The Easiest Way To See If Your Flight Will Be Delayed Before The Announcement Is Even Made

You know that sinking feeling when you're sitting at the gate, watching the clock tick closer to boarding time, and suddenly the dreaded word "DELAYED" pops up on the screen? It can feel like the bad news came out of nowhere, but in reality, airlines and airports often know your flight will be delayed way before it's announced to the public. With a few simple strategies, though, anyone can find out in advance as well.

One of the easiest hacks to predict if your flight might get pushed back is by checking the weather yourself. Weather-related delays can be disproportionately long and disruptive. For instance, JFK airport data shows that these delays averaged 69.8 minutes — far longer than delays from other causes (via Journal of Big Data). When checking the weather, focus on the biggest red-flag conditions: Snow and ice tend to cause the longest average delays, around over 80 minutes for some airports — de-icing and runway clearing cause long backlogs. 

Thunderstorms can also cause large delays, especially in summer or in places prone to severe convective storms. Fog and low visibility for landings and takeoffs force more conservative spacing, possibly restrict runway use, and sometimes cause diversions or repeats. Finally, high winds can also cause delays, even if their average delay minutes seem less extreme than the previous conditions, crosswinds, gusts, or wind shear can be disruptive as well. Make sure to track forecasts not only for your departure airport, but also for your destination and layover hubs.

The iPhone weather app can show you the basics; however, you can check the same data that pilots and air traffic controllers use on the Official NOAA Aviation Weather Center website. Here, you'll see aviation-specific details, like visibility in miles, ceiling heights, or the kind of wind shear that matters to pilots. Just go to the search bar and type your airport's 3 or 4-letter ICAO code, like JFK for New York Kennedy. Make sure you click the "Decoded" button to translate the pilot shorthand into plain English. This way, it will read "Broken clouds at 2,000 ft" or "3 miles visibility, mist" instead of like "BKN020" and "3SM BR". We suggest bookmarking the "Decoded" page for your usual airport.

Did you know that space weather, like solar storms, can impact aviation systems as well? A study of around 4 million flights by "Scientific Reports" showed that during space weather events, average arrival delays increased by over 80% (via arxiv.org). Checking forecasts of geomagnetic storms or significant solar activity — especially if you're flying over polar routes — or using aviation-space-weather advisories is also a great way to get early warning. Just head over to the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) website, where you can click on "Alerts, Watches and Warnings," "Current Space Weather Conditions" for live solar wind, geomagnetic indices, and "3-Day Forecast" for expected solar flares and geomagnetic activity, where G3 or higher often triggers extra navigation and communication precautions. 

Weather isn't the only thing you can track beforehand. Combine it with operational issues, like airport congestion, and you'll see a delay coming with much more accuracy — sometimes as early as two days in advance. For instance, you can see if your incoming plane is already late from a previous flight with FlightAware or Flyradar24. 

A category of delays that most don't know can be monitored are the National Aviation System (NAS) delays: air traffic control, airport operations, heavy traffic, or system capacity issues. Visit the FAA Command Center website for this information. Click on "List View" and you'll see a list of all airports in the U.S. with delays or closures. For each airport, you'll see either of these four advisories: "Airport Closure" when the field is completely closed, "Ground Stops" show flights that are temporarily barred from taking off to certain airports, and "Ground Delay" when congested airports can't handle the normal flow of arrivals due to runways, gates, or air-traffic staffing being stretched beyond capacity. Finally, you'll see "Departure Delay" for significant departure holds for weather or high traffic, or other reasons. On the same table you'll see the how long this delay is expected to last and the reason behind it: Military operations, low ceilings, thunderstorms, etc.

Airlines often wait to officially update passengers until they've received specific instructions from air traffic control, so knowing these tricks this gives you a head start.