The Top 10 Reasons For Flight Delays

There are many reasons why flights might be delayed —sometimes it's the fault of the airline and at other times it's completely outside of their control. The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) has five categories for why aircraft are late. These are Air Carrier, National Aviation System, Weather, Late-Arriving Aircraft, and Security (the categories for cancellation are the same minus the late-arriving aircraft category). Here are some of the top reasons why aircraft are delayed.

The BTS considers extreme weather to be "Significant meteorological conditions (actual or forecasted) that, in the judgment of the carrier, delay or prevent the operation of a flight such as a tornado, blizzard or hurricane." This category only includes extreme weather that prevents flying; there is another category of weather in the National Aviation System category that only slows down aircraft operations (but does not prevent flying).