Often a late-night flight gets you the cheaper airfare. It may also be the solution to arriving at your destination less prone to jet lag and ready to hit the ground running. But they’re also the flights most likely to experience big delays and throw a major spanner into your travel plans, says analysis of Bureau of Transportation Statistics by FiveThirtyEight.
Late aircraft are the most common cause of flight delays, and most flight delays are around or after 6pm. By the end of the day, it’s more difficult for an airline to ‘fix’ a late flight, which can lead to passengers being stranded overnight.
The analysis also shows that “weather-related delays are highest between 3pm and 11 pm, when thunderstorms are more likely to form”.
The first flights of the day are pretty much the only ones guaranteed to depart on time, because there are no planes before them to hold them up and air traffic is less crowded.
While it’s not exactly dangerous to fly with these 30 airlines after 6pm, your likelihood of delayed or cancelled flights increases exponentially after 6pm.
So, the airlines with the poorest on-time performance on the AirHelp Score Global Airline Rankings are more likely to be the ones you want to steer clear of when flying at night.
Airlines with the lowest on-time performance, according to AirHelp:
- Kuwait Airways
- Laudamotion
- TAP Air Portugal
- Air Malta
- Air Transat
- Air India
- Czech Airlines
- El Al Israel
- Vueling
- Icelandair
- Transavia
- Wizz Air
- Asiana
- Brussels Air
- Jet2.com
- Lufthansa
- Ryanair
- Air Canada
- Eurowings
- Air France
- Swiss International Air
- Air China
- Ethiopian
- Adria
- easyJet
- Aer Lingus
- LOT Polish
- Avianca
- China Eastern
- Korean Air
Have you flown with any of these airlines? How did they perform? Were they on time? If you experienced a delay or cancellation, were you satisfied with how the airline handled it?
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