When to Fly to Avoid Flight Delays
My flight from Chicago at 8:00 pm was delayed a total of four times over the weekend; my plane arrived late, soon followed by our team, which itself arrived at the exit due to flight delays. Why does such a pain in the ass fly at night?
Well, if you are flying late, one delay early in the day can translate into several other delays for passengers on later flights, now remaining several hours at the gate.
After reviewing over 7 million domestic flights since 2018, Points Guy has found that statistically choosing an earlier flight is the best option if you want to arrive on time; in fact, your chances of arriving on time are greatly reduced during the day, but especially after 8pm when delays can be most severe.
According to TPG, here are some of the best and worst periods for flying in terms of punctuality:
Most punctual time for flights: from 7:00 to 7:59 (89.8% on schedule) from 8:00 to 8:59 (88.6% on schedule) from 9:00 to 9:59 (87.6 % by time)
Least punctual time for flights: from 22:00 to 22:59 (72.9% on schedule) from 20:00 to 20:59 (73% on schedule) from 21:00 to 21:59 (73.3% on time).
Leaving at 10:00 pm does not mean that you have a 72.9% chance of arriving on time; instead, it is simply evidence that approximately 73 flights do arrive on time at that departure hour (which is a relatively small number – meaning that 27 out of 100 flights are behind schedule).
But keep in mind that airlines are already increasing their scheduled times to arrive late and often on later flights. This means that some later flights still manage to miss the scheduled time even after adding it. And these numbers also do not reflect how late flights may arrive, but only that they are more than 15 minutes late.
If you want to increase the chances that you won’t experience a delay, it’s simple: take an earlier flight whenever possible. Morning flights are also best for avoiding turbulence if you can’t fly.
For a full breakdown of hourly times, check out the Points Guy’s post .