Being on a delayed flight is extremely frustrating and if this has ever happened to you, you might be wondering why. You rarely get much information from the airline, so what are the main reasons for flights being delayed?
There are many reasons that a flight may be delayed, but the top ones include adverse weather, bird strikes, mechanical issues, connecting passengers, waiting for crew members, and problems with getting the plane ready. There are also other potential problems, like baggage loading and late aircraft.
It won’t surprise you that adverse weather is a particularly common reason for a plane to take off late. It doesn’t even need to be a heavy storm or wild weather to create a delay; something as minor as poor visibility can make it unsafe for the pilot to take off.
The standards for safe weather are set by the airport, but most planes will not take off if there is a storm, strong winds, blizzards, fog, etc. Adverse weather delays are less common than you might expect because planes are designed to handle bad weather well, but these are often given as a reason for a delay.
This is because they offer a convenient and simple explanation, and adverse weather is beyond the airline’s control, so it is less likely to result in angry passengers. You may therefore be told that a delay is due to adverse weather even if something else is causing it.
Bird strikes may sound like a strange issue, but a bird hitting a plane happens most frequently during takeoff or landing, and it can cause damage to the aircraft. Certain procedures have to be followed after a strike to ensure that the plane is safe for its next journey, and this can cause delays for the flight.
After a bird strike, the airline must thoroughly check the plane for damage, which slows down the preparation for the next flight, resulting in a delayed takeoff. If this happens, you may be informed of the strike, or you may be given another reason for the delay.
You will not be entitled to compensation if your plane is delayed for this reason, because it is considered to be beyond the airline’s control. As long as they have followed their procedures correctly, you won’t be compensated.
Every time a plane is preparing for takeoff, it needs to be checked all over for mechanical issues. This is critical for safety and is a standard part of procedure for all airlines. However, when an issue is found, the time needed to fix it often results in a delay.
Often, mechanical issues are minor and do not actually pose a threat to the passengers, but a repair will still be needed, and airlines must not overlook this. Issues can relate to things like the fan blades, the water draining system, or contamination of the air conditioning.
Even a non-serious issue will need to be corrected before the plane takes flight again, so if you’re being held up, it may be due to a technical problem on the aircraft. You can get compensation if this is responsible for the delay.
As soon as the problem has been corrected, the plane should be cleared for flight, but mechanical issues can still take a few hours to be resolved in some cases.
There are some situations in which a plane will wait for connecting passengers who have been delayed, although this isn’t the norm. Generally, if passengers are late for a flight, they will have to wait for the next one, but sometimes, the plane will wait.
In general, this happens only if the other passengers on the plane will not miss connections themselves as a result of the delay.
In some cases, it will occur because the luggage of the passengers who are late has already been put onto the plane, and the calculated unloading time is greater than the calculated expected time for them to board. The plane will be on its way faster if the passengers are allowed to board, so it makes sense to wait.
Connecting passengers is therefore a fairly rare reason for a plane to be delayed, but it does happen.
Your flight must have a certain number of crew members to look after the passengers on the plane, so if it is short of crew, it won’t be going anywhere. You will not even be allowed onto the plane until the crew quota has been met.
That means you can easily be delayed by a lack of crew members. This may be because staff members are arriving on a different flight that has been delayed.
Many airlines get around this issue by having additional crew members ready to minimize the risk of crew shortages delaying a flight, but smaller airlines may not have this, and even larger ones may suffer from crew shortages at times.
If your crew members are on a flight that has been delayed, it can take hours before your own flight is ready to leave. This can be pretty frustrating.
As well as being checked for mechanical faults, your plane needs to be made ready for passengers in other ways, such as cleaning, restocking of fuel, and the loading of food. Generally, these processes are done quickly because the airline wants the plane in the air as much as possible.
However, sometimes the staff responsible for these tasks will run into issues, and this could cause a delay. Catering tends to be provided by a third party, so if there are problems on their end, it can have an impact upon the flight.
The plane won’t leave until it has the promised catering on board, and obviously will not leave until it has been fully refueled, so any hiccups in these processes will cause delays.
In some cases, baggage loading could be the cause of a delay. This isn’t as simple as just grabbing bags and slinging them into the aircraft’s hold; most airlines have staff trained in how to handle bags safely. If someone is sick or the airline is short-staffed, it’s easy for them to get behind with the loading process.
