They waste over 28,000 hours a day waiting on flights. And there's a hidden time cost as well. Expected delays are built into flight schedules. Flying between Washington, DC, and Newark, New Jersey, should take just 37 minutes. Continental Airlines schedules the flight for 75 minutes.
Delays can lead to angry passengers.
It's not all grim. Delays are down in Atlanta, Newark and Los Angeles. And the FAA is beginning to install new air traffic control equipment. Ironically, though, that is causing significant delays as controllers learn the new gear. American Airlines predicts without changes in the system, there will be gridlock by 2004.