Carrier performance at one airport
NK→FLL
Spirit Airlines at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International
- Departures
- 14,820
- Period
- September 2025 to August 2026
- Routes
- 25
- Rank here
- #7 of 9
Spirit Airlines at Fort Lauderdale carries a cancellation problem, not just a delay problem: 4.5% of scheduled flights never operate, against 1.9% nationally. Of the ones that do fly, about two flights in three arrive on time, worth a C− overall. The punctuality figure counts only flights that actually departed, so it flatters an operation that cancels this often. That rests on 14,820 flights, of which United Airlines flew 9,046 at 82.6% on time.
Measured against the airport rather than the country, Spirit Airlines runs 5 points behind 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
65.2%
14,132 completed departures
Avg delay
70 min
Across delayed flights only
Cancelled
4.47%
At FLL, this carrier only
Rank here
#7
Of 9 carriers clearing the floor at FLL
These figures cover 15,000 flights between September 2025 and August 2026. Beyond the headline rate, 14.8% 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 | 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 (this page) | 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 Spirit Airlines flies from FLL
Spirit Airlines operates 25 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 ATL · Atlanta | 1,093 | 58.6% | 68 min | 4.12% | D− |
| FLL to EWR · Newark | 887 | 58.9% | 70 min | 6.54% | D− |
| FLL to LGA · New York | 834 | 63.5% | 79 min | 7.55% | D− |
| FLL to ORD · Chicago | 775 | 57.7% | 73 min | 3.48% | D− |
| FLL to IAH · Houston | 698 | 71.7% | 70 min | 2.15% | C |
| FLL to TPA · Tampa | 692 | 68.8% | 69 min | 2.89% | C |
| FLL to BWI · Baltimore | 684 | 70.1% | 69 min | 4.68% | C− |
| FLL to DTW · Detroit | 640 | 58.3% | 74 min | 3.28% | D− |
| FLL to MCO · Orlando | 612 | 71.4% | 64 min | 1.31% | C |
| FLL to CLT · Charlotte | 606 | 68.5% | 68 min | 4.79% | C− |
| FLL to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worth | 600 | 70.7% | 65 min | 3.50% | C− |
| FLL to PHL · Philadelphia | 572 | 71.3% | 71 min | 5.24% | C− |
| FLL to BNA · Nashville | 519 | 69.1% | 73 min | 4.62% | C− |
| FLL to MSY · New Orleans | 488 | 69.9% | 62 min | 4.10% | C− |
| FLL to BOS · Boston | 447 | 60.0% | 77 min | 6.04% | D− |
| FLL to PIT · Pittsburgh | 410 | 69.4% | 70 min | 4.88% | C− |
| FLL to ACY · Atlantic Citythin sample | 329 | 69.4% | 59 min | 8.21% | C− |
| FLL to CMH · Columbusthin sample | 325 | 68.8% | 63 min | 4.92% | C− |
| FLL to AUS · Austinthin sample | 313 | 59.2% | 72 min | 7.67% | D− |
| FLL to IND · Indianapolisthin sample | 312 | 69.1% | 80 min | 4.17% | C− |
| FLL to SJU · San Juanthin sample | 242 | 52.1% | 69 min | 2.07% | F |
| FLL to STT · Charlotte Amaliethin sample | 226 | 66.1% | 61 min | 0.88% | C+ |
| FLL to MYR · Myrtle Beachthin sample | 216 | 64.9% | 66 min | 4.63% | D− |
| FLL to RIC · Richmondthin sample | 208 | 63.1% | 88 min | 4.81% | D− |
| FLL to PNS · Pensacolathin sample | 206 | 56.6% | 73 min | 3.88% | D− |
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 22 points between the best and worst carrier.
- 5am–8am2,864 flights85.7%
- 8am–11am1,726 flights77.3%
- 11am–2pm1,304 flights56.1%
- 2pm–5pm2,056 flights57.9%
- 5pm–8pm2,434 flights54.7%
- 8pm–5am4,436 flights58.8%
Scale runs 45% to 90%.
The 5pm–8pm window is where this operation falls apart: 54.7% on time, against 85.7% 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 8pm–5am window is the busiest, with 4,436 flights scheduled in it.
Across the year
Seasonal pattern
September is the best month on the calendar at 80.3% 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 2,190 flights.
Delay causes
What holds this operation up
- 41%Carrier
- 32%National Airspace System
- 24%Late-arriving aircraft
- 2%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
The largest share of delay minutes, 41%, falls under carrier control: crew scheduling, maintenance, fuelling, baggage. It accounts for 142,000 of the 344,000 delay minutes reported here. The split is drawn from 343,501 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations run at 4.47%, against 1.89% nationally. That is roughly one flight in twenty 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.
14.8% 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.
14,820 flights sit behind these numbers, which is a large enough sample that the headline rate is not moving on noise. Where a sub-group falls below 30 flights the site shows a dash instead of a percentage.
Put together: the delay figures matter less here than the 4.47% cancellation rate. A late arrival costs you a little over an hour; a cancelled flight costs you the day. Book the 5am–8am departure so there is still a schedule behind you if it goes wrong, and treat a same-day connection as optimistic. 14,132 completed flights over 12 months sit behind that.
Common questions
Spirit Airlines at FLL
How often is Spirit Airlines at FLL delayed?
About 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 34.8% of the 14,820 flights in this analysis, against 22.7% nationally. Delayed flights are late by a little over an hour on average.
Which airline is most reliable on Spirit 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 Spirit Airlines at FLL?
The 5am–8am departure window is the strongest at 85.7% on time. The 5pm–8pm window is the weakest at 54.7%, 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 March delays on Spirit Airlines at FLL?
March is the weakest month at 41.9% on time, compared with 80.3% in September. Across the year that is 38 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
- Spirit Airlines network-wide record
- Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International (FLL) all carriers
- FLL to ATL route record58.6%
- FLL to EWR route record58.9%
- FLL to LGA route record63.5%
- FLL to ORD route record57.7%
- Do airlines run better at their own hubs?
- What a cancellation rate actually tells you (and what it hides)
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.