Airports: Plan ahead and check your timing
During last summer’s travel boom, the CEO of London’s Heathrow Airport early airlines stop selling tickets due to staff shortages. Amsterdam Schiphol has set a capacity ceiling. London Gatwick is cutting back on flights for July and August. Air Canada reduced the number of flights by about 15 percent.
What can travelers expect for summer 2023? And where are they most likely to experience delays and cancellations?
The website for flight tracking FlightAware can offer some clues: between Memorial Day and Labor Day in 2022, the US airports with the highest number of delays and cancellations were, in order: Newark Liberty International Airport, La Guardia Airport and New York Kennedy Airport; Reagan National in Washington; Miami International; Orlando International; Boston Logan International; and Charlotte Douglas International, in Charlotte, NC
In Newark and Orlando, the worst delays last summer, nearly 35 percent of flights departing from those airports failed to arrive at their destinations on time. Newark also held the title for the most cancellations last summer, with nearly 9 percent of flights canceled entirely.
Worldwide, the worst rates of delays and cancellations occurred at the international airports of Toronto, Sydney, Jakarta, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Munich and London (both Gatwick and Heathrow). Toronto Pearson stood out from the packwith more than half of departing flights delayed and 7 percent of departures cancelled.
Whether these airports will once again be the culprits of outsized travel woes is hard to say. Some are taking preventive measures to cope with the summer surge.
Toronto Pearson is putting limits on the number of flights arriving at and departing from the airport this summer, and improvements such as contactless check-in and reinforced staff are being implemented. Amsterdam Schiphol has no plans for a summer cap, neither does Heathrow.
In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration has a remark saying there would be more delays in the Northeast this summer compared to 2022, which is why the agency is easing restrictions on airlines operating in Washington, D.C. and New York to ease disruptions.
But there are some strategies passengers can use to increase the likelihood of pain-free travel. First, it may be a good idea to avoid the airports with the most delays and cancellations last summer. And flying non-stop eliminates the risk of something going wrong with the connection. But since the worst airports are also some of the biggest hubs for major airlines, it’s not always realistic to avoid them, and depending on where you’re flying from, you may be forced to transfer.
But passengers may avoid traveling during peak hours, such as when long-haul flights arrive, which can cause overcrowding. Most overnight long-haul flights from the United States to Europe arrive in destination cities between 6 a.m. and noon local time. The Customs and Border Control waiting times website can give an idea of the busiest times when international flights arrive in the United States so you can plan around that.
Booking the first flight of the day can also be a smart move, because if the flight is canceled you have a better chance of getting on another flight the same day. Building in some connection time is an easy way to avoid headaches.
Keeping abreast of the complications summer weather can bring can also help. In the past, smoke from wildfires in the western United States has hit airports in San Francisco, Denver, Seattle and Reno, Nev. Hurricane season can cause delays at Gulf Coast and Atlantic airports such as Houston, New Orleans, Miami and Atlanta. Even the heat itself can cause problems: last summer, London’s Luton airport had to to block after scorching temperatures caused the runway to buckle, and Phoenix has faced similar problems.