Guide
New York to Florida flights: the most and least reliable routes
Newark to Tampa ran 80.9% on time from September 2025 to August 2026; Fort Lauderdale to LaGuardia 64.8%. Every route between the three New York airports and Florida, both ways.
Newark to Tampa ran 80.9% on time from September 2025 to August 2026. Fort Lauderdale to LaGuardia ran 64.8%. Both are the same trip, a New Yorker heading to or from the Florida sun, and the gap between them is wider than the gap between the best and worst US airlines, 81.1% and 71.3%. On this corridor the airport at each end, the direction and the month decide more than the carrier or the fare.
This guide ranks every route between the three big New York airports, Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark, and the six Florida airports most New Yorkers use: Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Tampa, Palm Beach and Fort Myers. That is 36 route pages, each direction measured separately. The pipeline stores the two directions of a pair as two records, never one, and on this corridor that choice earns its keep.
Southbound, ranked
US average 77.3%
60.0%85.0%
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, September 2025 to August 2026.
Newark takes the top of the southbound table. Newark to Tampa leads, and Newark to Fort Myers ran 78.4%. Kennedy to Fort Myers, at 77.8%, is the best from Kennedy. At the bottom, LaGuardia fills the last places: LaGuardia to Fort Lauderdale ran 67.9%, LaGuardia to Palm Beach 70.2% and LaGuardia to Orlando 70.1%.
The cancellation figures under each bar matter as much. LaGuardia's Florida routes cancelled far more often than Newark's: LaGuardia to Miami cancelled 4.28% of its flights, against 2.16% for Newark to Tampa. On a sold-out winter Saturday, a cancelled flight to Florida can mean a day's wait for a seat.
Northbound, ranked
US average 77.3%
55.0%85.0%
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, September 2025 to August 2026.
The flight home is worse. I would plan the whole trip around that one fact.
Across the corridor, northbound routes ran behind their southbound twins on most pairs, and the bottom of this table is lower. Fort Lauderdale to LaGuardia was the worst of the 36, and Miami to LaGuardia ran 67.4%. The best ways home were Fort Myers to Newark, at 79.8%, and Tampa to Kennedy, at 78.6%.
The mechanism shows in the DOT cause codes. On Tampa to Newark, 54% of delay minutes were charged to the National Aviation System, the category that covers ground delay programmes, against 31% on the southbound flight. When New York's airports are short of arrival capacity, through weather, wind or plain volume, the FAA holds New York-bound flights at their origin until a landing slot opens. A flight leaving Florida for New York waits in Florida. A flight leaving New York for Florida, once airborne, faces no such queue.
The hour makes it worse. Flights from Fort Lauderdale to LaGuardia leaving between 5am and 8am ran 87.6% on time; between 5pm and 8pm, 53.1%. Evening northbound flights meet New York's evening arrival peak with an aircraft that has already flown the corridor twice.
The New York airport decides most of it
LaGuardia routes are the weakest in both directions, Newark routes the strongest, and Kennedy sits between. LaGuardia's two runways cross each other, it runs close to capacity all day under federal slot controls, and a ground delay programme there cuts arrivals quickly. The airport cancelled 5.04% of all its departures, against 3.98% at Kennedy and 3.44% at Newark. The New York airports guide compares them in full.
The Florida end matters less but still counts. Tampa and Fort Myers routes cluster near the top, Fort Lauderdale routes near the bottom, and Miami's flights north trail its flights south. Fort Lauderdale's departures ran 70.4% on time and Tampa's 78.2%. The South Florida guide covers the trade between Miami and Fort Lauderdale.
The carriers on the corridor
At Newark the dominant carrier on these routes, United, is also the most punctual: on Newark to Fort Lauderdale, United ran well ahead of JetBlue and Spirit, and the gap was wider on the return from Fort Lauderdale. Spirit's figure covers less of the year than the others: its filings stop in early May 2026, and the data has no Spirit flights in June or July. At Kennedy, Delta and JetBlue split most routes, and Delta usually won: Kennedy to Fort Lauderdale and Fort Lauderdale to Kennedy both favoured Delta. The exception was Palm Beach to Kennedy, where JetBlue ran well ahead.
