Strategic travel planners take note: Chicago’s Midway International Airport (MDW) had the most flight delays and cancellations in 2022. As the busy summer travel season ramps up, you’ll want to consider avoiding this airport.
According to a report by travel app Hopper, 44 percent of all flights out of Midway were disrupted in some way—whether delayed or canceled—last summer. Baltimore (BWI) came in at number two with 39 percent of flights disrupted, followed by Newark (EWR) with 37 percent.
The busiest airports during the summer of 2022 were the usual suspects: Atlanta’s Hartsfield–Jackson International Airport (ATL), Chicago O’Hare (ORD) and Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW). Fortunately, only 26% of flights out of ATL were disrupted, with ORD and DFW experiencing 25 percent and 28 percent disrupted flights, respectively.
With the cost of flights increasing, and issues like staffing causing TSA and air traffic control disruptions, you’ll want to take steps to make travel as smooth as possible. Choosing flights that avoid the most disrupted airports is one option, but Hopper offers other tips to ease travel woes, like booking the first flight of the day, including an extra “buffer day” to get where you’re going before any major event, and signing up for updates and alerts so you know the status of your flight before you get to the airport.