Why are so many planes delayed?

[Marinamay44]

I am at Gatwick airport. My plane is delayed but they haven't told us how long for. It has been one hour so far.

The last three flights that I have taken have been delayed.

Why. It makes it so hard to plan anything. It is especially hard if you have to make a connecting flight, which I do.

Depends on the airline.

Planes run to a just in time schedule, so any delay throws their slot off and consequently the airline will either pull the flight or "delay" it until their next available slot.

Air Maritius have had a lot of delays recently, this is due to a lack of pilots and the sale of a number of aircraft from their fleet.

Short-haul Airlines are like a local bus service, numerous aircraft, non stop return trips and a high potential for technical issues.

There aren't really "more" delays, just more frequent flights and no margin for error. It gives the impression that there are more cancelled flights than there really are.

Two hours delayed now...

'A warning light has just come on in the cockpit Captain'

Ah fuck fire it up Jane needs to get to happy hour in Linekers

Hot weather reduces plane efficiency and performance. The hotter it is, the less well aircraft engines will perform, so planes need to be lighter and/or need longer runways to take off. In the worst case, they have to wait until conditions are cool enough for take off. This obviously causes delays and cancellations.

YANBU
I had a long trip back in Feb, which was supposed to be 6 flights (3 there and 3 back) it took me 24 hours door to door on the way there and 30 on the way back. The way back ended up being technically 5 flights, as what was meant to be the last flight couldn't land, so we got diverted to another country to refill then back to origin and finally made it to our destination 8 hours later. I used to do this big trip once a year, but I hadn't since before COVID and omg I feel like I can't do this again, absolute torture and stress and this was flying solo....every single flight was delayed apart front he first one 😫

Staff shortages
Plane gone tech
Mis counted bags
Mis counted passengers
Staff going over their allotted time in the air
Sickness
Holidays
Air traffic control
Strikes
Baggage handlers
Ground crew
Swissport

Crew shortages? We had a delay on our return flight from Palma Mallorca recently because a couple of members of the crew who should have been on the early morning flight out from Stansted had reported in sick so they had had to scramble a new
crew at the last moment, which caused the delay.

Too many flights for the capacity of the airport I would suggest. Pity you cannot reduce demand by ending such things as hen and stag dos abroad, and some other flights I consider not necessary.

I don’t remember the last time our flight actually took off on time. Sometimes it’s 10 minutes, sometimes 45 minutes or more.

I also think posted flight times are being increased, not because it takes planes longer to get to places but so that they can still land 'on time'. We left 30 minutes late on a recent flight and still landed 'early' (the 25 minute taxi to the gate was another matter).

Just make sure you dont ever get on my flight. We are always delayed

Ryanair usually are because they're cheap and cba paying for a priority slot or whatever it is

You’re more likely to be delayed if you take later flights, as it may have got held up on the journeys it did earlier in the day and if you look on Flightradar24 you can see where your plane has been that day and see if it’s running behind schedule.

I just arrived at my destination.

The captain came on the microphone and siad the delay was due to a number of things.
The plane arrived late into the UK, so then it was late to leave the UK, **and also a shortage of ground staff meant it took longer to get our baggage onto the plane.

The closure of certain airspace affects it too- more airplanes trying to all use the same space.

Just due to where I live and the fact that the airport is rarely the starting point for a flight, even if it’s a start for me, delays are really common. So common I’ve just learned to think of them as normal. I’m always a bit surprised by people who are used to their flights leaving on time.

If a flight leaves within 4 hours of the expected time, that is pretty good. All I am really hoping for is the same day. I’ve had far too many multi-day delays for a lifetime.

Because it’s a massive interconnected system, with literally hundreds of things that could go wrong. If anything, I’m surprised it runs as well as it does. Not that delays aren’t annoying - they’re the worst, especially when you’re already sat on the plane.