Fort Lauderdale to Chicago

What the Data Says About FLL to ORD

The Fort Lauderdale to Chicago corridor (FLL → ORD) covers roughly 1,182 miles and is served by 28 carriers, based on Bureau of Transportation Statistics reporting. Across 17,275 flights in the dataset, this route posts a 76.6% on-time rate with an average delay of 80.0 minutes when flights run late. Over the most recent 24 months of BTS data, 6,000 flights were recorded on this pairing — 86 cancelled (1.4%) and 19 diverted (0.3%). Those baseline metrics tell you what to expect before you book.

Having 28 carriers on the route matters: more carriers generally means more daily schedule options, competitive pricing, and redundancy when flights are cancelled. With 17,275 total flights analyzed, the 76.6% on-time figure is statistically meaningful rather than a small-sample fluke. The 80.0-minute average delay applies only to flights that actually ran late, so it is not the average wait across all departures — the majority of flights on this route depart on time under the BTS definition of a delay (15+ minutes past schedule).

Looking at recent months, Nov 2024 posted the best performance on this corridor at 88% on-time, while Jul 2024 came in at 52% on-time — a 36-point gap between best and worst recent month. For travelers evaluating the FLL to ORD route, the combination of a 76.6% on-time rate, 80.0-minute average delay, 1.4% recent cancellation rate, and 28 available carriers is the concrete summary of what BTS data shows about reliability on this pairing.