Airline On-Time Performance and Causes of Flight Delays

As from June 2003 airlines have been obligated to report on-time data on their flights to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, this includes the cases of the delays and cancellations. This makes it easy to understand the reason behind flight delays and improves your changes of receiving flight delay compensation.

Each flight since 2003 is documented up to the most recent month, so even if you’ve hung around waiting to claim your compensation the information is still readily available to you.

Airlines which have 0.5% of total domestic flights have to report flight delays, and as of 2018, there are 18 carriers in total reporting these figures.

Whilst you may not be able to see the exact reason for the delay, you’ll be able to see the categories which were set by the Air Carrier On-Time Reporting Advisory Committee.

The flight delay compensation categories are:

-        Air Carrier: Delay caused by maintenance and crew problems, baggage loading, fueling, aircraft cleaning. This is one of the most common causes for delays annually.

-         National Aviation System (NAS): Non-weather-related issues such as air traffic volume, air traffic control and flying conditions. In 2017 over half of NAS delays were due to weather conditions.

-    Extreme Weather: Hazardous meteorological conditions which were occurring at the time of departure or have been forecast e.g. blizzards, tornadoes or hurricanes.

-      Late-Arriving Aircraft: When the previous flight of the aircraft doesn’t arrive on time for your departure.

-          Security: Cancellation or delay from an evacuation of the aircraft due to a security breach, technical fault of screening equipment or lines at screening areas being in excess of 29 minutes long. Note that these instances are extremely rare and make up less than 1% of delays.

Weather delays are reported differently to help airlines see where improvements can be made to their systems. Whilst cancellations due to extreme weather are rare in comparison to delays, they may also be made in accordance to guidance from NAS

Remember that all delays will have to be over two hours long for you to be entitled to any form of flight compensation. There are also multiple other extraordinary circumstances which may prevent you from receiving compensation, these can be found Flight Claim Online’s website.