Flight delays occur for a range of reasons, from inclement weather to unruly passengers or flight crews who have exceeded their maximum flying time. But one issue you might not expect: a fight between the pilot and flight attendant. Yet, that’s apparently what happened to a Delta Air Lines flight. [More]
flight delays
One Family Earned $11,000 By Not Flying Delta During Delay-Filled Weekend
By 4.10.17
If you had somewhere to be this weekend and booked to fly with Delta Air Lines, there’s a decent chance you either arrived late, never made it, or had to fly another carrier — all thanks to lingering cancellations and delays brought on by a storm. Yet Delta’s nightmarish weekend was a windfall for some frequent fliers, like one family who scored more than $11,000 by choosing to not fly Delta. [More]
Glitch Blamed For Latest United Airlines Delays
By 10.14.16
While most of us were catching a few “Zs” last night, thousands of United Airlines passengers were waiting in terminals, sitting on planes on a tarmac, or otherwise biding their time as the carrier suffered yet another computer glitch delaying flights around the world. [More]
Delta CEO Apologizes For Massive Outage, Travel “Challenges”
By 8.8.16
Delta Air Lines suffered a massive systems outage this morning that left all its flights worldwide grounded. After several hours, flights were slowly and in a limited way able to start taking off again, but passengers all over the map are still facing massive delays. [More]
Air France Warning Travelers Of Canceled Flights Amid Strike
By 8.1.16
If you’re planning a vacation that involves Air France, well, you should probably keep a close eye on your itinerary: the airline is warning travelers that a worker strike that’s already grounded 900 flights and affected 150,000 customers may result in more last-minute flight cancellations. [More]
Delta Flight Heading To NYC Diverted Twice, Finally Lands At Destination After 30 Travel Hours
By 2.17.16
It’s bad enough to be on a flight that gets diverted once, potentially delaying arrival time and generally mucking with your life. But passengers on a Delta Air Lines flight that left Monday for New York City had an even larger headache this week, when their plane took 30 travel hours to reach its final destination, after being diverted twice. [More]
Delayed Delta Flight Takes Off With Just Two (Very Happy) Passengers On Board
By 1.13.15
Hearing that your flight has been delayed, and then delayed again, and then delayed again, to the point where it seems like you’re never going to take off is a frustrating experience for anyone. But one guy who took his frustrations all the way back to his hotel came back to the airport when it was finally time to take off and was met with quite the reward for his patience — a flight almost entirely to himself. [More]
Shipment Of Live Crabs Desperate For Freedom Delays US Airways Flight
By 10.3.14
While you’re sitting there wondering if you can just fly this goshdarn plane itself, there could be some very interesting reasons for your flight to be delayed. Sure, there are crew issues and mechanical problems, but there’s also the very real threat from live seafood seeking to escape their confines in a plane’s cargo hold. [More]
You Weren't Alone: July Was A No Good Very Bad Awful Month For Long Flight Delays
By 9.18.12
That time you were sitting on the tarmac for hours upon hours, hating life and cursing the sky gods for keeping you earthbound? You weren’t alone in July, as the government said it was worse than the previous eight months combined for planes stuck on the ground. [More]
If We Have To Deal With Increased Airline Fees At Least Planes Are Arriving On Time
By 8.9.12
It might seem too good to be true, but it isn’t: The airline industry is in the midst of its best performance in regards to on-time flight arrivals since 1988. Cold comfort for the next time you’re watching the clock tick your life away waiting to take off on a congested runway during the holidays, sure, but a good sign nevertheless. [More]
Power Outage Leads To Minor Mayhem, Improvisation At SoCal Airport
By 3.19.12
Innumerable things can and do go wrong at airports when all the equipment is in working order, so you can only imagine what a mess can occur when such a bustling commerce center suffers a power outage. Headaches abounded at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, Calif. Sunday when a backup generator went kaput. [More]
Allay Delayed Holiday Flight Madness With A Few Simple Tips
By 11.23.11
It’s terrible, horrible, no good and very bad when your flight is delayed during the holidays. Whether you’re heading home to see Nana or fleeing your in-laws after forced Thanksgiving niceties, there are ways to avoid a stressful meltdown at the airport. [More]
Know Your Rights When Your Flight Is Canceled
By 8.29.11
When your flight is canceled, it pays to know what you’ve got coming. To find travel alternatives and adjust your schedule and accommodations in the most efficient way, you need to know the rules of the game. [More]
JetBlue Takes Forever To Give Me Near-Useless Travel Voucher
By 12.20.10
Several months ago, Matthew booked a flight to take his family and in-laws from Rochester to Disney World. Then he discovered JetBlue was canceling the flight he had planned. The airline offered him a voucher but made him drive 75 miles to another airport to get a direct flight. It took too much back-and-forth to actually claim that voucher, and Matthew feels mistreated. [More]
Flight Delays Cost Passengers $16.7 B Per Year
By 10.22.10
Delayed flights aren’t just annoying, they’re expensive. A new FAA-funded study finds that they cost passengers $16.7 billion per year. That’s a lot of bags of peanuts. [More]
Delays, Insults Have Left Me With the JetBlues
By 3.9.10
Benjamin says JetBlue gave him a hard time as he traveled from Puerto Rico to Boston, sticking him with a delay that caused him to miss a connecting flight, then telling him it wasn’t responsible and repeatedly calling him a liar when he tried to get some help. [More]
Flight Delays Jump
By 1.14.10
“Whether or not the new security is making us safer, it seems to be making us slower.” So says a pretty graph over at GOOD magazine shows the dramatic increase in sluggishness 10 major airports. Percentage of departures canceled or delayed has jumped up from last year. The worst offenders? Forth Worth, Dallas, and Kennedy, at 70%, 55% and 51%, respectively. We eke ever closer to a Soviet Russia model of air travel. Eventually we’ll have to bribe the pilots to take off. [More]
Blind Traveler Asks Too Many Questions On Delayed U.S. Airways Flight, Is Dragged Off, Jailed, Told He's Faking His Blindness
By 5.16.09
As 61-year-old Belgian interpreter Nicola Cantisani, who is blind, sat for two hours waiting in the Brussels-bound U.S. Airways jet on the tarmac at Philadephia airport in early April, he wondered why no one was telling passengers about the reasons for the take-off delay. When he requested a glass of water he was shooed away by the crew. When he tried to ask the captain exactly why there was a delay, Cantisani was asked to disembark.
