On October 5, 2020, a United Airlines plane appeared at the gate of Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) in Chicago, Illinois.
Daniel Slim | AFP | Getty Images
Don’t believe bad weather is your fault United Airlines Flight delayed? Airlines will now send you instant radar map newsletters to prove this.
Even if the weather is clear, a thunderstorm hundreds of miles away can still disrupt your flight.
The Federal Aviation Administration can issue ground stops that prevent flights from going to an airport to avoid overloading the facilities.
Bad weather can not only force flights to take off later, but also delay arriving aircraft by taking longer routes to avoid delays. Thunderstorms can appear suddenly and are less predictable than larger systems like winter storms and hurricanes. Sometimes there are cascades of delays that prevent aircraft and crews from getting into position.
United said Wednesday it is using generative artificial intelligence to send travelers links to real-time radar maps provided by flight tracking platform FlightAware, as well as links to other causes of flight disruptions, such as mechanical issues or airport congestion.
Its technology will be tested during the July 4 holiday, and United is expected to fly a record 5 million passengers between June 28 and July 8, a 7% increase over last year.
Data from FlightAware shows that nearly 942,000 U.S. airline flights were delayed in the first half of this year, or 21.4%, slightly better than the 22.3% in the same period last year.
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