Carrier performance at one airport
AA→FLL
American Airlines at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International
- Departures
- 7,467
- Period
- June 2025 to May 2026
- Routes
- 7
- Rank here
- #3 of 9
American Airlines at Fort Lauderdale sits in the middle of the pack with a C. Close to three flights in four arrive on time by the DOT's definition, 3 points worse than the national rate of 77.4%. The late ones land an hour and a half behind schedule. That rests on 7,467 flights, of which United Airlines flew 8,844 at 82.1% on time.
Measured against the airport rather than the country, American Airlines runs 3 points ahead of the 71.4% weighted average across all carriers at FLL. That is the comparison worth making: every operator here works the same runways, the same airspace and the same weather.
Key figures
On time
74.5%
7,245 completed departures
Avg delay
99 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
2.56%
At FLL, this carrier only
Rank here
#3
Of 9 carriers clearing the floor at FLL
These figures cover 7,467 flights between June 2025 and May 2026. Beyond the headline rate, 11.1% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule. That is the number that wrecks a connection, and it is not visible in an on-time percentage alone.
Against the competition
Every carrier at FLL, ranked
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. United Airlines arrives on time 82.1% of the time; Allegiant Air manages 62.5%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 4,573 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 8,844 | 82.1% | 82 min | 1.12% | B |
| Delta Air Lines | 12,883 | 76.2% | 79 min | 2.17% | B |
| American Airlines (this page) | 7,467 | 74.5% | 99 min | 2.56% | C |
| Southwest Airlines | 11,693 | 72.7% | 55 min | 1.11% | C |
| Alaska Airlines | 644 | 69.2% | 55 min | 1.24% | C |
| Spirit Airlines | 20,066 | 68.3% | 70 min | 3.49% | C− |
| JetBlue Airways | 21,594 | 68.2% | 67 min | 2.15% | C |
| Frontier Airlines | 2,881 | 62.7% | 93 min | 3.05% | D− |
| Allegiant Air | 4,573 | 62.5% | 77 min | 0.87% | D+ |
Spirit Airlines cancels 3.5% of what it schedules here, the highest in the table. A cancelled flight never appears in an on-time rate, so read that column alongside the punctuality one rather than after it.
Route by route
Where American Airlines flies from FLL
American Airlines operates 7 routes out of FLL with enough volume to report. Route records inside one carrier at one airport still spread widely, because a short shuttle and a transcontinental have very different exposure to a late inbound.
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FLL to CLT · Charlotte | 2,141 | 81.5% | 98 min | 2.06% | B |
| FLL to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 1,970 | 72.7% | 94 min | 3.30% | C− |
| FLL to PHL · Philadelphia | 1,372 | 77.4% | 117 min | 2.77% | B |
| FLL to ORD · Chicago | 827 | 70.3% | 103 min | 1.57% | C |
| FLL to DCA · Washington | 576 | 68.4% | 81 min | 1.74% | C |
| FLL to LGA · New York | 430 | 56.0% | 97 min | 4.65% | D− |
| FLL to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 151 | 65.8% | 109 min | 0.66% | C+ |
Departure window
Best time of day for this operation
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 31 points, against 20 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,503 flights89.8%
- 8am–11am971 flights87.4%
- 11am–2pm2,102 flights74.4%
- 2pm–5pm1,119 flights67.3%
- 5pm–8pm1,642 flights58.4%
- 8pm–5am130 flights61.7%
Scale runs 50% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The 5pm–8pm window is where this operation falls apart: 58.4% on time, against 89.8% for the 5am–8am slot. By evening the aircraft flying these rotations have absorbed a full day of small delays and there is no slack left to recover in.
Across the year
Seasonal pattern
August is the worst month at 68.0% on time, 16 points below October, the best at 84.2%. Summer afternoon convection and peak-season schedules land on the same weeks every year, so this is a pattern you can book around rather than a run of bad luck.
Delay causes
What holds this operation up
- 47%Late-arriving aircraft
- 32%Carrier
- 12%National Airspace System
- 9%Extreme weather
47% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. That is a cascade, and cascades start small and grow through the day. Across 183,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 5 to one. It is the strongest argument for booking the first departure of the morning, when the aircraft has been sitting at the gate overnight with nothing to inherit.
Cancellations run at 2.56%, against 1.80% nationally. That is about one flight in 40 cancelled outright. A cancelled flight is invisible in every on-time figure on this page, so the punctuality numbers above describe only the flights that actually operated.
For anyone connecting, the number to weigh is not the on-time rate but the tail behind it. 11.1% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 8.2% nationally. A 45-minute layover does not survive that, and no amount of walking quickly changes it. Ninety minutes is the honest minimum here, and two hours if the onward flight is on a separate ticket.
The sample behind these figures is 7,467 flights, enough that the headline rate is stable to within roughly a point. The hour-block and month splits divide that further, so read the thinner bars with more caution than the headline.
Put together: the calendar is the biggest lever here, not the carrier or the hour. October runs 84.2% on time and August 68.0%, a swing of 16 points. If the dates move at all, move them out of August before you think about anything else.
Common questions
American Airlines at FLL
How often is American Airlines at FLL delayed?
About one flight in four arrive at least 15 minutes late, which is the Department of Transportation's definition of a delayed arrival. That works out to 25.5% of the 7,467 flights in this analysis, against 22.6% nationally. Delayed flights are late by an hour and a half on average.
Which airline is most reliable on American Airlines at FLL?
United Airlines leads at 82.1% on time across 8,844 flights. Allegiant Air is at the other end on 62.5%, a gap of 20 points. Sample size matters as much as the percentage: a rate built from a few hundred flights moves around far more than one built from ten thousand.
What time of day has the fewest delays on American Airlines at FLL?
The 5am–8am departure window is the strongest at 89.8% on time. The 5pm–8pm window is the weakest at 58.4%, 31 points behind. Later departures inherit delays from earlier flights the same aircraft has already flown, which is why the curve slopes the way it does.
How bad are August delays on American Airlines at FLL?
August is the weakest month at 68.0% on time, compared with 84.2% in October. Across the year that is 16 points between the best and worst months. Moving flexible dates out of that month is one of the few things that reliably helps.
Related
Where to go next
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, June 2025 to May 2026. Updated monthly. How this data is collected.