DCA to FLL flight delays
Washington, VA (DCA) Fort Lauderdale, FL (FLL) · 899 miles
2,302 flights · January 2025 – August 2026 · US Bureau of Transportation Statistics
68.31%
Arrived on time
Within 15 minutes of schedule
2%
Cancelled
Share of scheduled flights
71 min
When late, late by
Average across delayed arrivals
24 min
Delay per flight
Averaged over every flight flown
What the record says about this route
Which airline you fly changes the odds here. American Airlines arrived on time 12.8 points more often than Southwest Airlines over the same period on the same route — same airports, same weather, same air traffic control. A gap that survives all of that is about how the two airlines are run.
Flights from Washington to Fort Lauderdale run late more often than the average route, though not severely.
Which airline should you fly on this route?
Over January 2025 – August 2026, American Airlines arrived on time most often on DCA to FLL. Southwest Airlines was late most often. Flights ran closest to schedule in September and worst in December.
Every airline on DCA to FLL
Ranked by how many flights each one operated. A carrier with fewer than 100 flights in the period is listed but not graded.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Cancelled | Avg delay | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JetBlue Airways | 1,361 | 68.71% | 2.42% | 78 min | D |
| American Airlines | 576 | 72.71% | 1.39% | 65 min | D |
| Southwest Airlines | 365 | 59.89% | 1.37% | 57 min | F |
Month by month
Share of flights that arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, by month flown.
Other routes from Washington
Common questions
Are flights from Washington to Fort Lauderdale usually delayed?
68.31% of flights on the DCA to FLL route arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, so roughly 3 in every ten arrived late. That is worse than the average route in this record.
Which airline is most on time from Washington to Fort Lauderdale?
American Airlines, at 72.71% on time across 576 flights. The least punctual on the route was Southwest Airlines at 59.89%.
How often are DCA to FLL flights cancelled?
2% of scheduled flights did not operate — about 20 in every thousand. That is in the normal range.
What is the best month to fly Washington to Fort Lauderdale?
September, when 75% of flights arrived on time. The worst was December at 60.2%.
When DCA to FLL flights are late, how late are they?
About 71 minutes on average across the flights that arrived more than 15 minutes behind schedule.
What these figures do and do not tell you
Everything on this page is counted from the flights that actually operated on DCA to FLL during January 2025 – August 2026, as reported by the airlines to the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics. "On time" is the federal definition: arriving at the gate within 15 minutes of the scheduled time.
A route's record is a description of the past, not a forecast. Weather, air traffic control and the aircraft's earlier flights that day drive most delays, and none of them are predictable from a historical rate. What the record does tell you is whether this route runs late more often than others, and which carrier on it has the better history — which is the part you can actually act on when you book.
Cancellations are counted separately from delays because they are a different problem for a traveller: a late flight still gets you there. How the grade is calculated →