Carrier performance at one airport
AA→FLL
American Airlines at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International
- Departures
- 7,998
- Period
- September 2025 to August 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 77.3%. The late ones land an hour and a half behind schedule. That rests on 7,998 flights, of which United Airlines flew 9,046 at 82.6% on time.
Measured against the airport rather than the country, American Airlines runs 4 points ahead of the 70.3% 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
74.3%
7,770 completed departures
Avg delay
99 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
2.38%
At FLL, this carrier only
Rank here
#3
Of 9 carriers clearing the floor at FLL
These figures cover 7,998 flights between September 2025 and August 2026. Beyond the headline rate, 11.4% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 8.3% nationally.
Against the competition
Every carrier at FLL, ranked
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. United Airlines arrives on time 82.6% of the time; Allegiant Air manages 60.9%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 4,734 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 9,046 | 82.6% | 81 min | 1.15% | B |
| Delta Air Lines | 12,987 | 76.7% | 74 min | 2.29% | B |
| American Airlines (this page) | 7,998 | 74.3% | 99 min | 2.38% | C |
| Alaska Airlines | 644 | 72.3% | 53 min | 0.93% | C+ |
| Southwest Airlines | 11,494 | 71.2% | 54 min | 1.16% | C |
| JetBlue Airways | 25,162 | 66.9% | 68 min | 2.81% | C |
| Spirit Airlines | 14,820 | 65.2% | 70 min | 4.47% | C− |
| Frontier Airlines | 3,948 | 63.0% | 94 min | 3.47% | D− |
| Allegiant Air | 4,734 | 60.9% | 79 min | 0.91% | D+ |
Spirit Airlines cancels 4.5% 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 | 2,068 | 82.7% | 94 min | 1.89% | B |
| FLL to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 2,032 | 74.0% | 98 min | 2.66% | C |
| FLL to PHL · Philadelphia | 1,628 | 77.4% | 116 min | 2.83% | B |
| FLL to ORD · Chicago | 865 | 69.8% | 99 min | 1.50% | C |
| FLL to LGA · New York | 595 | 55.6% | 100 min | 3.87% | D− |
| FLL to DCA · Washington | 575 | 65.8% | 82 min | 2.43% | C |
| FLL to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 235 | 65.2% | 98 min | 0.43% | 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 35 points, against 22 points between the best and worst carrier.
- 5am–8am1,644 flights91.8%
- 8am–11am999 flights86.6%
- 11am–2pm2,010 flights75.9%
- 2pm–5pm1,403 flights65.9%
- 5pm–8pm1,737 flights57.2%
- 8pm–5am205 flights59.3%
Scale runs 50% to 95%.
The 5pm–8pm window is where this operation falls apart: 57.2% on time, against 91.8% 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. The 11am–2pm window is the busiest, with 2,010 flights scheduled in it.
Across the year
Seasonal pattern
July is the worst month at 66.0% on time, 18 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. March was the busiest month here, with 775 flights.
Delay causes
What holds this operation up
- 46%Late-arriving aircraft
- 33%Carrier
- 13%National Airspace System
- 8%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
46% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. Across 199,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 6 to one. The split is drawn from 198,546 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 2.38% against a national 1.89%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.48%.
11.4% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 8.3% nationally. Ninety minutes is the honest minimum for a connection here, and two hours if the onward flight is on a separate ticket.
The sample behind these figures is 7,998 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 July 66.0%, a swing of 18 points. If the dates move at all, move them out of July before you think about anything else. 7,770 completed flights over 12 months sit behind that.
Common questions
American Airlines at FLL
How often is American Airlines at FLL delayed?
About one flight in four arrives at least 15 minutes late, which is the Department of Transportation's definition of a delayed arrival. That works out to 25.7% of the 7,998 flights in this analysis, against 22.7% 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 82.6% on time across 9,046 flights. Allegiant Air is at the other end on 60.9%, a gap of 22 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 91.8% on time. The 5pm–8pm window is the weakest at 57.2%, 35 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 July delays on American Airlines at FLL?
July is the weakest month at 66.0% on time, compared with 84.2% in October. Across the year that is 18 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
- American Airlines network-wide record
- Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International (FLL) all carriers
- FLL to CLT route record82.7%
- FLL to DFW route record74.0%
- FLL to PHL route record77.4%
- FLL to ORD route record69.8%
- Do airlines run better at their own hubs?
- Why the first flight of the morning is statistically safest
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, September 2025 to August 2026. Last updated ; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.