Carrier performance at one airport
AA→FLL
American Airlines at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International
- Departures
- 7,624
- Period
- July 2025 to June 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 77.6%. The late ones land close to two hours behind schedule. That rests on 7,624 flights, of which United Airlines flew 8,891 at 82.4% on time.
Measured against the airport rather than the country, American Airlines runs 3 points ahead of the 71.5% 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%
7,396 completed departures
Avg delay
100 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
2.53%
At FLL, this carrier only
Rank here
#3
Of 9 carriers clearing the floor at FLL
These figures cover 7,624 flights between July 2025 and June 2026. Beyond the headline rate, 11.2% 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 82.4% of the time; Allegiant Air manages 62.4%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 4,620 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Airlines | 8,891 | 82.4% | 83 min | 1.09% | B |
| Delta Air Lines | 12,884 | 77.2% | 78 min | 2.12% | B |
| American Airlines (this page) | 7,624 | 74.5% | 100 min | 2.53% | C |
| Southwest Airlines | 11,598 | 72.3% | 55 min | 1.08% | C |
| Alaska Airlines | 644 | 71.0% | 57 min | 1.09% | C |
| JetBlue Airways | 22,308 | 68.4% | 66 min | 2.16% | C |
| Spirit Airlines | 18,393 | 67.6% | 70 min | 3.74% | C− |
| Frontier Airlines | 3,202 | 64.6% | 95 min | 3.00% | D |
| Allegiant Air | 4,620 | 62.4% | 76 min | 0.93% | D+ |
Spirit Airlines cancels 3.7% 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 | 2,105 | 82.3% | 98 min | 1.95% | B |
| FLL to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 1,986 | 73.2% | 100 min | 3.37% | C− |
| FLL to PHL · Philadelphia | 1,449 | 77.6% | 114 min | 2.76% | B |
| FLL to ORD · Chicago | 846 | 70.0% | 103 min | 1.54% | C |
| FLL to DCA · Washington | 576 | 67.1% | 81 min | 1.74% | C |
| FLL to LGA · New York | 481 | 55.5% | 97 min | 4.37% | D− |
| FLL to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 181 | 65.9% | 103 min | 0.55% | 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 32 points, against 20 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am1,529 flights90.3%
- 8am–11am971 flights87.5%
- 11am–2pm2,082 flights74.8%
- 2pm–5pm1,211 flights67.7%
- 5pm–8pm1,681 flights58.1%
- 8pm–5am150 flights61.2%
Scale runs 50% to 95%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The 5pm–8pm window is where this operation falls apart: 58.1% on time, against 90.3% 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 2,082 flights scheduled in it.
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. March was the busiest month here, with 775 flights.
Delay causes
What holds this operation up
- 48%Late-arriving aircraft
- 32%Carrier
- 12%National Airspace System
- 9%Extreme weather
48% 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 189,000 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. The split is drawn from 188,847 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 2.53%, against 1.81% 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. 11.2% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 8.1% 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 7,624 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. 7,396 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 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 7,624 flights in this analysis, against 22.4% nationally. Delayed flights are late by close to two hours on average.
Which airline is most reliable on American Airlines at FLL?
United Airlines leads at 82.4% on time across 8,891 flights. Allegiant Air is at the other end on 62.4%, 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 90.3% on time. The 5pm–8pm window is the weakest at 58.1%, 32 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
- American Airlines network-wide record
- Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International (FLL) all carriers
- FLL to CLT route record82.3%
- FLL to DFW route record73.2%
- FLL to PHL route record77.6%
- FLL to ORD route record70.0%
- Why the first flight of the morning is statistically safest
- The best time of day to fly, according to 7.04 million flight records
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, July 2025 to June 2026. Updated monthly. How this data is collected.