Why is air travel so bad right now?

So what's creating such horrid air travel vibes? One possibility is that there are more travelers now than in 2019, but fewer commercial aircraft are flying, meaning passengers have fewer chances to reroute or get on the next flight when delays happen, leaving them stuck in limbo longer.



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Mass flight delays and cancellations happen because of bad weather. Thunderstorms, hurricanes, tornadoes, or even extreme heat aren't new, but record-breaking temperatures and more frequent weather disasters in the past year added stress on the air travel industry.

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So what's creating such horrid air travel vibes? One possibility is that there are more travelers now than in 2019, but fewer commercial aircraft are flying, meaning passengers have fewer chances to reroute or get on the next flight when delays happen, leaving them stuck in limbo longer.

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So what's creating such horrid air travel vibes? One possibility is that there are more travelers now than in 2019, but fewer commercial aircraft are flying, meaning passengers have fewer chances to reroute or get on the next flight when delays happen, leaving them stuck in limbo longer.

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JetBlue holds the dubious distinction of being at the top of the rankings for most delayed flights right now. Just 53.01% of all JetBlue flights arrived on time in July, meaning that nearly half were delayed.

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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.

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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.

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Your chances of being involved in a fatal plane crash are incredibly small – around 1 in 11 million, according to Harvard researchers. While your odds of being in a plane accident are about 1 in 1.2 million, survivability rates are about 95.7% – so the odds are with you no matter how you look at it.

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Air rage generally covers both behavior of a passenger or crew member that is likely caused by physiological or psychological stresses associated with air travel, and when a passenger or crew member becomes unruly, angry, or violent on an aircraft during a flight. Excessive consumption of alcohol is often a cause.

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The pandemic increased this misery. Consumer complaints against airlines surged more than 300% compared with pre-pandemic levels in April 2022 amid operational issues, flight cancellations and delays roiling the airline industry.

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Operated flights in March 2023 were up 4.64% year-over-year from the 581,434 flights operated in March 2022 and up 15.54% month-over-month from 526,543 flights operated in February 2023.

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There are several reasons why flights may be canceled, including bad weather, air traffic restrictions, lack of airplane or staff, technical problems, and low passenger numbers.

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The overall worst airport in the US for delays is JFK, based on our study of over 40,000 flights from the summer of 2022. JFK is followed by Chicago Midway, Newark, Orlando International, LaGuardia, and Denver.

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After soaring in 2022, prices for domestic airline tickets are on the descent. In June 2023, airfares had dropped by 8.1% from May and by 18.9% over the previous 12 months, according to the June Consumer Price Index (CPI) report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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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.

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On the reverse, Southwest Airlines had the highest rate of cancellation with a staggering 14.6%, after a massive system meltdown in December. This was followed by Alaska Airlines with 7.6% and Allegiant Air at 5.3%.

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Travelers are twice as likely to have a flight canceled flying on Thursday as opposed to a Tuesday, according to the data. Tuesday was the clear winner with the least cancellations and the least flight delays, with Monday close behind.

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  • Buffalo Niagara International Airport (BUF) has the highest cancellation rate in the country for 2022: 5.55% - up from 1.43% in 2021. ...
  • LaGuardia Airport (LGA) in New York City saw the largest increase in canceled flights – from 1471 in 2021 to 8795 in 2022 - a 497.89% jump.


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