Flying From This Airport? Expect a 50-Minute Delay Before Takeoff

If you take flights frequently, you are aware that patience often goes traveling with you. Flight delays are so common that they seem almost part of the cost of the tickets.

And although a flexible approach will at least help smooth out the bumps, there are certain airports where even the most seasoned of travelers start to feel the pressure.

New research from Upgraded points to downright staggering amounts of time passengers are wasting in waiting for takeoff — and one airport is really a bad performer, with average delays approaching half an hour.

If you’re leaving through here in a while, you probably should pack a bit of patience alongside your carry-on.

Which Airport Keeps You Waiting the Longest Before Takeoff?

According to new findings from Upgraded Points, Miami International Airport (MIA) leads the nation when it comes to pre-takeoff delays. Passengers departing from MIA spend an average of 47.1 minutes just waiting to get off the ground.

According to Upgraded Points editor-in-chief Keri Stooksbury, that wait time has two main components: just under 25 minutes of flight delays from departure and around 23 minutes of taxiing on the runway. The result? A bothersome long lag before you are even airborne – almost 50 minutes altogether.

What is even striking about this is how it measures up against the national average. The rest of the airports listed in the study display an aggregate pre-takeoff delay of approximately 29 minutes; 12 minutes accruing from delayed departures and 17 minutes incurred in taxi time. Although no one enjoys delays, the wait in Miami is nearly double the wait time, and it should stand out for all the wrong reasons.

Which Other Airports Are Major Delay Zones?

Miami clearly leads the list, but other major airports are not too far behind, with increased ground time prior to take-off. San Francisco International, Dallas-Fort Worth, Philadelphia International, and LaGuardia are the last five, and each has its own specific combination of departure delay and long taxi-out.

Consider LaGuardia, for instance – It may not have overly long delays associated with departures, but its taxiing alongside a busy runway creates a lot of congestion, driving its overall elapsed time up much higher than one would anticipate..

Here’s how the top contenders stack up, based on data from Upgraded Points:

• San Francisco International (SFO)
  • Departure delay: 20.5 minutes
  • Taxi-out time: 20.8 minutes
  • Total delay: 41.3 minutes
• Dallas-Fort Worth International (DFW)
  • Departure delay: 19.2 minutes
  • Taxi-out time: 18.7 minutes
  • Total delay: 37.9 minutes
• Philadelphia International (PHL)
  • Departure delay: 15.8 minutes
  • Taxi-out time: 21.1 minutes
  • Total delay: 36.9 minutes
• LaGuardia Airport (LGA)
  • Departure delay: 13.5 minutes
  • Taxi-out time: 23 minutes
  • Total delay: 36.5 minutes

Just missing the top five is JFK Airport, ranking sixth overall. It didn’t quite earn the upper tier, but got another at least fair distinction. JFK has been found to have the longest taxi-out time for any airport in the study, which is an average of 24 minutes, according to Keri Stooksbury. That stat probably won’t surprise any experienced New York traveler who’s spent a lot of time looking at the tarmac.

Which Airports Get You in the Air Fastest?

On the other end of the spectrum, some airports are models of efficiency when it comes to getting planes off the ground. And so, here are the top five U.S. airports in this list:

• Kahului Airport (OGG) – 16.2 minutes (5.7-minute departure delay and 10.5 minutes of taxiing)
• San José International Airport (SJC) – 18.2 minutes
• William P. Hobby Airport (HOU) – 19.4 minutes
• Sacramento International Airport (SMF) – 20.7 minutes
• Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) – 22 minutes

What Was the Study Based On?

How were these deductions achieved?

Well, the review zeroed in on three major time-eaters:

• How long flights are delayed before departure
• How much time planes spend crawling along the runway before liftoff
• How long layovers stretch between connecting domestic flights

And to complete an all-inclusive and reflective ranking, they also merged numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics with live flight data from Google Flights. In five days, they studied an incredible 30,000+ itineraries to determine average wait times and layovers at 50 of the world’s busiest airports in the country.

One important detail? The layover times reflect domestic, coast-to-coast travel, so if you’re planning a long-haul international journey, the numbers might look a little different. But for U.S. flyers trying to make tight connections, this study offers some eye-opening insights.