For those traveling this season, a flight attendant has some advice: no matter how late your flight is delayed, it’s best to still show up on time.
While this may sound counterproductive—especially if one’s flight is delayed for several hours—TikTok user and flight attendant Tay Shearer (@tay_shearer) says there’s a reason why you might want to head to the airport at the time on your ticket rather than the new, delayed time.
Why’s that? According to Shearer, an airline announcing a delay does not always mean that the flight will actually be delayed.
“I don’t care how many hours it’s delayed,” Shearer says. “They may very well still take off at the same time.”
Her video currently has over 57,000 views as of Friday.
In Shearer’s video, she says that this happens more often than one might expect.
“Today, I worked a flight. Got the call in the morning, it was delayed two and a half hours,” she recounts. “Got another call an hour later. What do you know? We took off on time.”
“I had so many passengers come up to me today saying they almost missed it because they turned around and went into something else besides going to the airport,” Shearer says.
This has even happened to Shearer herself, she notes in the caption.
“I’ve personally missed a flight cause of this,” she details. “So take my word and get to the airport for your original scheduled departure time.”
@tay_shearer Unpopular opinion. but i’ve personally missed a flight cause of this. 😅 so take my word and get to the airport for your original scheduled departure time. #flightattendant #flyinghacks #flightattendantlife #airlinetiktok #airplanetiktok ♬ original sound – tay_shearer
Shearer isn’t the first flight attendant to spark discussion after sharing information about flight delays. For example, one flight attendant went viral earlier this year after claiming that many flight delays announced by airlines are “fake.” Another inspired debate after revealing that she is not paid for flight delays, leading to her performing almost 40 hours of unpaid labor every month.
On Shearer’s video, users shared their thoughts in the comments section, with many claiming they had experienced something similar.
“Happened to us 2 weeks ago – United. Delayed 3 hours 1 hour before boarding. Ppl left to eat. Started boarding on time. Ppl almost missed the flight,” a user said.
“My last international flight was delayed 4 hrs.. but took off on time. that row all to myself was so welcomed,” shared another. “So glad I was at the gate regardless.”
“We had a me mechanical failure, they started issuing hotel vouchers,” remembered a third. “20 minutes later, 30 people gone and flight boarded.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Shearer via Instagram direct message.
