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How to Minimize your Risk of a Flight Delay

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Travel off-peak

Delays create more delays. To dodge the domino effect, you should fly early in the day at most airports, and avoid the late afternoon and evening rush hours. For tips tailored to the 29 busiest domestic airports, visit Avoiddelays.com, which offers advice straight from the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. If you’re traveling via La Guardia, for example, go between 11 a.m. on Saturday and 4 p.m. on Sunday, when passenger volume is at its lowest. For international flights out of Los Angeles International, it’s best to depart between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m.

Check track records

Be sure to look at particular flights before you book a ticket. The Bureau of Transportation Statistics’ Web site, bts.gov, provides historical on-time figures for carriers and airports and also issues reports that highlight the tardiest routes of the month.

Opt for nonstop flights

If that’s not possible, allow ample time to make connections. In volatile weather, even a leg of a direct flight can be delayed or cancelled, and when many planes are now flying at nearly 100 percent capacity, it becomes difficult to rebook on another flight. One positive change: if you miss your connection, some carriers (including US Airways and Northwest Airlines) now allow you to purchase tickets or change reservations directly on a Web-enabled cell phone or PDA.

Sign up for updates

Flightstats.com tracks, analyzes, and predicts the performances of flights worldwide. It can also send alerts to your cell phone for particular flights, so you’ll know right away if yours is late, cancelled, diverted—or even if it has, surprise! arrived on time.

—W.S.T.

Copyright © 2008, American Express Publishing. All rights reserved.