At LaGuardia, Delta, American, JetBlue and Spirit compete, on the weakest routes in the corridor. On Miami to LaGuardia, Delta beat American. On Orlando to LaGuardia, Delta ran far ahead of the rest. The JetBlue guide covers why JetBlue's Florida shuttle struggles.
The winter peak
On-time percentage. Darker means more delays; the best cell in each row is outlined.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LGA–FLL | 72 | 73 | 62 | 67 | 71 | 75 | 64 | 63 | 80 | 68 | 68 | 57 |
| FLL–LGA | 73 | 65 | 46 | 60 | 68 | 72 | 58 | 64 | 82 | 74 | 70 | 57 |
| JFK–MCO | 73 | 71 | 80 | 82 | 85 | 77 | 61 | 64 | 83 | 70 | 76 | 62 |
| MCO–JFK | 73 | 72 | 75 | 78 | 84 | 76 | 62 | 67 | 87 | 77 | 82 | 66 |
| EWR–PBI | 77 | 79 | 78 | 81 | 88 | 85 | 69 | — | 82 | 72 | 76 | 68 |
| PBI–EWR | 76 | 79 | 69 | 81 | 90 | 75 | 74 | — | 84 | 69 | 71 | 71 |
| LGA–MIA | 75 | 77 | 64 | 75 | 75 | 77 | 62 | 65 | 75 | 67 | 65 | 62 |
| MIA–LGA | 75 | 71 | 51 | 70 | 73 | 71 | 55 | 66 | 80 | 67 | 64 | 66 |
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, September 2025 to August 2026.
The corridor is busiest from December to April, when snowbirds, school holidays and spring break stack up, and its schedule thins in summer. That peak did not run well. December 2025 was one of the worst months of the year on these routes: LaGuardia to Fort Lauderdale ran 57.3% on time that month and Kennedy to Orlando 61.5%. The 2025 Christmas and New Year page shows the holiday window, which ran 72.4% on time nationally against 78.9% in the weeks either side, and Kennedy and Fort Lauderdale were among the airports hit hardest.
March 2026 was worse for the flight home. Fort Lauderdale to LaGuardia ran 45.8% on time that month and Miami to LaGuardia 51.3%, when LaGuardia's cancellations spiked during the spring break window. The LaGuardia March page and the spring break 2026 window show the New York side. July is the corridor's other trough, when Florida's afternoon storms take over. One year is one sample, and a single nor'easter can decide a month.
The smaller New York airports
Westchester and Islip also fly to Florida. Westchester to Palm Beach, flown by JetBlue, ran 72.9% on time, and Islip to Orlando 74.4%, with Southwest the largest carrier. Neither beats Newark, but both beat LaGuardia on most measures and avoid its cancellations.
If it were my ticket to Florida
Fly from Newark if you can get there. Its Florida routes led in both directions, and Newark's cancellation rate was the lowest of the three airports.
Choose Tampa or Fort Myers over Fort Lauderdale when the destination allows. The Gulf coast routes ran several points better both ways.
Fly home in the morning. A northbound flight before 8am likely avoids most of the day's New York ground delay programmes. An evening flight into LaGuardia is the least reliable slot on the corridor. At 53.1% for the 5pm to 8pm departures from Fort Lauderdale, I would not book it for the night before a working day.
Favour United at Newark and Delta at Kennedy and LaGuardia. They were usually the most punctual choice on shared routes, though not on every one; check the route page.
In December and March, keep a spare day. The connection risk tool helps if Florida is the first leg of a longer trip, and every route page shows the month you are flying.
Compare the routes: Newark to Tampa · LaGuardia to Fort Lauderdale · Kennedy to Orlando · Fort Lauderdale to LaGuardia · New York airports compared · Compare any US route