Avoiding Summer Flight Delays

By: Brian Dakss

It's been a tough year for air travelers. Planes have been close to full, and flight delays have been the worst since the '90s.

Why the long delays, particularly during this summer travel season?

On The Early Show Friday, travel expert Pauline Frommer, creator of the Pauline Frommer Guides, called this "an ugly year for summer travel," and explained to co-anchor Julie Chen that, "There have been a lot of summer storms, and when that happens, there's a corollary delay that happens, because the flight crews can only work a certain number of hours, and the airlines are so understaffed that, often, they can't find other flight crews to replace them, which only builds in the delays. So it's storms and staffing."

But Frommer offered advice that could help you get where you're going on time:

Fly at the right time

"Tuesdays and Wednesdays tend to be slower than the other days of the week," Frommer pointed out. "So, you get fewer delays on those days. Also, it's so important, if you can, to fly earlier in the day. The storm systems tend to happen later in the day, and all those ripple delays that follow storms are also happen later in the day."

Even if you're not experiencing bad weather in your area, you can still have weather delays, Frommer noted, saying, "You may not see them, but they're somewhere in the area."

Avoid tight connections

It's not a good idea to miss your flight, Frommer observed, "because the flights are going out so full. The planes are going out 85 percent to to 95 percent full this year. So it could take two, three planes before they find you an open seat."