What time of day should you fly if you want to avoid delays as much as possible?

Flights that departed before 6 a.m. and from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. were nearly as good. Delay times increase from there. After 8 a.m., for every hour later you depart, the average delay time increases by about one minute. The average delay time peaks at 20.7 minutes from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.



To maximize your chances of an on-time departure, the "golden rule" in 2026 remains booking the earliest flight of the day, typically between 6:00 AM and 10:00 AM. Early morning flights are significantly less likely to be delayed because the aircraft has usually spent the night at the airport, meaning it isn't waiting for an inbound leg from another city. Furthermore, air traffic control congestion is lowest in the morning, and the "ripple effect" of cumulative delays across the network hasn't had time to build up. Additionally, in many regions, convective weather and afternoon thunderstorms—which often trigger ground stops—are less frequent in the morning hours. Statistically, on-time performance begins to drop after noon and reaches its lowest point in the late evening.

People Also Ask

Try and catch a flight leaving the US at 6 in the evening instead of at 10 in the evening. Because late night flights are more likely to be delayed than earlier ones.

MORE DETAILS

According to data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (which currently only has numbers through May), 20.8 percent of flights were delayed so far in 2023, compared to 18.8 percent in 2019.

MORE DETAILS

Just like us after a night of good sleep, airline circulation is freshest in the morning. If your flight departs in the morning, you are less likely to be affected by delays that stack up during the day and push back or cancel departure times.

MORE DETAILS

Earlier in the day is the safest time of day to fly. More accidents occur later in the day when the pilots are tired, especially when the weather is bad and there have been delays. How does weather influence air safety? Weather is a factor in a majority of accidents.

MORE DETAILS

Frontier Airlines has had the worst on-time arrival performance so far in 2023. Just 65.41% of Frontier flights arrived on time from January through April 2023.

MORE DETAILS

Wizz Air was the worst major airline for flight delays from the UK last year, according to an investigation. The figures, from the Civil Aviation Authority and reported by the PA news agency, found that the Hungarian carrier's UK departures were an average of 46 minutes and six seconds behind schedule last year.

MORE DETAILS

BTS data from July 2021 to June 2022 shows Hawaiian performed best of all U.S. airlines with just a 0.81% cancellation rate. Delta took second place again — with a cancellation rate of 1.63%. Meanwhile, merger partners JetBlue (3.81%) and Spirit Airlines (4.11%) canceled the highest percentage of all flights.

MORE DETAILS

Beyond delays and cancelations, early morning flights have the added perk of being less prone to turbulence. According to the National Severe Storms Laboratory, most thunderstorms tend to occur in the afternoon.

MORE DETAILS

It might be surprising to learn that turbulence is actually worse in the daytime. In the early morning and night time, wind speeds typically reduce, and thunderstorms clear up. Avoid turbulence and catch up on some sleep by choosing flights with an early morning or red-eye departure!

MORE DETAILS

Are flights busy at 6AM? The probability for a delay is at its lowest (20% or below) from 6am – 11am. Early morning flights have less runway traffic, planes ready to take off from the night before, and fewer planes already in the air. Days of the week can impact the ticket price, along with delays.

MORE DETAILS

Delta Air Lines ranked as the highest-rated domestic airline in the U.S. According to Bounce's 2023 Airline Index, Delta recorded the highest percentage of on-time arrivals at 81.82% and one of the lowest cancellation rates at 1.96%.

MORE DETAILS

Perhaps even more significant is the stark drop over the past year. August 2023 U.S. airfares averaged 13% lower than what they were in August 2022. Things get especially interesting when compared to pre-pandemic prices.

MORE DETAILS

From this data, it looks like some of the worst airlines for complaints include Frontier Airlines, Spirit Airlines, and JetBlue Airways. Southwest is still in the top five, with 7.31 complaints per 100,000 enplanements.

MORE DETAILS

In 2022 year, Frontier Airlines reported 20.26 customer complaints for each 100,000 enplanements on domestic-scheduled operations. This was the highest rate of customer complaints among U.S. carriers.

MORE DETAILS

Spirit. Like Frontier, Spirit has the skinniest rows of any American airline, with a seat pitch of 28 inches — and they don't recline. Spirit lagged at 8 out of 10 American airlines studied in the in The Points Guys' 2021 report.

MORE DETAILS

recent operation or injury where trapped air or gas may be present in the body (e.g. stomach ,bowel, eyes, face, brain) severe long term diseases that affect your breathing. breathlessness at rest. unresolved pneumothorax (punctured lung)

MORE DETAILS

Generally, the worst days of the week to fly domestically are Sunday, Monday, and Friday. Why are flights on Sunday, Monday, and Friday more expensive? Most business travel takes place on Monday and Friday. Many vacationers tend to fly on Fridays and Sundays.

MORE DETAILS

Accident statistics suggest that flying by night accounts for about 10% of the general aviation accidents, but 30% of the fatalities. That suggests night flying must be inherently more dangerous than aviating when the sun is up.

MORE DETAILS