Flight Delays

[Storm4U]

Im flying from Los Angeles to see a client in Ohio soon for a weekend. The last time I traveled by plane a few months ago, all of the flights were delayed by several hours on every airline to the point that I almost got stuck in Chicago on my way back to LA. If you have traveled by plane recently, are there still extreme delays? 

[ericwinters]

Austin to Vegas. No issues. Not ever a blip of turbulence. 

[MikeBiDude]

Your friend is https://flightaware.com/
 

[+ The Big Guy]

I sure seem to have more problems when I have to change planes in Chicago.  I realize that may not be practical but I avoid Chicago when I can. 

[+ Pensant]

Fortunately I never have to fly through ORD anymore. I usually only do direct flights. When I lived in OC and traveled extensively for business (1.7 million miles on AA alone) I had no choice but to connect via DFW or ORD to go east.

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

Any major hub is going to have problems, some handling WX/MX issues better than others.

LIke today, DFW is absolutely fucked on the weather-front. They just don't have enough de-icing equipment to get things turned quickly.  I saw this Texas cold front coming a few days ago and switched my flight away from DFW.

ORD on the other hand could handle this with their eyes closed.

AA has turned CLT into a hub that's taking on a lot more traffic, so delays go up.  

The takeaway here is that you can't realistically always avoid delays or cancellations.  You can, however, be prepared in the event they happen and have a pivot ready to go.

 

 

[+ ThroatCummer]

Best piece of advice to anyone flying is to just get the earliest flight possible no matter where you're going. Typically airlines have equipment in position at the start of any given day. But as the day goes on, they're subject to downstream delays for X Y or Z reason. For this reason, I hardly book flights before Noon and will always move my schedule around to get a flight out of any given area in the mornings vs. later in the day. 

[+ Pensant]

2 hours ago, ThroatCummer said:

Best piece of advice to anyone flying is to just get the earliest flight possible no matter where you're going. Typically airlines have equipment in position at the start of any given day. But as the day goes on, they're subject to downstream delays for X Y or Z reason. For this reason, I hardly book flights before Noon and will always move my schedule around to get a flight out of any given area in the mornings vs. later in the day. 

I generally am out by 9 am for the reasons you stated.