Never book the last flight of the day, especially in winter and summer, urged an employee of the marketing department of one of the foreign airlines. The recommendation is that these flights are most often delayed or canceled.
As The Sun newspaper reported, the girl often travels and receives free tickets from her employer and knows some of the intricacies of the carriers’ work. The employee explained that for tourists who are not ready to wait for the next flight in case of a delay or cancellation of the flight, it is better to refuse late evening flights, even if the ticket is the cheapest. “Weather-related flight delays and cancellations are much more common in winter so that you can be prepared. If you can, book the first flight on your route, because if you buy a ticket on the last flight of the day, you won’t have any options. But if you book a seat on the first flight, you will have much more opportunities to “overbook” or go where you need to go,” advised the aviation expert. The recommendation applies not only to winter routes but also to peak summer routes when flight cancellations often occur due to the large volume of traffic.
“The early bird takes off, statistically, with fewer delays and fewer cancellations. The later the departure, your flight will likely be delayed or canceled. As the day goes on, airlines have less and less passenger capacity, so if you need to be on time, an early morning flight is often the best bet,” former pilot Kathleen Bangs confirmed to Forbes.
However, the airline marketer shared other ways to reduce the external impact on the long-awaited vacation if the flight is canceled or delayed. “Book a direct flight whenever possible because if your flight is delayed, you don’t have to worry about missing a connection,” she advised. In addition, if a connecting flight cannot be avoided, it is better to choose flights with sufficient time between transfers. “If there were a choice between a flight with a short layover or a slightly longer layover, I would choose the longer layover,” she explained.