We’ve all been there. You arrive early at the airport with only hand luggage, breeze through security and get to the terminal in plenty of time to sit with your coffee, only to find a delay on the flight information board. You might wonder: Why is my flight delayed?
Don’t worry: it’s not you, it’s them. Even when you do everything right, flight delays are often a matter of course when you travel. Fortunately, information about flight delays and cancellations is usually quite transparent. What’s more, UK and European airlines are automatically required to compensate you for delays or cancellations (unless after the cancellation you decide not to travel).
Even though you have no control over the airlines, understanding the causes of flight delays can help you deal with them, and even raise the chances of avoiding delays.
Why is my flight delayed? Common causes of flight delays
Knowing why your flight is delayed can help you understand how to manage your schedule. Read on to learn the most common causes.
Weather
Fog, driving rainstorms, high winds: any extreme weather condition can lead to a delay. Temperatures, too, can delay flights. The airline may have to take the time to de-ice an aircraft, which can take as long as 30 minutes in an active snowstorm. But the weather doesn’t just affect the plane you’re hoping to board.
Even if you’re enjoying a perfect-weather day, weather in the city your flight is originating from may cause a delay, which then can cause a delay from your airport. Before that delayed flight takes off again, passengers need to deplane; baggage needs to be unloaded, and the plane needs to be cleaned, stocked, and refuelled. All this can cause a cascade of delays.
Air carrier delays
If you look at the Bureau of Transportation Statistics’ pie chart of on-time arrival performance, you’ll see a category called “air carrier delays,” which often accounts for a good chunk of the delays. This is an umbrella category that includes circumstances that the airline could control, like aircraft cleaning; taking a long time loading or unloading bags; crew problems (like having to replace crew that shows up unfit to work or doesn’t show up at all), and even fueling time. It also includes situations you might not anticipate would be considered within their control, like mechanical problems, removal of unruly passengers, potable water servicing, and damage by hazardous goods.
Air traffic
Just like on the highways, traffic congestion can hold up the airways—and that traffic in the air can be caused by traffic on the ground. For instance, if a flight is pushed back late from the gate for some reason, the next flight scheduled to arrive at that flight’s gate could be delayed, and so on. The airplane can’t depart with protocol to catch up. Then there’s traffic in the skies: Sometimes air traffic controllers hold flights in a pattern before they can clear them to land.
If you use KAYAK’s Flight Tracker and see that your plane departed its originating city on time, and there don’t appear to be any weather conditions that would hold it up, it may be that your plane was simply caught in a traffic jam. Another tip-off: Your plane is listed as having arrived, but you can see with your own two eyes that it’s not at the gate, it may be circling.
Go-around
You may know this as a missed approach or an aborted landing attempt. A touch-and-go landing (where the airplane touches down but then takes off again) is another type of go-around. This can happen for several reasons, such as high winds across the runway; the airplane landing too fast (without enough runway); fog and clouds that reduce visibility, and other reasons. The delays happen because it takes time to land or nearly land and then take off again, then circle and initiate another descent.
Waiting for connecting passengers
Airlines usually won’t wait for one or two stray passengers who are running late or even a couple of passengers who are delayed from a connecting flight. But airlines’ operations centres can decide to hold a flight if there are a lot of connecting passengers they’ll have a hard time rebooking if they don’t connect. Sometimes a flight will be held if the bags are taking longer than expected to transfer from one plane to another.
What to do when a flight is delayed
From trying to enjoy a delay you can’t change to getting rebooked on another flight, here are some ways to deal with late flights.
Go to the lounge/gym/sleep pod
I’ve experienced some mind-boggling flight delays: way too long to sit around the terminal, but not enough time to hoof it into a city centre for a day of exploring. If there’s no alternative but to wait out your flight, you might as well do it in comfort. I have two credit cards that get me into a variety of lounges.
When you travel frequently enough, you may find that the premium food and beverage and even showers and office cubicles are worth investing in a card with privileges. You can also buy memberships to specific lounges, regardless of the airline you’re flying that day. Airports are offering more and more non-lounge amenities, too, like yoga rooms, gyms, and sleep pods, which offer day or hourly passes.
Ask for compensation
According to Citizens Advice, if your flight is delayed by more than two hours, your airline has to give you food and drink, access to a phone or email, and overnight accommodation (depending on the length of delay). They might give out vouchers for these things or ask you to keep receipts.
If your flight is more than three hours later and it’s the fault of the airline, you’ll be entitled to some monetary compensation. The amount will depend on your flight distance and the length of the delay.
Get rebooked
Being an informed traveller can pay off in a delay. Many major UK airlines will rebook passengers on a partner airline or another airline with which they have an agreement at no additional cost in the event of a significant delay. You can get a jump on rebooking by researching alternate flights on KAYAK.
Ask for vouchers
Every airline will issue a meal voucher when a cancellation causes a three-hour wait for another flight, and some will pay for a hotel. Many will also pay for your transportation to and from a hotel if you have to stay overnight because of a significant delay. Remember: if you do receive a travel voucher, ask about restrictions like blackout and expiration dates.
How to avoid flight delays
You can’t control the airlines’ on-time performance, but you can do a few things to get ahead of delays.
Book the earliest flight
It stands to reason that since air carrier delays and waiting for connecting passengers can cause delays, those delays will cascade over the course of a day. Most airlines that are travelling in the afternoon or evening have already made trips that day, which may have been delayed. If you book the earliest flight, you’re more likely to avoid these kinds of delays.
Book flights on airlines that have an on-time track record
Global travel data provider OAG tracks the punctuality track record for airlines every month and publishes an annual report called the Punctuality League, which ranks the largest global airlines for on-time performance. OAG defines punctuality as arriving or departing within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival and departure times. If avoiding a delay is crucial for you, booking an airline with a history of on-time performance may increase your odds of beating delays.
Book nonstop flights
The more flights in your trip schedule, the higher the odds are that one will be delayed. If you can’t avoid a layover, booking a flight with the same airline all the way through will make your airline more likely to work with you on rebooking. KAYAK Trips keeps all your bookings in one place and updates you in real-time about cancellations, delays, and gate changes.
Carry a credit card that covers you
Consider researching credit cards that come with trip cancellation and interruption coverage, which will reimburse you for the non-refundable amount of your trip. Or buy a travel insurance policy that will reimburse you for things the airline won’t, like rental cars. And in the event that your bags are the ones with the significant delay, many travel insurance policies will cover baggage loss and delay, too.
Try to carry on
Growing up in my family, the cardinal rule was: never to check a bag. I still follow this rule, even for trips of over a week. When flight delays start adding up, the airline baggage handling systems don’t work as efficiently. If your travel schedule involves multiple flights, you’ll obviously beat the odds of arriving without your luggage, but there’s another important reason to carry on, too.
If your trip is significantly delayed and the airline agrees to rebook you, your options may be limited if you’ve checked a bag all the way through.
How this guide was created
I’m a longtime former travel writer who wrote a consumer advice column for Travel + Leisure magazine for years and wrote the “Takeoffs and Landings” column in The Wall Street Journal. I’ve had some of my most interesting travel experiences during delays and cancellations, but I realize that not everyone welcomes being stranded.
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Flight delays FAQ
If you’re already at the airport, speak to the gate agent, who will tell you why the flight is delayed.
Yes, UK airlines should offer you some kind of compensation depending on the length and reason for your delay. This might be in the form of a voucher, a part refund or a full refund depending on the length of your delay.
If you do receive vouchers for future travel, make sure to check blackout and expiration dates
