Thinking of catching an evening flight for your next trip as you hate getting up for morning flights? Well, you may want to think again because hopping on a later plane may put you at risk of facing more travel delays, a meteorologist has warned.
In a viral video posted from his TikTok account @weatherchris, Chris Bianchi—who is a meteorologist for the 9News television station in Denver—explained “why you should never book a night flight during the summer” in the United States.
The video—which was taken by him in a deserted terminal at LaGuardia Airport in New York City back in late June at around 1:45 a.m. while waiting to catch a flight back to Denver—has amassed over 275,000 views since it was first shared on June 27.
Bianchi told Newsweek: “I booked the flight [at the] last second to watch a soccer game and I had the next day off of work, so I was willing to gamble a bit.”
He warns in the video that afternoon and night flights come with a higher risk of delays due to the chance of there being a thunderstorm somewhere in the country later in the day being “pretty high” in the summer.
He told Newsweek: “Storms tend to develop in the afternoon and in the evening and they create a growing backlog [of flights held back due to the weather], which is why you tend to see p.m. delays as opposed to a.m. ones in the summer.”
A screenshot from a viral TikTok video shared by Chris Bianchi. The meteorologist explained why you should never book a night flight during the summer months in the U.S.
@weatherchris on TikTok
The meteorologist’s warning comes as a total of 7,791 flights across 10 major U.S. airlines were reported to have experienced an “extreme weather delay” in May, according to the latest Air Travel Consumer Report published in July by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).
An extreme weather delay entails “significant meteorological conditions (actual or forecasted) that, in the judgment of the carrier, delays or prevents the operation of a flight,” the report explained.
In the same month, the DOT report found that 46,257 flights experienced a “national aviation system delay,” which refers to delays and cancellations attributable to “a broad set of conditions,” including non-extreme weather conditions as well airport operations, heavy traffic volume, air traffic control and other circumstances.
Jet-setters are bound to face delays and other flight-related issues with air travel showing no signs of slowing down in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era.
Total passenger demand in June was reported to be up by 9.1 percent, compared with the same month in 2023, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported in July.
“Demand grew across all regions as the peak northern summer travel season began in June. And with overall capacity growth lagging demand, we saw a very strong average load factor [the percentage of available seats an airline sells on its flights] of 85 percent achieved in both domestic and international operations,” Willie Walsh, IATA’s director general, said in the report.
“North American carriers saw a 6.6 percent year-on-year increase in demand,” the report said, and “capacity increased 8.6 percent year-on-year, and the load factor was 88.7 percent, the highest among regions.”
‘The One Rule You Should Never, Ever Break’
Sitting at the airport terminal at LaGuardia, Bianchi says in the viral clip that his flight has been delayed at least three hours, noting that “it’s completely my fault because I broke the one rule you should never, ever break—never book a flight in the afternoon, or especially at night, during the summertime months in the United States.”
The meteorologist explained that, for example, if you’re flying from New York to Miami, that flight may be coming from Chicago. So, if there’s a thunderstorm there, your flight will be impacted.
Bianchi noted: “The chances of there being a thunderstorm somewhere in the United States in the afternoon or in the evening are pretty high during the summertime months, during May, June, July, August and September.
“So, if you get a thunderstorm in the wrong place and it impacts your flight, you could be completely screwed…there’s a pretty good chance you’ll have a delay as a result of the backlog of those flights clogging up,” he added.
He advised passengers to download the apps for the flight tracking websites FlightAware and FlightRadar24, to “track your inbound flights, where your flight coming from…check the weather in those places…because if there’s weather in those places, there’s a pretty good chance your flight is going to get impacted as a result.”
If it’s looking like there’s going to be bad weather in any of the places where your flight is coming from, Bianchi also advised booking “a backup flight” with an airline that offers full refunds, credit or air miles, so you’ll have alternative options should your afternoon or evening flight be affected by weather.
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