how to, almost, always avoid delays at the airport.

well, i fibbed a little. you can't avoid delays at the airport. there are lot's of reasons for flight delays. weather, earthquakes, crew fatigue, godzilla, etc.

what you can do is utilize tools to help weather unexpected delays and convert them to expected delays. that way you can better plan when to head off to the airport or whether or not a change in flight plans are in order. or perhaps you can determine and plan how long that stay in the airport bar is really going to be. ;)

being a traveling consultant offers me many opportunities to sample the hospitality offered by the nations busiest airports.

i can go on and on about the efficiency of ATL's tram system, or the beauty of the tram system at the northwest world gateway at DTW. i can also comment and opine on the functional efficiency of hub-and-spoke terminal architecture versus parallel terminal architecture in terms of getting passengers from one gate to another in the fastest and most efficient way possible.

i don't pretend to have all the tricks and tips of the hardiest road warriors and frequent flyers, but i do have some resources that i use to help with business travel and to get me home to my family.

this airport performance calculator can help with planning.

the national weather service has full looping video of current weather conditions that can help you see what is coming at you and whether or not it'll ground you for the night or just delay you for the requisite 30-60 minutes (i'm looking at you ORD).

if you're a google earth user, you can get this plug-in which shows flight tracking data. you can track where your in-bound plane is. is it still at the airport? is it in the air? how far away from your airport is it? all those questions can be answered with the magic of google!

hopefully my tips can help you get home safely and close to on-time as is possible.