I know it’s hard not to take airline delays and cancellations personally, especially with the increasing frequency of airplane scheduling issues. I assure you, though, the airlines want these flights to go off without a hitch just as much if not more than the average traveler.
Every delay is an added expense to the company- paying their staff overtime, handing out vouchers or compensated hotel stays to stranded passengers, even refunding flights or giving out air credits. These all add up to an expense the companies would definitely prefer to avoid.
There are a few reasons that your flight may be delayed, and it’s often out of safety concerns.
I think we can all agree that we want our flights to arrive safely as often as possible- especially with the volume air accidents in the news lately!
Hopefully these insights will help you understand airline flight delays with a bit more clarity.
1) Staffing Shortages
The first and easiest explanation is a lack of staffing. During the early months of the COVID-19, airlines cut costs by laying off nearly half a million workers. This included everyone from pilots to flight attendants to support crew- even customer service workers were fired, forced to find other work, or otherwise took an early retirement.
Of course when people felt comfortable traveling again, demand not only reached but exceeded previous levels.
Unfortunately, the staff needed to support these record numbers of travelers simply isn’t there. Many of these workers were not able to return to their old positions for a variety of reasons, and it takes time to train brand new staff up to scratch. If you’ve noticed a significant decline in customer service quality in the past few years, this plays a big role!
But okay, it’s been years now, so surely there are now enough workers to support everyone’s travel needs- right?
Well, no- I’m sure you’ve seen this in your own work as well as at your average grocery store. The pandemic taught business exactly how few staff they could get away with hiring. Barebones staffing may be great for the bottom line, but not so great when it comes to a high quality service experience.
2) Safety Regulations – What is “Getting Timed Out”?
Have you ever been waiting for a flight that gets suddenly cancelled due to the flight crew getting “timed out”?
According to the FAA, pilots cannot fly more than 14 hours and many airline unions have a stricter maximum flight time. Plus, pilots cannot be on duty for more than 32 hours within a seven-day period.
All this to say, is that if your flight is getting continuously delayed (especially later in the day), your crew is more likely to reach that limit, which is known as getting “Timed Out”. There’s nothing that can be done about getting timed out- it is not safe for the crew to be flying with sleep deprivation.
3) Traffic
One of the interesting things about air travel is that airports don’t actually have enough space for all the airplanes in the world to land at once.
The space issue is managed by a complicated shuffle of airplanes all over the world, and it helps to have as many airplanes in the air as often as possible.
This means that the plane taking you from NYC to London may have just flown in from Cancun, since that is the best use of its time.
It’s a convenient method of maximizing both space and personnel, but one delay in this complicated chain can often have a cascading effect that is difficult to sort out quickly.
4) Mechanical Issues
This one sounds bad! And honestly, having a mechanical issue is not great even when you’re not flying through the air in a metal tube. But the important thing is that the issue was caught before it caused a deadly accident and that is always a good thing!
Because the airplanes are in use so frequently, mechanical issues start cropping up as general wear and tear. Its kind of like how your car has more issues the more you drive it.
When there is any issue with a plane, it needs to be inspected to insure the safety of the crew and passengers. A replacement plane will typically be scheduled if possible, but there’s always going to be a bit of a wait!
5) Weather
Have you ever been waiting for a plane on what looks like a regular cloudy day, but your flight gets delayed anyway?
Weather can change drastically with a few miles- especially at high altitudes. We definitely don’t want these planes to fly in an unsafe environment so that typically means unavoidable delays.
Severe weather located close to a major airport can often cause delays that take several days to return to normal. All of the passengers on canceled flights need to be re-accommodated as quickly as possible. Extra flights will often be scheduled to help get these passengers to their destinations, but this can delay the other scheduled flights that need to make room for the extra planes.
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