Whether you’re traveling for business or pleasure, flight delays are the bane of every commuter. Government statistics consistently show that morning flights departing between six and seven have the best on-time records, with a steady decay in punctuality as the day progresses; it’s worst between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. That’s because flight delays due to air-traffic congestion, maintenance, crew issues, and late-arriving airplanes cascade throughout the day — and this phenomenon is more pronounced during the holidays.
The bottom line: The next time you’re planning to travel by airplane, remember: the early bird not only catches the worm — it usually arrives at its intended destination on time too.
Photo Credit: Yazan Badran
I usually try to grab flights in the morning just because it seems less hassle. What’s interesting though is that my return flights are always in the afternoon or evening. Lately travel has pretty much stopped though, but I will keep this in mind should it come up again in the future.
When I fly to the East coast, I always take an early flight. Unfortunately, when I go to Europe I have to take an afternoon flight. It is rare that my flight is delayed because it is so long. They make up the delays most of the time.
You can also go to standby if there are any problem with your flight. This is more practical if you have an early flight.
This is all very sound. It doesn’t apply only if there has been a weather disaster the day before. This time last year I had a complete disaster starting on an early flight because the fleet had ended up in the wrong places.
Thanks for the tip! I’m unscientifically felt the same thing through my travels!
I may be making this one up, but from my heavy travel years I’ve found that smaller planes and smaller airports tend to have more on time departures. Maybe less people boarding and less planes in the air congesting air traffic keep on track easier…
I love your blog, Len!