Carrier performance at one airport
WN→FLL
Southwest Airlines at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International
- Departures
- 11,693
- Period
- June 2025 to May 2026
- Routes
- 21
- Rank here
- #4 of 9
Southwest Airlines at Fort Lauderdale sits in the middle of the pack with a C. About seven flights in ten arrive on time by the DOT's definition, 5 points worse than the national rate of 77.4%. The late ones land about an hour behind schedule. That rests on 11,693 flights, of which United Airlines flew 8,844 at 82.1% on time.
Measured against the airport rather than the country, Southwest Airlines runs about a point 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
72.7%
11,524 completed departures
Avg delay
55 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
1.11%
At FLL, this carrier only
Rank here
#4
Of 9 carriers clearing the floor at FLL
These figures cover 12,000 flights between June 2025 and May 2026. The median arrival is 2 minutes early, which is the part an average hides: most flights here are fine, and the on-time rate is decided by a tail of badly late ones. On-time means under 15 minutes late, the DOT's own threshold.
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 | 7,467 | 74.5% | 99 min | 2.56% | C |
| Southwest Airlines (this page) | 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 Southwest Airlines flies from FLL
Southwest Airlines operates 21 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 BWI · Baltimore | 2,134 | 73.9% | 57 min | 2.11% | C |
| FLL to BNA · Nashville | 1,399 | 73.4% | 53 min | 0.71% | C+ |
| FLL to MDW · Chicago | 1,133 | 71.3% | 55 min | 1.41% | C |
| FLL to HOU · Houston | 800 | 73.8% | 49 min | 0.88% | C+ |
| FLL to STL · St. Louis | 766 | 78.2% | 55 min | 0.39% | B+ |
| FLL to MCO · Orlando | 624 | 86.5% | 64 min | 1.28% | A |
| FLL to DAL · Dallas | 598 | 73.1% | 55 min | 2.01% | C |
| FLL to IND · Indianapolis | 420 | 66.3% | 60 min | 0.95% | C+ |
| FLL to MCI · Kansas City | 420 | 78.8% | 55 min | 0.71% | B+ |
| FLL to CMH · Columbus | 398 | 59.7% | 50 min | 1.26% | D |
| FLL to PIT · Pittsburgh | 394 | 67.5% | 57 min | 0.76% | C+ |
| FLL to DEN · Denver | 383 | 67.5% | 58 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| FLL to AUS · Austin | 376 | 74.6% | 57 min | 0.27% | C+ |
| FLL to MSY · New Orleans | 368 | 66.0% | 46 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| FLL to DCA · Washington | 365 | 62.0% | 72 min | 1.37% | D |
| FLL to TPA · Tampathin sample | 364 | 85.9% | 57 min | 0.27% | A+ |
| FLL to SJU · San Juanthin sample | 308 | 65.1% | 48 min | 0.32% | C+ |
| FLL to RDU · Raleighthin sample | 142 | 65.2% | 51 min | 2.82% | C |
| FLL to MKE · Milwaukeethin sample | 85 | 75.3% | 57 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| FLL to BUF · Buffalothin sample | 68 | 57.4% | 41 min | 0.00% | D+ |
| FLL to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 33 | 38.7% | 98 min | 3.03% | F− |
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 40 points, against 20 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am2,480 flights93.9%
- 8am–11am1,778 flights87.3%
- 11am–2pm2,169 flights73.1%
- 2pm–5pm1,994 flights58.9%
- 5pm–8pm2,340 flights57.5%
- 8pm–5am932 flights54.3%
Scale runs 45% to 100%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The 8pm–5am window is where this operation falls apart: 54.3% on time, against 93.9% 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
September is the best month on the calendar at 84.7% on time. Shoulder season thins the schedule and takes the summer weather with it, and the operation gets its margin back.
Delay causes
What holds this operation up
- 50%Late-arriving aircraft
- 28%Carrier
- 20%National Airspace System
- 3%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
50% 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 174,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 18 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 sit at 1.11% against a national 1.80%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.33%.
7.6% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 8.2%. That is the figure that decides a connection, and it says a 60 to 75 minute layover is reasonable here while anything under 45 minutes is a bet. Most delays on this route are the about an hour kind, which a normal layover absorbs.
The sample behind these figures is 11,693 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. September runs 84.7% on time and March 64.2%, a swing of 21 points. If the dates move at all, move them out of March before you think about anything else.
Common questions
Southwest Airlines at FLL
How often is Southwest Airlines at FLL delayed?
Roughly 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 27.3% of the 11,693 flights in this analysis, against 22.6% nationally. Delayed flights are late by about an hour on average.
Which airline is most reliable on Southwest 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 Southwest Airlines at FLL?
The 5am–8am departure window is the strongest at 93.9% on time. The 8pm–5am window is the weakest at 54.3%, 40 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 March delays on Southwest Airlines at FLL?
March is the weakest month at 64.2% on time, compared with 84.7% in September. Across the year that is 21 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.