a list i'm glad my state didn't make it in.

Too bad this wasn't posted yesterday. I am at the airport, delayed flying back home to Philadelphia. Wonderful.

Of course OHare and Midway are on there, they are notorious for being delayed in Chicago.

I live in Philly, and we DROVE to South Carolina today for the holidays. It was worth it not to deal with the hassle of flying at this time of year - or the hassle of flying out of Philly any time of year.

Notice that they're all late afternoon-evening. Fly as early in the day as you can to minimize delays.

There must be a lot of people flying late in the day, but I never see them. I try to catch 6 or 7AM flights so by the time flights start getting backed up I'm already where I need to be. Getting somewhere after 1PM annoys me.

Oh my Lord, the late flight into Midway is terrible. I prefer Midway to O'Hare but damn... if you don't get in before 9pm, it's horrible.

After flying constantly this past summer, I can assure you that night flights to and from LGA will be delayed at least an hour and always because of weather. Guaranteed.

@HeyHermano: I agree. Midway's a nice airport in a great city, but if you arrive there late, it's as if you're landing in the middle of nowhere. Nobody's around, it's quiet, desolate, almost spooky.

My best luck has always been flying in/out of the secondary airport in a major city.

Houston? Choose a flight on Southwest, which avoids Bush Intercontiental in favor of less crowded Hobby.

Miami? Try Ft. Lauderdale. LA? Burbank instead.

An area's smaller airport has fewer flights taking off and landing, resulting in fewer delays caused by dozens of flights attempting to take off and land within minutes of each other. In addition, you usually save time with shorter check-in/security lines and closer parking.

I always flew out of Ontario, CA instead of LAX- saved driving time and check-in time. Flying Southwest was fun too.

Early in the day is good advice for avoiding delays (assuming no weather-related stuff is involved). If you want to avoid long lines at the checkpoints, find out when the heavy departure blocks are at your airport and avoid them if you can.

Arrive: Philadelphia International Airport, PA (PHL) 7:41 PM

Oops.

Flying early is the obvious advice, but from the west coast you often don't have a lot of options given the time difference. If you leave here at 7 a.m., and have to make a connection, you're likely reaching the east coast in the evening.

And advice like "Avoid Philadelphia" or "Avoid Chicago" isn't real helpful if that's where you live, or where your work takes you.