The Worst Airlines and Airports for Holiday Flight Delays

Before you can drink eggnog and exchange presents with your family during the holidays, you need to figure out how you'll get to them. Travel can be one of the most stressful aspects of what's already a frantic time of year. And even if you plan your trip perfectly, there's no way to guarantee your flight won't be delayed.

Beyond getting to the airport on time and keeping track of your flight status, there are steps you can take to help your flight run smoothly, like choosing the right airline and airport. As Lifehacker reports, the artificial Christmas tree site Treetopia recently compiled a list of average holiday season delay times for airports and airlines in the U.S.

The data comes from flight data collected by the government this time last year. In the airline category, Southwest is the worst offender, with 64 percent of all flights experiencing some type of delay during the Christmas season. Delays lasted an average of 19 minutes and only .88 percent of flights were canceled. Southwest is followed by Frontier, which delayed 50 percent of all flights for an average time of 22 minutes.

At the other end of the list is Delta, with the lowest percentage of delayed flights at 33 percent. The airline's average delay time for the 2018 holiday season was 13 minutes. It's followed closely by United Airlines, which also had 33 percent of flights delayed and had an average delay time of 17 minutes.

If you believe airports are more often to blame for delays than airlines, Treetopia broke down the numbers for them as well. Chicago Midway International seems to be the worst airport to fly from during the holidays, with 77 percent of all flights experiencing delays for an average of 25 minutes and 0.62 percent getting canceled altogether. Dayton International is the best place to travel from: Only 23 percent of flights out of the airport were delayed with an average time of 10 minutes.

Unfortunately, every airline and airport deals with the occasional delay. Here's what you should do if your flight gets canceled or delayed during your holiday travels.