GovernmentShrinker wrote: “This thread seems to be studiously ignoring the elephant in the airport. Namely WHY are there so many long delays, and many more that are much shorter but still a significant inconvenience and totally unnecessary?”
The hubs are overwhelmed. Take O’Hare. That place is nearly always chaotic, and I think it’s simply because they try to cram too many aircraft into a single airport (opening another hub would probably be VERY expensive). They don’t appear to have any flexibility left in the system. All it takes is a few aircraft mechanical problems or a bit of bad weather. Since there is little or no wiggle room, the chain effects spread through the entire system.
I rarely get through O’Hare on time. It’s either a delay for an open gate or a sit on the ramp waiting for a slot to take off (or both!). For smaller flights, it’s like they are playing musical gates. Two or three gate changes isn’t abnormal at all, and that’s a symptom of a system out of control. I actually pity the airline employees aka master jugglers.
The airspace is at its limit, too. Like real estate on the ground, they're not making any more of it.