Tchiowa

15 minute delay means you get compensation?????

There are exactly 2 instances when a delay becomes an issue for me.

When I am connecting to another flight and the delay threatens my connection.

When I am going home and a delay puts me into rush hour traffic getting home.

Flight delays are inevitable. Learn to deal with it.

lhgreengrd1

This. If the delay materially impacts me, I have a problem with it. Does it screw up a meeting, a travel connection, or cost me a significant fraction of a vacation? Those are real concerns. Otherwise, I'm chill.

jrl767

nicely played
^^

pinniped

Delays don't bother me so long as the airline staff are behaving professionally, efficiently, and competently towards the passengers impacted.

Stuff happens...weather, mechanical, etc. As long as the airline is appropriately responding and addressing the situation as well as possible, I don't have an issue.

BearX220

The root cause of the delay means everything to me. Weather or a genuine mechanical, you can't do much about. When I miss a connection because we can't get a gate, or the ground crew can't figure out to work the jetway, or other stupid human tricks, it's infuriating.

I was on United Express at a distant outstation a few weeks ago, trying to make a close hub connection, and a "short" maintenance delay became a long one because the mechanic couldn't get the paperwork right and had to drive back and forth between ramp and hanger to fix it, and was pretty nonchalant about it. Meanwhile my fellow passengers headed to FRA, SEA, IAH, you hame it are watching their itineraries melt down. That kind of thing is a BIG issue and contributes to the subjective impression that the airline doesn't care whether you get where you're going or not.

drvannostren

To me it only becomes an issue if I'm going to miss something. A flight, plans, a ride, etc.

I'm usually very flexible with travel, so if a voluntary opportunity comes up, I'm almost always willing to take it. But when a flight is delayed and I miss a connection, I don't stress out, I know the airline has to deal with me, but it does cause problems for me. Last year I fell asleep on my flight from YVR-YEG (then on to YMM).

Woke up, we hadn't left the gate yet. I figured whatever, I nodded off for 5 minutes, happens all the time. Then I looked at the screen of the movie I was watching and saw it had run for like an hour. I thought maybe I had it on FF, nope, checked my phone, we had sat there for an hour. My connection was already missed, I only had about 45 minutes to connect.

Alright no big deal, sure I was supposed to be at work the next morning, but it's not like travel issues don't come up, they understand. Went to the desk, got rebooked for the AM, got my hotel voucher and my meal voucher for the hotel. I don't think I got any travel credit, though I'm starting to think I should've, so maybe I did and forgot. Spent the night in a very average hotel room and was on my merry way. Meanwhile people are freaking out, they're mad, they don't like the hotel, etc etc. My bag never came out at YEG so I went into that office which as usual is a bastion of people in good moods lol. So after the guy finished up with the angry people in front of me, he preps for me to freak out at him. I just said "hey man, my next flight was cancelled so my bag should've been offloaded but it didn't come out on the carousel". He took my tag and produced the bag in less than a minute. They had already put it aside.

I'm not sure if it's because I worked in the business so long, or if it's just cuz I'm a laid back easy to please person, but I don't let this stuff get to me. Luckily it doesn't happen very often, but IAH-YVR is full? You're gonna give me a hotel and $600 to fly tomorrow morning? Why not.

airsupply

It depends. 3 hr weather delay in ORD and hoping that last flight out is not cancelled- Meah.
Being "stuck" in Rio extra 18 hrs with a Copacabana hotel voucher, cab fare, meals etc. really not too bad.

DaveBlaine

Thank you for noticing. Sometimes I feel like I post with invisible ink.

becca1

It really depends on the type of delay and how it's handled. If it's a staffing issue and the airline doesn't rebook me on other carriers or do all they can to get me where I'm going, then I'll get annoyed. But if it's a real mechanical or safety issue I try to remember that I'm flying in a miles above the earth in a tube in the sky. Accidents are caused by things as small as a stripped screw.

pilotalan

I'm eternally grateful for the 30 years in law enforcement, EMS, and emergency management. If someone's not actively trying to kill me, it's pretty hard to get my blood pressure up.
If no one's gonna die, it's not that big of a deal.