to score (60)
- October 2025: too few flights to score (101)
- November 2025: too few flights to score (108)
- December 2025: 82.4% from 125 flights
- January 2026: too few flights to score (102)
- February 2026: too few flights to score (110)
- March 2026: 88.2% from 128 flights
- April 2026: 78.3% from 120 flights
- May 2026: too few flights to score (114)
- June 2026: too few flights to score (90)
- July 2026: too few flights to score (92)
- August 2026: too few flights to score (63)
Over the most recent 12 months (2025-09 to 2026-08), on-time arrivals averaged 80.5% against 81.3% in the 12 months before — broadly unchanged.
Data and methodology
Calculated by FlyerIntel from 3,618 TPA → PHX flight records from the US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, covering July 2023 – August 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