Carrier performance at one airport

WN→FLL

Southwest Airlines at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International

Departures: 11,494
Period: September 2025 to August 2026
Routes: 21
Rank here: #5 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, 6 points worse than the national rate of 77.3%. The late ones land about 55 minutes behind schedule. That rests on 11,494 flights, of which United Airlines flew 9,046 at 82.6% on time.

Measured against the airport rather than the country, Southwest Airlines runs about a point 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.

On time

71.2%

11,321 completed departures

Avg delay

54 min

Across delayed flights only

Cancelled

1.16%

At FLL, this carrier only

Rank here

Of 9 carriers clearing the floor at FLL

These figures cover 11,000 flights between September 2025 and August 2026. On-time means an arrival less than 15 minutes after the scheduled gate time, the same threshold the Department of Transportation uses in its own reports. Cancelled and diverted flights are excluded from the on-time rate and counted separately, which is why the cancellation column matters on its own.

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.

On-time performance of all carriers departing FLL
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	7,998	74.3%	99 min	2.38%	C
Alaska Airlines	644	72.3%	53 min	0.93%	C+
Southwest Airlines (this page)	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 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.

Southwest Airlines routes from FLL
Route	Flights	On time	Avg delay	Cancelled	Grade
FLL to BWI · Baltimore	2,106	73.5%	58 min	2.18%	C
FLL to BNA · Nashville	1,420	68.8%	53 min	0.77%	C+
FLL to MDW · Chicago	1,120	71.7%	53 min	1.34%	C
FLL to HOU · Houston	812	70.2%	53 min	0.99%	C+
FLL to STL · St. Louis	777	76.3%	49 min	0.64%	B+
FLL to MCO · Orlando	629	86.9%	68 min	1.43%	A
FLL to DAL · Dallas	540	71.4%	46 min	1.85%	C
FLL to IND · Indianapolis	420	61.0%	62 min	0.95%	D+
FLL to MCI · Kansas City	404	74.5%	50 min	0.74%	C+
FLL to PIT · Pittsburgh	393	64.9%	61 min	1.02%	D
FLL to DEN · Denver	383	68.2%	51 min	0.00%	C+
FLL to CMH · Columbus	373	56.4%	51 min	1.34%	D
FLL to AUS · Austin	368	72.9%	56 min	0.54%	C+
FLL to MSY · New Orleans	365	66.8%	47 min	0.00%	C+
FLL to TPA · Tampathin sample	364	86.8%	53 min	0.27%	A+
FLL to DCA · Washingtonthin sample	364	65.5%	60 min	0.82%	C+
FLL to SJU · San Juanthin sample	225	65.2%	41 min	0.44%	C+
FLL to RDU · Raleighthin sample	142	59.4%	52 min	2.82%	D
FLL to MKE · Milwaukeethin sample	84	75.0%	57 min	0.00%	B+
FLL to BUF · Buffalothin sample	58	55.2%	43 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 44 points, against 22 points between the best and worst carrier.

5am–8am2,425 flights94.2%
8am–11am1,828 flights85.4%
11am–2pm2,084 flights71.0%
2pm–5pm2,012 flights57.5%
5pm–8pm2,310 flights55.4%
8pm–5am835 flights49.9%

Scale runs 40% to 100%.

The 8pm–5am window is where this operation falls apart: 49.9% on time, against 94.2% 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 5am–8am window is the busiest, with 2,425 flights scheduled in it.

Across the year

Seasonal pattern

Darker means more delays. Figures are on-time percentages.September best, March worst

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. March was the busiest month here, with 1,156 flights.

Delay causes

What holds this operation up

Late-arriving aircraft
48%
Carrier
28%
National Airspace System
21%
Extreme weather
3%
Security
0%

48% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. Across 176,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 19 to one. The split is drawn from 175,701 reported delay minutes.

Cancellations sit at 1.16% against a national 1.89%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.35%.

7.8% of arrivals land an hour or more late, close to the national 8.3%, so a 60 to 75 minute layover is reasonable here while anything under 45 minutes is a bet. Most delays on this route last about 55 minutes, which a normal layover absorbs.

The sample behind these figures is 11,494 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. 11,321 completed flights over 12 months sit behind that.

Common questions

Southwest Airlines at FLL

How often is Southwest Airlines at FLL delayed?

Roughly one flight in three arrives at least 15 minutes late, which is the Department of Transportation's definition of a delayed arrival. That works out to 28.8% of the 11,494 flights in this analysis, against 22.7% nationally. Delayed flights are late by about 55 minutes on average.

Which airline is most reliable on Southwest 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 Southwest Airlines at FLL?

The 5am–8am departure window is the strongest at 94.2% on time. The 8pm–5am window is the weakest at 49.9%, 44 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.

Where to go next

Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, September 2025 to August 2026. Last updated 22 October 2026; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.

Key figures