Route reliability record
MIA→MCO
Miami to Orlando
- Flights
- 3,700
- Period
- September 2025 to August 2026
- Distance
- 192 mi
- Carriers
- 3
This route sits in the middle of the pack with a C. Close to three flights in four arrive on time by the DOT's definition, 4 points worse than the national rate of 77.3%. The late ones land a little over an hour behind schedule. That rests on 3,700 MIA to MCO flights, of which Southwest Airlines flew 613 at 86.1% on time.
Best time to fly MIA to MCO: a 5am–8am departure, ideally on a Tuesday. Flights in that window arrived on time 94.0% of the time and Tuesday flights 80.8%, against 73.4% for the route overall.
The US average over the same twelve months is 77.3%, so there is little to separate this route from the country as a whole. The variation that matters here is internal: which carrier, and what time of day.
Key figures
On time
73.4%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 3,654 completed flights
Avg delay
75 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
1.08%
National rate is 1.89%
Best carrier
Southwest
86.1% on time across 613 flights
These figures cover 3,700 flights between September 2025 and August 2026. Beyond the headline rate, 11.0% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 8.3% nationally.
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Carrier by carrier
Which airline is most reliable on MIA to MCO
The choice of carrier is not cosmetic here. Southwest Airlines arrives on time 86.1% of the time; American Airlines manages 70.3%. Sample sizes sit next to every figure, because a two-point gap across 2,977 flights means less than a ten-point one.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 613 | 86.1% | 69 min | 0.98% | A+ |
| Republic Airwaysthin sample | 110 | 85.5% | 47 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| American Airlines | 2,977 | 70.3% | 76 min | 1.14% | C |
The spread between Southwest and American is 16 points, wide enough that it should decide the booking. On a hundred trips that is 16 more arrivals inside the on-time window.
Flight by flight
Flights on MIA to MCO
The flight numbers below flew this route at least 250 times in the period, busiest first. Each has its own record, with its schedule and delay causes.
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Best ways to make this trip
The most reliable ways to fly Miami to Orlando
Every airline on this route and on the routes between nearby airports, ranked by how often a scheduled flight actually operated and arrived on time. 2 of the top 4 use a different airport at one end.
| Option | Airline | Success | On time | Cancelled | Best departure | Most punctual flight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. FLL → MCOFort Lauderdale to Orlando | Southwest Airlines | 85.7% | 86.9% | 1.43% | 5am–8am, Thu | — |
| 2. MIA → MCOMiami to Orlando | Southwest Airlines | 85.3% | 86.1% | 0.98% | 5am–8am, Wed | — |
| 3. FLL → MCOFort Lauderdale to Orlando | Spirit Airlines | 70.5% | 71.4% | 1.31% | 5am–8am, Wed | — |
| 4. MIA → MCOMiami to Orlando | American Airlines | 69.5% | 70.3% | 1.14% | 5am–8am, Tue | AA 2803 19:19 |
Success is the share of scheduled flights that operated and arrived less than 15 minutes late, so a cancelled flight counts against it. “(route)” means the best time comes from every carrier on the route rather than this airline alone.
Departure window
The best time of day to leave
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 32 points, against 16 points between the best and worst carrier.
- 5am–8am675 flights94.0%
- 8am–11am399 flights85.4%
- 11am–2pm331 flights73.8%
- 2pm–5pm462 flights61.9%
- 5pm–8pm983 flights65.0%
- 8pm–5am850 flights66.9%
Scale runs 55% to 100%.
Book the early departure. Flights leaving between 5am–8am arrive on time 94.0% of the time, against 61.9% for the afternoon window. That is 32 points of difference for no extra money, and it comes from the same aircraft having had no earlier flight to fall behind on. The 5pm–8pm window is the busiest, with 983 flights scheduled in it.
Explore
Filter MIA to MCO by airline, time, month and day
Pick a breakdown and a carrier. The dashed mark on each row is the same slice for every US flight.
