The Cost of an Air Travel Delay

Air Travel Delays

Time

Using Department of Transportation data for 2022, Finance Buzz estimated the hours that maintenance, weather, and staffing delays cost us. For Denver International Airport, it was a whopping 1,000 years when they combined the numbers for all passengers. As for the airline, at a collective 4,358 years, American Airlines had more delay time than other carriers.

So, if you depart or land in Denver, on American, a delay could be costly, especially if it’s the weekend. :

Dollars

A second possibility, in addition to time, is using dollars to figure out cost. Then, called “block,” taxi plus airborne cost an average of $100.80 a minute. With an unexpected delay, the operating cost climbs when extra crew and gate switches kick in. And, moving from supply to demand, the value of each hour that you or I lose from a delay is $47.

As economists, we can use our land, labor, and capital lenses to see aircraft operating costs:

So yes, for everyone, it all adds up to lost productivity.

Our Bottom Line: Opportunity Cost

Looking more closely at time and dollars, we can use opportunity cost to estimate the impact of a delay. As a decision’s best alternative, its opportunity cost is the most “expensive” sacrifice. As a result, for the countless people affected by air travel delays, each one’s opportunity cost could be different. After all, a delay for someone traveling to a job interview has a very different opportunity cost from a vacationing family and even the time of day that we travel.

According to Statista, the percent of late arrivals increased from 2019 to 2022 and continues to rise:

Maybe the JetBlue $2 million fine for “chronic delays” will make a difference. Also, we have the xkcd solution with which we began.

My sources and more: I most appreciated Finance Buzz because they recognized that cost need not be money. (However, since they said data was from 2022 but also “updated” as of 2025, I could not be sure if they were referring to 2022 or 2024.) But then, crucially also, this website had the dollars. And if, like me, you wondered how the FAA could possibly have said passenger time is worth $47 an hour, the answers are here.

Please note that the Finance Buzz and Statista estimates for American Airlines might conflict. I suspect we can just conclude that, as with all statistics, we should be somewhat skeptical but also look for a trend that provides insight. Also, the Biden administration proposal that airline passengers be compensated for lengthy delays and cancellations was canceled after publication of this post..