Delays are something that most people fear when it comes to flying. Unfortunately, they’re not uncommon, and whether they’ll affect you can be hard to know before you travel. It’s not impossible, though. If you’re familiar with the right flight delay secrets, you could potentially avoid that dreaded wait whenever you travel.

Travel direct where possible

One of the easiest ways to reduce the risk of being delayed is by flying direct. The more planes you have to travel on to reach your destination, the greater the chance that something will go wrong. Unfortunately, getting a direct flight to certain locations can be tough. In this instance, you have two options. You can try planning your vacation around places that are reachable in one trip. If that’s not ideal, then travel via a route that offers several trips a day. Doing this will make getting another flight easier if yours is severely delayed or canceled.

Earlier flights are more reliable

Sometimes, you can’t control what time of the day you fly. However, if you’ve got a choice, it’s usually best to travel earlier rather than later. That’s because these journeys are less likely to be delayed. Earlier flights don’t get influenced by the ‘ripple effect’ that becomes more common as the day progresses. Of course, there’s always a possibility that your flight will be the one that starts the domino effect of the day’s delays. However, that’ll be the result of other factors, rather than because the flights before it were held back.

Check the flight’s reliability

Traveling on a flight that rarely arrives on time isn’t ideal for avoiding delays. Thankfully, you can find information on a flight’s reliability through either the airline’s website or other external sites. This information will tell you how frequently a specific flight reaches its destination on time. You can use that to judge whether it’s worth booking this route or not. Any flights with low-reliability scores are obviously worth avoiding. Just remember that you’re unlikely to find any with a perfect score, so you’ll have to be a little lenient when booking your trip.

Allow for a buffer

Delays are inevitable. It’s rare that everything goes smoothly, and sometimes, you’re the one that gets caught in the crossfire. To try and reduce the impact of this, it’s always worth building a buffer into your plans. If you’re traveling to a specific event, don’t arrange the flight too close to it. Consider giving yourself a day more than you need so that you’ve got some breathing room if things don’t go to plan. This is especially important if you’re traveling during a busy period when delays are more common and can be more impactful.

While it would be great if every plane were on time, there’s too much that can go wrong for this to ever be the case. Thankfully, these secrets can stop a delay from ruining your trip. While they won’t completely rid you of any disruption, they’ll give you the greatest chance of traveling without any issues.