San Francisco Airport gets raves for its accredited art museum, foodie-magnet restaurants, and a Zen Room stocked with yoga mats.
But Farrah Potter is not impressed. The VP of Eugene, OR–based consulting firm King Retail Solutions makes frequent day trips to the Bay Area for meetings, and has gotten delayed at SFO so often that she now prefers to fly into Oakland, even though it adds up to seven hours to her day. “Otherwise, at SFO, I could end up staying overnight,” she says.
The numbers back up Potter’s feeling: foggy SFO airport once again landed among the worst three airports for flight delays, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS). Your odds of a delay—defined as a flight leaving more than 15 minutes behind schedule—average about 20 percent and over 30 percent if you’re trying to leave SFO during the early afternoon.
To be fair, SFO has actually improved by about two percentage points since last year—just like most of the 29 airports on the BTS report card for the past 12 months, ending in July 2012. At D.C.’s Reagan National, the morning time span, when flights are least likely to be delayed, now lasts until 1 p.m.
The bad news? The airports may not be able to take much credit: some analyses attribute the overall uptick in on-time departures to mild weather and fewer planes flying. For the late departures that persist—and nowhere worse than at No. 1 delayed Newark—the airlines can be blamed about 28 percent of the time. Those delays come from cleaning planes, fueling up, and pesky maintenance issues like the repair-related delays, including infamously loose seats, that have plagued American Airlines recently.
For travelers left sitting at the gate, the whys of a delay may feel like splitting hairs. San Francisco native Amy Lee is willing to pay up to $200 extra for direct flights, so she doesn’t risk the hassles of an open-ended layover at Dallas–Fort Worth.
When Lee does find herself languishing at DFW, however, she gives some props to the hub’s art collection and yoga room. “It’s not as nice as SFO’s yoga room,” says the travel strategist at personal finance company NerdWallet, “but it’s better than nothing.”
Find out at which airports your flight is most likely to get delayed—and which times of day are worst for takeoff.
Figures indicate the percentage of all flights that departed more than 15 minutes behind schedule from July 2011 to June 2012 and are from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
No. 1 Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)
Flights Delayed: 23.83%
Apparently, the New Jersey airport missed the memo that this was a year to improve on-time departures. Unlike most other U.S. airports, it fell by three percentage points in performance and skidded down to No. 1 worst airport (from its No. 7 tie last year). By 7 p.m., your chance of a delay here reaches the 40 percent mark. Your best chance is to fly out before 7 a.m.
Best Time Window: Before 7 a.m.
Worst Time Window: 1–11 p.m.
No. 2 San Francisco International Airport (SFO)
Flights Delayed: 21.78%
How much slack can you cut an airport just for fog? SFO has been in the bottom 10 since 2008, and keeps inching closer to the No. 1 worst spot. Perhaps due to that poor visibility, it has the earliest start time for the period in which delays rise above 20 percent: a depressing 10 a.m. Your best strategy here is to leave really early.
Best Time Window: Before 8 a.m.
Worst Time Window: 10 a.m.–10 p.m.
No. 3 Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW)
Flights Delayed: 20.1%
Midway used to be considered the saner alternative to O’Hare, but this Windy City airport has had a much worse on-time record the past three years—and is making a repeat appearance in the bottom three. The good news? Midway has improved its timeliness by nearly 10 points, and at the very least, managed to break out of its two-year record as the No. 1 worst airport.
Best Time Window: Before 8 a.m.
Worst Time Window: Anytime after 3 p.m.
No. 4 Miami International Airport (MIA)
Flights Delayed: 19.35%
Miami slid from its No. 8 spot and into the bottom five despite boosting its performance two points. If you want an excuse to spend another evening partying in the city, use this one: after 3 p.m., your odds of being delayed get stuck at about 25 percent. Stay up all night, on the other hand, and you can catch a likely on-time flight—as long as it’s before 8 a.m.
Best Time Window: Before 8 a.m.
Worst Time Window: 2–11 p.m. (especially 5–10 p.m.).
No. 5 George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH)
Flights Delayed: 19.29%
The Houston hub is not looking very presidential this year: its on-time performance worsened by three percentage points, and it zoomed from the top 10 best to the bottom five. Trouble here starts as early as 2 p.m. and gets worse during the happy hour zone—a good reason to fly out by lunchtime.
Best Time Window: Before 8 a.m.
Worst Time Window: 5–9 p.m.
