You should never book flights departing after lunch – experts in the aviation industry explained to the British newspaper The Sun several reasons why this should not be done, especially for nervous tourists.
Thus, pilot Jerry Johnson, first of all, noted that those tourists who are afraid of flying should avoid flying in the afternoon when turbulence is usually worse than in the morning. During the day, flights are usually more “shaking” due to a different air temperature. In addition, there are more chances of thunderstorms in the afternoon, the expert adds.
The second reason is that daytime flights are delayed much more often than morning flights. This was stated by Gordon Smith, editor-in-chief of Airliner World, who explained why he advises everyone to fly early in the day to avoid unpleasant surprises.
“Late departures may seem more convenient, but they are also riskier,” he assured. Most airplanes have a tiny – low-cost airlines that have only half an hour – time limit between landing and take-off, and a very small unforeseen delay is enough for everything to go wrong.
“The later the flight, the greater the risk of delays,” the expert emphasized. His assessment is confirmed by British statistics — according to their assessment, flights departing after 3:00 p.m. are twice as likely to be delayed. And the best time to fly, according to FlightRadar24, which evaluated flight cancellations last summer, is between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m., on average. Only 0.75% of flights scheduled for this window were delayed or canceled.