Where can we find information about the cause of a flight's delay?

Having experienced a few flight delays on my own, I'd like to know if there is some source of precise information about the delay (including up-to-date estimations of the delay and causes). So far it seems to me the only people who can actually inform about it is the air company staff, at the airport, and via oral announcements only.

I'd expect this information to be some sort of obligation, since compensations are related to the cause of the delay (if it's weather, it's OK for the company, otherwise the passengers have more rights, and so on), but I could not find a reliable source for this. At best, websites such as FlightStats indicate the estimated delay length, but never the cause (or probable cause).

Is this information available anywhere? I tried the airport's website and the flight company's website as well, but I couldn't find anything.

I see plenty of reasons why the company would not like to disclose this information, but I would expect some organism to enforce it.

Besides, the fact that they currently inform the passengers only via oral announcements seems quite inefficient and prone to generate stress among the passengers (and extra work to ground staff, which is forced to repeat again and again the same information...).

Best Answer

In the United States, this information is reported to the Department of Transportation for

Carriers that have 1 percent of total domestic scheduled-service passenger revenue report on-time data and the causes of delay. In 2014, there are 14 carriers reporting these numbers.

The data are available at:

http://www.transtats.bts.gov/OT_Delay/OT_DelayCause1.asp

The delays are categorized as:

Security
Weather
National Aviation System
Late Arriving Aircraft
Carrier

There is no global repository for this information (a good business idea though!) however there would be similar requirements in many countries.

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Where can I find flight delay reasons?

If an airline doesn't allow for tracking of an inbound aircraft, there are many apps and services now available to display the route and flight status. Then, by visiting the Federal Aviation Administration's flight delay website, fly.faa.gov, users can see the country's largest airports and their current conditions.

What is the most common reason for flight delays?

But a closer look at the BTS data shows that the three main causes for delay are backups within the US aviation system, weather, and airline related issues. (A flight is considered delayed if it's more than 15 minutes later than scheduled. )

Which agency could inform me about about flight delays in US airports?

Flight Delays & Cancellations | US Department of Transportation.

Did a Poorly Trained Pilot Cause Flight 587's Crash?

Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

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