delayed flight question

[rosiep]

If a flight is delayed by 2 hours and posted as such:

Departure Scheduled: Portland, OR 2:30 PM ETD 4:23 PM

Actual:
Burbank 4:39 PM ETA 6:23 PM


Do they ever leave earlier?

I ask (hypothetically) if I weren't at the airport and saw this alert I would assume I had roughly 2 hours more....but do they ever move it up? Could I check again in an hour only to find the problem fixed and we were now leaving at 3:30????

 

[Jestocost]

Yes, they sometimes will move up the departure of a delayed flight. It's best to stay close to the gate or have some other way of getting updates if you do decide to go someplace else.

 

[winthropf]

Yes, they often leave early. This is especially true if the delay is weather related or due to congestion at the destination airport. As other flights get delayed or the weather clears, openings free up for landing slots and the flight can get takeoff permission.

 

[dudspizza]

Yes, I had a flight that was not cancelled during a snow storm. They kept moving it back. All of the sudden they moved it up an hour and that time stuck. If I would have stayed home I would have had no way to make it to the airport in time.......

Because of that experience, I always will get to the airport at my scheduled time and go from there.

Duds

 

[rosiep]

Thank you! I appreciate all the replies. I thought they must, but I wasn't sure.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

I was once at a small airport where they posted a long delay due to weather.

As soon as we sat down at the pizza joint in the airport (The only place to eat) they came over the loudspeaker and said "AA FLIGHT XXX is boarding NOW, WE HAVE TO LEAVE NOW IF WE WANT TO GET TO DALLAS. We have a five minute window to get out of here!" (yes, they really did say that It was a small airport) We grabbed the pizza, tossed it in a box, threw cash at the waitress and ran! We made it!

 

[DebbieB]

It's rare but it does happnen. I was at MSP a couple of months ago and my flight was delayed about an hour because the plane coming in was late. They started moving it up and it only ended up being about 30 minutes.

 

[Figmificent]

Absolutely... DH and I were dropped at MCO by ME only to find out our flight was delayed about 3 hours. Our once full flight left MCO less than hour after our originally scheduled departure time with maybe 50% of the passangers!

 

[rosiep]

Absolutely... DH and I were dropped at MCO by ME only to find out our flight was delayed about 3 hours. Our once full flight left MCO less than hour after our originally scheduled departure time with maybe 50% of the passangers!

YIKES!!! That's a cautionary tale if ever I heard one.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

MCO back to SYR through JFK, our flight on the way back to the airport said 2 hour delay. Get to the airport, and it changed to a 3 hour delay from original departure. So we went, grabbed some food and hung out around the gate playing on our computers/phones. Wouldn't you know 30 minutes after or our original departure time, they announced over the speakers that the flight would depart in 30 minutes (and it did), so only 1 hour delay. The flight was still quite full, but I think it's because other flights also into JFK were delayed and they rebooked passengers after individuals failed to arrive.

 

[momgoose]

Glad to know this. It has never happened to me yet.

 

[NHdisneylover]

As others have said, it happens all the time. Absolutely get to the airport on time for the scheduled departure.

For delays while we are already in the airport, we make sure at least one member of our party is close enough to hear gate announcements at all times (that one can call the rest of us to come running if need be).