If this happens, your flight may be delayed while they work to get all the bags safely on board. It may not be a particularly long delay, but depending on the shortages and the number of bags that need to be loaded, it could be a couple of hours.
Just like the crew being delayed on another flight, the plane you are going to be using could be delayed on another flight. If it doesn’t come in until later than expected, your takeoff is inevitably going to be delayed, and this can cause other issues, like runway space and crew conflicts.
The more delays occur, the more delays are likely to keep occurring, because each delay will have knock-on effects that alter the operation of other flights. You can’t fly until the plane has touched down, passengers have disembarked, and it has been inspected, cleaned, restocked, and declared ready for flight.
A late plane can therefore lead to a pretty major delay in some circumstances, which is frustrating for everyone involved.
Like all industries, airlines occasionally have to deal with worker strikes, and these will again cause inevitable delays to flights – it’s almost the point of them. Often, they result in complete cancellations, but sometimes they just cause delays. However, they can be pretty major delays.
You will be able to claim compensation if your flight is canceled or delayed due to strikes, and you may also find that the airline offers you accommodation, food, etc., while you are waiting to find out what will happen.
You are more likely to run into this issue if you are flying out from a particularly busy city, such as Paris, London, or New York, because there are so many flights leaving and arriving at any given time. These flights are given permission to land and take off by Air Traffic Control.
Handling all of this traffic can be a challenge, and long flights in particular can run into issues. In some parts of the world, the radar coverage is poorer, and this means that the Air Traffic Controllers have to require long periods between the allowed landings and takeoffs to ensure that aircraft are able to get up and down safely.
If a delay happens, it will usually cause multiple knock-on delays that will result in many flights being late. This is beyond the airline’s control. Air Traffic Control is tasked with making sure the number of landings and takeoffs are kept to safe maximums so that there is no risk of conflict between flights, and this is a critical part of avian safety.
Just as passengers have to go through baggage checks and security gates, aircraft also have to get security clearance to take off. This involves numerous steps, including contacting Air Traffic Control, and checks on the plane’s operation, the presence of crew, etc.
If any of these security checks fail or the plane does not get clearance from Air Traffic Control, there will be a delay and your flight will be late. Because there are so many steps here, it’s pretty common for at least some delay to occur. Sometime buffers will be built in, but this can still cause lateness.
You might think that aircraft should know in advance what weight restrictions need to be adhered to, and this issue would never occur once the plane is being loaded and boarded, but weight problems can play a role in the plane’s timeliness.
This is because the weight restrictions change according to certain factors, such as elevation and atmospheric conditions. All planes must have a maximum takeoff weight calculated before they are cleared to fly, and if the weight of the passengers and their baggage exceeds this, they won’t be permitted to take off until it has been resolved.
Remember that although airlines impose restrictions on baggage, passengers may pay to bring extra luggage on, so the weight cannot be estimated in advance. The airline must wait until the flight is boarding to find out what weight they are expected to carry, and then the feasibility can be calculated.
If the weight restriction is not adhered to, passengers may be refused permission to board, and the flight will be delayed while the issue is resolved.
The pilot and crew must have a certain amount of rest while working, as mandated by law. In general, this doesn’t cause issues because airlines know and schedule their crew breaks and shifts accordingly.
However, when a flight gets delayed or crew members have to change shifts at short notice, your plane may not be able to take off even if all the crew are present because they are not considered sufficiently rested.
If this occurs, you may have to wait for other crew members, or for the mandated break periods to be met. This could result in a delay of a few hours, which can be frustrating. However, it’s important to remember that these are safety requirements and it is crucial for airlines to follow them in order to ensure that planes are operated as they should be.
Flying with badly rested pilots or crew members could result in accidents or procedures not being followed, so airlines must adhere to these standards, even when it causes inconvenience.
There are many things that can cause flight delays, as you can see. If your plane does not take off as anticipated, make sure you find out the reason from airport staff so that you can claim compensation if you are owed it.
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https://www.alternativeairlines.com/blog/flight-delay-causes
https://www.ifly.com/flying-info-and-tips/flight-delay-causes