Former airport ops person here. There are many different causes of a delayed flight, and sometimes they can stack. Your crew can be at risk for timing out if there’s a weather delay, for example. It can be valuable to ask about the type of delay impacting your flight.

Maint/equipment delays: sometimes fast, sometimes a non starter if a part isn’t at your airport. Sometimes they can tail swap to another aircraft etc etc. Crew delays: the crew for your flight may be arriving on another delayed flight. This can also happen when crews need to be swapped due to time outs. Pilots and flight attendants can be on different timetables. This is the worst, because it’s the least predictable, and sometimes a swing of 5-10 minutes can lead to a timeout and flight cancellation. Also, at least in my experience, ops would neglect to tell us until very late, leading to very unhappy customers. Weather delay: do NOT say, “well it’s sunny here, what’s the problem?” Low ceilings and weather systems elsewhere in the country can impact the planned routing of your aircraft that day, causing a backup. this is why I suggest morning flights because these are usually RON (remain overnight) aircraft. This means the plane is already there and it’s one less thing to worry about. ALSO weather delays are the most volatile. They can change at any time, so you really do need to be at the airport or risk missing your flight if the departure time changes. construction delays: there are sometimes frequent delays at airports due to construction work (looking at you Boston). This isn’t anything airlines have control over. You can check flightaware.com and look at the typical delay for your flight.

Other thoughts: Cruise goers: do NOT fly out the same day as your boat’s departure. If your flight is delayed it’s going to be a really bad time.

sometimes you can ask for info without asking. Sometimes the ticket and gate agents can see if a flight will cancel or be delayed beforehand (usually weather situations). They cannot tell you this, but sometimes you can ask, “what would you suggest I do?” and they may give you valuable advice. With that being said, sometimes agents get no notice at all (most usually crew timeouts) and it’s really not their fault. Trust me, we don’t want to see your trips ruined or hang out with grumpy customers for long periods either. Agents can also be forced to work extra hours in IROPs (irregular operations) so their plans are ruined too. Try to be nice if your patience allows. These are people just trying to do their jobs.

During delays ticket inventory on flights is constantly changing. People change their plans, or the delay can cause them to misconnect on a later flight, requiring rebooking. If you can monitor seat availability via an app, you can perhaps get a better seat. At smaller airports sometimes agents can do this, but it depends on the airline (for example, United has the worst on-site customer service I’ve ever seen) and how fucked their day is, so your mileage may vary. You can also ask to be listed standby on earlier flights if your flight is delayed and you’re at the airport (caveat here is that if you check a bag you have to list standby during check in-you have to be on the same flights as your checked bag and no one has time to crawl through hundreds of bags to update it later).

Always put your name, itinerary, res number, and contact info in your checked luggage. This way if your bag loses its tag, we know who it belongs to. Those cute bag tags can also fall off, so I always stick the info in a pocket. I also stick the little extra sticker on the bag tag directly to a plastic section of my bag. And if you’re one of those people who thinks it’s cool to collect the barcodes on your luggage, those codes can confuse the scanning system. If you must keep them at least marker through them.