No. 6 Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD)
Flights Delayed: 18.82%
O’Hare has long been considered the bad boy for lengthy waits—but has actually stayed out of the bottom five since 2009, when it ranked as the second worst in the land. That said, if you are trying to fly out late at night, it is still the worst. After 11 p.m., you have a 53 percent chance of needing to catch some shut-eye on the airport floor.
Best Time Window: Before 7 a.m.
Worst Time Window: 2–10 p.m.; after 11 p.m.
No. 7 Denver International Airport (DEN)
Flights Delayed: 18.24%
As proof that the bar is being raised for on-time performance, Denver actually improved two percentage points this year, but still fell two slots lower on the list. It also offers more challenges to travelers: the delay rate doesn’t vary much after noon, so it’s harder to pinpoint one rush-hour time frame to avoid.
Best Time Window: Before 9 a.m.
Worst Time Window: 3–11 p.m.
No. 8 Dulles International Airport (IAD)
Flights Delayed: 18.02%
Dulles wins the distinction of being one of the only airports to perform worse this year. It ranked No. 5 among the most on-time airports last year, and has now landed in the bottom 10 after falling by two percentage points. In particular, don’t consider a late-night departure: delays rack up to a depressing 50 percent by 11 p.m.
Best Time Window: Before 8 a.m.; between 9 a.m. and noon.
Worst Time Window: Anytime after 4 p.m. and especially at 11 p.m., when the odds of a delay reach 50 percent.
No. 9 Baltimore–Washington International Airport (BWI)
Flights Delayed: 17.64%
BWI gets credit for being one of the most improved this year: a nearly six-point uptick, gliding from the silver medal of tardiness to a less egregious No. 9. But don’t tempt fate: higher-than-20-percent delays start at 2 p.m., rise to 25 percent by 4 p.m., and don’t get much better until the next morning.
Best Time Window: Before 9 a.m.
Worst Time Window: 2–11 p.m.
No. 10 Dallas–Fort Worth International Airport (DFW)
Flights Delayed: 16.67%
This mega-hub keeps travelers guessing: two years ago, it ranked as the third worst airport for flight delays, then last year, it was in the middling ranks among the 29 airports. This year, even though DFW improved its performance a smidge, Big D could still stand for Big Delays.
Best Time Window: Before 8 a.m.
Worst Time Window: 4–9 p.m.
No. 11 John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)
Flights Delayed: 16.49%
Busy JFK has been a fixture among the bottom 10 of the BTS’s 29 evaluated airports for years, but has now upped its timeliness enough to elevate itself into mediocrity. One qualifier: after 7 p.m., the delays compound, and you’ll have a nearly 30 percent chance of waiting around.
Best Time Window: Before 9 a.m.
Worst Time Window: 7–10 p.m.
No. 12 McCarran International Airport (LAS)
Flights Delayed: 15.82%
Leaving Las Vegas doesn’t take quite as long as it used to. It has improved since last year’s fourth-worst ranking (when you had a 21.8 percent chance of needing to kill time on the airport slot machines). For the best payoff in punctuality, book an early departure.
Best Time Window: Before 8 a.m.
Worst Time Window: 3–10 p.m.
No. 13 Philadelphia International Airport (PHL)
Flights Delayed: 15.78%
Philly has stayed in the middle the past three years, and did boost its performance by two percentage points since 2011. Even with its faults, it’s still the best choice in the area, running circles around its airport neighbor in New Jersey. Philly’s airport rush hour does run a little early, though, starting at 3 p.m.
Best Time Window: Before 9 a.m.
Worst Time Window: 3–8 p.m.
No. 14 Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport (FLL)
Flights Delayed: 15.35%
Fort Lauderdale deserves some credit: after two years of pushing a 20 percent average for delays, the airport improved by five percentage points. But the odds of being on time vary wildly, depending on whether you leave in the morning or later in the day: performance here plummets starting at 4 p.m.
Best Time Window: Before 11 a.m.
Worst Time Window: 4–11 p.m.
No. 15 Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
Flights Delayed: 15.32%
Here’s one consolation for getting stuck at LAX: more time to look for sunglass-masked celebs. Actually, Los Angeles has improved its performance since last year, when its late-departure score was 17.9 percent. Just be sure to plan your departure while the sun is still shining: on-time performance hits its lull at about 7 p.m.
Best Time Window: 6–8 a.m.
Worst Time Window: 7–8 p.m.
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