Flight delays are inevitable, but they can be incredibly frustrating.
If you don’t fly very often, you might think the situation is completely out of your hands, and you’ll wind up stewing in annoyance and uncertainty. But there are ways to reduce your risk of facing a flight delay or, at the very least, know when they’re coming, to make the experience less stressful.
We asked travel experts to share what many inexperienced passengers don’t know about flight delays and their advice for understanding the process. After all, knowledge is power.
You can track your airplane.
It’s useful to download the mobile app for the airline you’re flying to get notifications about gate changes and delays before they even get announced on the screen at the airport. But you can also use it to follow your plane’s journey ahead of its arrival at your airport and anticipate potential delays to your flight.
“In the app for your airline, you can often see specifically where the plane is coming from and if it is arriving on time,” said Ravi Roth, queer travel expert and “Gaycation Travel Show” host.
There are also a number of non-airline apps and websites that allow you to keep tabs on your flight and previous departures. All you need is your flight number, the airline and the departure date.
“FlightAware and Flightradar are two of my favorites, and you are able to track where your flight came from and also where it is in that moment, which I think is so fun to be able to see your plane in real time,” said travel blogger Esther Susag. “Also, just simply checking the published flight status of the plane via a simple Google search can also be much more informative than you think.”
Earlier flights are less likely to get delayed.
“Later flights, which are relying on crew and potentially the plane itself from a prior segment, are more susceptible to be delayed,” said Adit Damodaran, an economist at the travel booking app Hopper. “In other words, an early flight getting delayed can have a ‘ripple effect’ in which subsequent flights are also delayed. We recommend always booking the first flight out if you can to avoid any impact of delays from earlier in the day.”
So if you hate flight delays more than you hate waking up at the crack of dawn, opt for a morning flight. Being able to track your plane can also be reassuring when you have a morning flight.
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