On MIA to MCO, the best departure window is 5am–8am at 94.0% on time and the worst is 2pm–5pm at 61.9%, a wide gap of 32.1 points. All US flights leaving 5am–8am ran 89.3%.
- 5–8am94.0%
- 8–11am85.4%
- 11am–2pm73.8%
- 2–5pm61.9%
- 5–8pm65.0%
- 8pm–5am66.9%
best all US flightsScale 55% to 100%.
Across the year
When delays peak on this route
This route's year swings by 25 points from best month to worst, which is wide. An annual average tells you very little about the week you are actually flying, so read the strip rather than the headline if your dates are fixed.
July is the worst month at 57.5% on time, 25 points below November, the best at 82.5%. 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. October was the busiest month here, with 356 flights.
Across the week, Tuesday is the strongest day at 80.8% on time and Sunday the weakest at 64.9%, a spread of 16 points.
Delay causes
Why this route gets delayed
Late-arriving aircraft accounts for 42% of the 73,000 delay minutes carriers reported here, and the remaining four split what is left.
- 42%Late-arriving aircraft
- 31%Carrier
- 21%National Airspace System
- 6%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
42% of delay minutes trace back to a late-arriving aircraft, meaning the plane was already behind before it got here. Across 73,000 reported delay minutes here, that single category outweighs weather by 7 to one. The split is drawn from 72,777 reported delay minutes.
The practical consequence: the 5am–8am departure is the one that starts clean. Its aircraft has no earlier leg to be late from, which is exactly why that window shows 94.0% on time here.
Cancellations sit at 1.08% against a national 1.89%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.16%.
Connections and stage length
What a delay here actually costs
11.0% 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.
At 192 miles this is a short hop, and stage length matters more than it looks. A flight this short spends under two hours in the air, which leaves almost nothing to claw back a late pushback with. Delay here is decided on the ground, in the turn, which is why the 5am–8am window matters as much as it does.
The return leg runs 74.8% on time across 3,700 flights, within about a point of this direction. The two legs are scored separately because they usually differ; on this city pair they happen not to.
The sample behind these figures is 3,700 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.
Work out the risk of missing a connection in MCO after this flight
What to do with this
Booking this route
Put together: the calendar is the biggest lever here, not the carrier or the hour. November runs 82.5% on time and July 57.5%, a swing of 25 points. If the dates move at all, move them out of July before you think about anything else. 3,654 completed flights over 12 months sit behind that.
Common questions
MIA to MCO questions
How often is MIA to MCO delayed?
About one flight in four arrives at least 15 minutes late, which is the Department of Transportation's definition of a delayed arrival. That works out to 26.6% of the 3,700 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 MIA to MCO?
Southwest Airlines leads at 86.1% on time across 613 flights. American Airlines is at the other end on 70.3%, a gap of 16 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 MIA to MCO?
The 5am–8am departure window is the strongest at 94.0% on time. The 2pm–5pm window is the weakest at 61.9%, 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 July delays on MIA to MCO?
July is the weakest month at 57.5% on time, compared with 82.5% in November. Across the year that is 25 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
- MCO to MIA — the return legseparate record
- Miami International (MIA) delay statistics
- Orlando International (MCO) delay statistics
- Southwest Airlines on MIA to MCO86.1%
- Republic Airways on MIA to MCO85.5%
- American Airlines on MIA to MCO70.3%
- MIA to ATL, a related route74.2%
- ATL to MCO, a related route70.3%
- MIA to LGA, a related route67.4%
- Southwest Airlines on-time record86.1%
- Republic Airways on-time record85.5%
- American Airlines on-time record70.3%
- Same route, different airline: where the carrier you pick matters most
- Why the first flight of the morning is statistically safest
Direction matters. MIA to MCO and MCO to MIA are scored separately because they are separate operations, with different departure banks and different aircraft. Compare the return leg.
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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.