About 12 hours before departure:<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n- Check the FAA Delay Map<\/a> for a quick view on any airports that aren\u2019t operating at, err<\/em>, peak-efficiency <\/li>\n
- Check flightaware<\/a> for the booked flight<\/li>\n
- Figure out where the aircraft is coming from<\/li>\n
- Click \u201ctrack inbound flight\u201d repeatedly until I see all the aircraft\u2019s prior flights to its inbound flight, and I also note the time on the ground between flights for each airport the aircraft will stop at (anything less than 45 minutes is almost certainly an airline pipe dream, and you can assume that those legs will be delayed)<\/li>\n
- Set alerts in the airline\u2019s app or in flightaware for the flight and for the inbound flight<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Once I know where the bad airports are and I know all the routes my inbound aircraft is flying before getting to me, I\u2019ll have a good sense for whether or not my flight will be delayed due to weather, congestion, airport closures, or other external factors (of course mechanical issues<\/a>, dented aircraft<\/a>, San Francisco fog<\/a>, or any other number of things could delay the flight too \u2014 but those things are harder to predict).<\/p>\nIf my flight is going to pass through an airport on the delay map or if it has a bunch of overly optimistic 20 minute turns<\/a> (I\u2019m looking at you, United Express), I\u2019ll proactively call the airline and ask nicely to switch to an alternative flight with a better chance of going out (side note: I use ITA Matrix with forced carriers<\/a> to find alternatives that may not appear on the airline\u2019s own site.) At 12 hours out, getting another routing is easier than you probably think it is \u2014 often just saying \u201cthe plane is flying through Newark in a few hours and Newark has major delays, could I switch?\u201d is enough to get the alternative routing you want.<\/p>\nAbout 2 hours before departure:<\/h4>\n\n- Check the FAA Delay Map<\/a> again<\/li>\n
- Check flightaware<\/a> again<\/li>\n
- Check the airline\u2019s status page for my flight and the inbound<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Again, I\u2019m at a decision point: if anything looks sketchy, I may want to jump to my own backup booking or rebook on an alternative flight on the same airline. The two hour mark here is key because alternative flights probably haven\u2019t filled up, none of them are likely to be under gate-control, and other non-avgeek passengers on your flight haven\u2019t done anything proactively yet. This is also the point where if you call the airline it\u2019s very easy to switch to another flight by mentioning issues with the inbound aircraft, even if they haven\u2019t posted in the airline\u2019s system. (Side note: New ticketing while a flight is under gate-control is something I don\u2019t wish on my worst enemy, it\u2019s like another layer of hell.)<\/p>\n
Boarding time<\/h4>\n
Once I know where the bad airports are and I know all the routes my inbound aircraft is flying before getting to me, I\u2019ll have a good sense for whether or not my flight will be delayed due to weather, congestion, airport closures, or other external factors (of course mechanical issues<\/a>, dented aircraft<\/a>, San Francisco fog<\/a>, or any other number of things could delay the flight too \u2014 but those things are harder to predict).<\/p>\n If my flight is going to pass through an airport on the delay map or if it has a bunch of overly optimistic 20 minute turns<\/a> (I\u2019m looking at you, United Express), I\u2019ll proactively call the airline and ask nicely to switch to an alternative flight with a better chance of going out (side note: I use ITA Matrix with forced carriers<\/a> to find alternatives that may not appear on the airline\u2019s own site.) At 12 hours out, getting another routing is easier than you probably think it is \u2014 often just saying \u201cthe plane is flying through Newark in a few hours and Newark has major delays, could I switch?\u201d is enough to get the alternative routing you want.<\/p>\n Again, I\u2019m at a decision point: if anything looks sketchy, I may want to jump to my own backup booking or rebook on an alternative flight on the same airline. The two hour mark here is key because alternative flights probably haven\u2019t filled up, none of them are likely to be under gate-control, and other non-avgeek passengers on your flight haven\u2019t done anything proactively yet. This is also the point where if you call the airline it\u2019s very easy to switch to another flight by mentioning issues with the inbound aircraft, even if they haven\u2019t posted in the airline\u2019s system. (Side note: New ticketing while a flight is under gate-control is something I don\u2019t wish on my worst enemy, it\u2019s like another layer of hell.)<\/p>\nAbout 2 hours before departure:<\/h4>\n
\n
Boarding time<\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/milesearnandburn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/layers-of-hell-1024x768.jpeg\")