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Weather delays have you down?
There is nothing more stressful than getting to the airport only to see a delay or cancellation of your flight. Here's some inside knowledge on what you can do to get to your destination in a timely manner.
Check your flights before you head to the airport. There are some handy websites out there to help track your aircraft. My favorite is Flight Aware. This Website will help you locate any aircraft from private jets to commercial airline flights. Use it and see the delays in real time by selecting your flight number.
There are several reasons a flight is delayed or canceled. Many times, maintenance issues prevent an aircraft from legally taking off. If an issue comes up, even if its something small that the pilot notices, it must be complied with by maintenance technicians before the aircraft is released as airworthy again.
Other times, flight crews may have had prolonged delays in flights preceding yours, so they become "timed out" on duty and a replacement crew must be found and called in, causing a delay. Due to the crunching economy, most airlines cannot afford to have many staff on immediate standby basis at the airports. This holds true for all flight crew from pilots to flight attendants. The F.A.A regulates these duty times and because they are constantly monitored, if a pilot is to knowingly exceed his or her duty time, they cannot accept the flight.
Weather always seems like the biggest delay. Gusty conditions, congested airspace, ice, snow or frost aides in more than half of all delayed scheduled flights. Remember, an aircraft cannot legally be allowed to fly unless it can comply with mandated rules governing runway conditions such as braking ability and visibility. Runways can be closed at any time for removing debris or at the discretion of the control tower. Pilots have no ability to challenge these rules and spend much time in the flight deck waiting for their clearance to depart. At times, these delays become described as "indefinite".
One of the easiest ways to have smooth travel, is understanding and fully preparing for your flight. Know alternate flight times to your destination, keep airline phone numbers and websites readily available and stay aware of where your aircraft is arriving from. (ex: Flight 1090 is expected to land in Denver at 13:00 local time from Chicago, which has been iced in for 5 hours.) By knowing that Flight 1090 is delayed at its point of departure, chances are your flight will be delayed or canceled out of Denver. Flight Aware will be able to show you this information. Pretty handy, isn't it.
Traveling should be simple, it should be turnkey, but its not. Advanced security screening, limited staffing and the poor economy leads to multiple reasons to come prepared and aware of your flight. A little extra time preparing before your trip, could get you those last two tickets on the alternate flight out of Houston.
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