Help for Travelers to Avoid Flight and Airport Delays

Posted by Ellen
June 15, 2007

Number of Flights Delayed on June 13, 2007: 2,400 - Were you one of them?

Anyone who has flown a few times in recent years knows the pains of airport delays.  These can be related to weather, time of departure or arrival at an airport or because the carrier has canceled flights.  The bottom line is that being stuck at an airport, on the runway or circling around for an hour is frustrating at best.  Even though I love flying on JetBlue just the mention of their name invokes images of plane loads of people stranded on runways for hours this past winter.  I hope those images leave me soon.

If you are planning to fly in the upcoming months there are two sites that can help minimize delays and cancellations.

Avoid Delays

The first is an aptly named site, Avoid Delays, by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) that can help you avoid those nasty delays by offering up information on the previous years data.  According to the NATCA

since air traffic activity follows cyclical patterns, the same month last year is often a better predictor of performance than using last month’s data.

That makes perfect sense especially with weather-related delays and heavy travel periods. Right now you can see the top 10 offenders for June 2006

NATCA- Avoid Delays

If you are planning a trip the site currently has data for the above headings for July, August, September and October 2006.  For a wealth of information click on the Worst Offenders link and then browse through the various links for airport delays, airlines, flights and worst times to fly. 

Live Updates are also shown for any delays in the last 24 hours as well as linking to the FAA Flight Delay Information site that has general departure and arrival delays by airport. 

You also can get Tips and Tricks from Air Traffic Controllers to help you avoid nasty delays and even detailed information for major airports in the U.S.  This link brings you into the NATCA site where you can also find out more information about the air traffic controller association, legislation and current issues.

Avoid Delays is a site designed to assist travelers in avoiding air delays based on past data.  While the information provided can’t guarantee you won’t be delayed, I believe it can help in minimizing delays based on historical data from the previous year.

Flightstats

The second site is Flightstats which also provides a wealth of information for the traveler including the ability to

Flightstats offers many tools for the traveler including a travel center and forums.  You can get Flightstats mobile to keep you up-to-date while you are away. There is also a nice ticker at the top of the page that displays current airport delays. 

Flightstats

By creating an account with Flightstats you are able to get historical flight reports, receive flight alert messages, access airline & airport scorecards and contribute to the forums. 

I’m planning a trip to Chicago at the end of July so I’m going to look over the data provided on Avoid Delays and Flightstats see if I can travel back and forth from Boston with no delays.  I think the combination of looking at the monthly data provided on Avoid Delays and the flight data on Flightstats will complement each other.  I do like the social aspect and personalization with Flightstats, especially if I plan on traveling more in the current year.

Are there resources you use that help you cut down on air delays?

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