This may rank as the worst year ever for air travelers who want to get someplace — anyplace — on time. Tell someone about a flight arriving four, six, even eight hours late, and you're less likely to get a "You're joking" response than a "You too, eh?" Tales of passengers boarding planes only to be held for takeoff have led to a new expression for traveler frustration: "runway rage."

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How to spend less on your air and land travel, while spending less time on the road or in airports.
The unreliability of the air traffic system hurts all travelers, of course. But I think it can penalize small businesses especially. When your travel doesn't go according to plan, not only are you at risk of missing a meeting, you're also not able to handle your usual responsibilities in the business. It's one thing for an employee of a large firm to be unavailable; there's likely to be someone else who can pick up the slack. It's another thing for an owner or employee of a small business to be out of commission. I don't use the phrase, "key employee," because with many small businesses, every employee is key and there's little or no margin for error or unexpected down time.

Fly early
With the whole air traffic system overloaded, delays and bottlenecks tend to build throughout the day. Your best defense, if you have a choice, is to take an early flight.
When I say leave early, I mean early. I hate getting up early for a flight, but I hate cooling my heels in an airport for tree four hours even more.

Have an important meeting?
Fly the day before. Time is money, cha-cha-cha, and most businesspeople would rather fly the same morning before an afternoon meeting if they can. That's a bad bet with an unreliable flight system. If you absolutely, positively have to be there, fly the day before.

Check out secondary airports
Major hub airports tend to be more prone to backups — or, rather, stack-ups. Secondary airports can be viable options.

Whatever the airport, check the track record
Airlines keep information about their on-time performance by flight. If you're considering two different flights, ask about the on-time performance of each.
You also can find on-time information on the Web sites of some airlines and through travel sites such as Expedia.

Prepare yourself
Call before you leave for the airport, or check online, to confirm the flight status. This can be extremely important for an early-morning trip, as I learned the time I arrived at the airport for a 6 a.m. flight . . . only to be told that bad weather had canceled so many inbound flights the previous evening that no plane was available yet. We wound up leaving a couple of hours late.

If you're connecting, carry tomorrow's clothes with you
Tight connections and late flights increase the chances of your luggage not making it on time, even if you do. A lightweight carry-on — just a one-day wardrobe — can make a trip with botched connections less stressful.

Avoid the almost-sure trouble spots
Look at what's happening in the distressing world of airline customer service. You need to avoid the flights with the worst on-time performance — what more do you want?