Guide

Delayed due to a late arriving aircraft: what it means

If your airline says your flight is delayed "due to the late arrival of the incoming aircraft", the plane that will fly you hasn't arrived yet, or arrived too late to be ready on time. The delay started somewhere else, on an earlier flight.

What the phrase means

Each plane flies a sequence of flights through the day. Your flight is one link in that chain. A late arriving aircraft delay means an earlier link ran late, and the plane reached your airport too late to be turned around for your scheduled departure.

Nothing may be wrong with your flight itself. The crew, the gate and the passengers can all be ready, and you still wait because the aircraft isn't. Delay statistics treat this as its own cause: the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics, for example, reports "late-arriving aircraft" as one of its standard categories of flight delay.

Why it is such a common kind of delay

A late arriving aircraft delay is a knock-on delay: it passes a problem from one flight to the next.

• Planes are kept busy. Airlines earn money when aircraft fly, so schedules keep planes moving with fairly short gaps on the ground.
• Delays ripple forward. A late start in the morning can carry through every following leg, unless a turnaround has enough spare time to absorb it. Evening flights, near the end of a plane's day, often inherit problems from earlier legs.
• Many causes feed into it. Weather, air traffic control restrictions, a slow turnaround or a technical check on an earlier flight can all end up as a late arriving aircraft on yours.
• Spare planes are limited. Swapping to another aircraft is only possible when one is free at the right airport, so often the airline simply waits for the late one.

Why it is often announced late

Airlines usually update a flight's status when they can give a new time. While the incoming plane is still in the air, they may hope to make up time in the air, speed up the turnaround or move you to another aircraft. So the delay often appears on the board only shortly before departure, even though the late plane could be seen much earlier.

That is the gap DelayAhead is built for. By following the incoming plane, it can often show you the likely delay while the board still says on time.

Can the time be made up?

Sometimes, partly. A turnaround can occasionally be done faster than usual, and flight schedules often include some spare time, so a flight that leaves late may land less late than it left. The airline may also swap aircraft. But a plane that lands after your scheduled departure time can't leave on time, and one that lands with too little time to be prepared is very likely to leave late.

What you can do

• Check the incoming plane early. Our guide on where your plane is coming from shows how, or let DelayAhead do it.
• Get alerts so you hear when the airline changes the departure or arrival time, instead of refreshing the board.
• Still get to the airport on time. Keep to the airline's check-in and boarding times until it officially changes them. A predicted delay can shrink or disappear if the airline swaps planes.
• Watch your connection. If you have a tight connection, talk to your airline early about the options.
• Know your rights. What you are entitled to after a delay depends on where you fly, the airline and the cause. Check the airline's conditions of carriage or your local aviation regulator.

How DelayAhead spots it

For your flight, DelayAhead finds the plane that is due to operate it, its earlier flight into your airport and when that flight is expected to land. It then adds the time the plane usually needs on the ground on that route. If the plane can't be ready by your departure time, we show the likely delay and the expected new times, labelled as our prediction until the airline announces a delay itself.