It would be nice if airline flights were always on time, but that is not
the way the real world operates. Inclement weather, equipment failure
and a variety of other problems can all result in flight delays for an
individual flight, flights of a single carrier, or flights departing from
or arriving at a specific airport or region.
Avoiding Flight Delays
While individual flight delays are unpredictable, there are things you can do
to reduce the risk of encountering a flight delay.
- If you have a choice, fly early in the day. Local and regional
flight delays can become cumulative as the day progresses, impacting
flights nationwide. Thunderstorms, a significant cause of summer
flight delays, usually erupt during late afternoon and persist into
the evening hours. Nationwide flight delays are ordinarily resolved
by day’s end or overnight as normal flight operations cease and
air carriers redeploy aircraft and resources to get ready for the
following day’s flight schedules.
EXCEPTION:
Extensive regional flight cancellations, such as those induced
by a large winter storm system, result in next-day early flight delays
as stranded passengers add to normal passenger load; these early
delays may be compounded by air carrier inability to redeploy aircraft
during the prior overnight period due to airport closures.
- Book flights with as few stopovers as possible. Each stopover on a
flight represents an opportunity for an unexpected flight delay to
occur.
- Compare the on-time performance record of the airline you are
considering against that of some competitors. Once you decide upon an
air carrier, compare individual flights. Some flights have a history
of chronic lateness. To access flight delays history, go to the
Flight Delays at-a-Glance section of
Airline Data and Statistics from the
Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
When weather or airport traffic management issues create airport flight
delays, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) disseminates that
information through its Air Traffic Control System Command Center
(ATCSCC) to airports and air traffic control centers throughout the U.S.
and to international flight agencies. Doing so enables proper flight
coordination, traffic rerouting (when necessary), and equipment reallocation
to assure that the flight system within the United States remains at peak
efficiency.
The FAA ATCSCC, linked in the Topic Box to the right, displays a map showing
commercial flight delay status at major U.S. airports. Text-only data
is also available. You can view additional airports by selecting a
particular region of the country from the top menu. Clicking on an airport
location provides more detailed information for that airport in plain text
format. Use this information as a guideline, but not as a substitute
for checking with your own airline on the status of your specific
flight. Remember that this FAA map reflects airport flight delay status,
NOT status of any individual flight.
Authored by Kenneth L. Anderson.
Original article published 12 November 2003, updated 12 January
2007.
Follow links to the right to learn more about airport flight delays.
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