If you are flying into or out of Boston Logan tonight, plan for a long evening: your flight is likely facing severe delays.
The FAA has slowed arrivals into Boston Logan International (BOS) due to thunderstorms, with delays averaging 2 hours and 24 minutes. While local surface conditions at Logan show 10 miles of visibility, cloudy skies, and light 9 mph winds at 63°F, storms in the surrounding airspace have throttled the airport's arrival corridors. An estimated 885 flights are caught in the disruption.
What This Means
This is not routine late-afternoon friction. Based on BTS data from the past six months covering 147,635 flights, Boston Logan typically posts a 75.9% on-time arrival rate, and a typical delay averages 73 minutes. Today's 144-minute average is almost double that benchmark.
The trouble extends well beyond Boston. Logan's inbound pipeline is taking a direct hit, with roughly 19% of arriving traffic delayed at origin. The entire New York metro corridor—a critical feeder system for Boston—is snarled:
* LaGuardia (LGA): Under a ground delay, tying up 8% of Boston's inbound flow.
* JFK: Dealing with departure delays, affecting 6% of Boston's traffic.
* Newark (EWR): Also in a ground delay, stalling another 4% of inbound flights.
When the New York airports seize up simultaneously, regional Northeast corridors quickly grind to a halt. Even if the skies directly over Boston clear, the aircraft scheduled to take you out of Logan may still be stuck on the tarmac in Queens or New Jersey.
What To Do
* Track the inbound plane, not just your flight number. Open your airline's app and locate the "Where is my plane coming from?" feature. If that aircraft is sitting at LGA, JFK, or EWR, your departure time will slide backward regardless of what the departure board at your gate says.
* Protect your connections. If Logan is your connection point tonight and your layover is under two hours, you are at serious risk of missing your next leg. Call your carrier or visit an agent right now to explore reroutes through hubs further west or south.
* Hold off on heading to the gate early. If you haven't left for Logan yet, monitor your flight's status closely from home or your hotel. Gate areas will crowd quickly as delayed outbound flights stack up.
Outlook
Because this system has paralyzed both Boston arrivals and the entire New York feeder network during the Friday evening rush, recovery will be slow. Expect delays to compound through the night as airlines scramble to reposition displaced crews and aircraft across the Northeast.