You race to the airport to make the one-hour check-in window, only to be told your flight is running late.
This means a longer wait at the gate, thinking about all the ways you could be using the time more wisely.
This annoyance is common, but it's actually more likely to occur on one Aussie airline: Jetstar.
The data behind Jetstar's delay problem
The low-cost carrier is lagging behind when it comes to flying on time, according to the latest airline performance statistics from the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics.
Jetstar flights departed when they were supposed to only 70 per cent of the time during July, the data shows.
This was markedly lower than competitors in the Qantas network (Qantas and QantasLink combined) which recorded 82 per cent for on time departures, while the Virgin Australia network (Virgin Australia and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines combined operations) recorded 77.1 per cent.
But according to RMIT Aviation Academy senior manager, Justin Brownjohn, this doesn't necessarily mean Jetstar is the most unreliable Aussie airline.
When it comes to cancellations, Jetstar gains points. The carrier cancelled only 0.9 per cent of flights during the month, compared with Qantaslink at 2.2 per cent, Qantas at 1.6 per cent and Virgin Australia at 1.4 per cent. Virgin Australia Regional Airlines was an outlier, with no cancelled flights at all.
Brownjohn says airlines are constantly weighing up whether to cancel a flights or run them late when their schedule is delayed.
"Jetstar is seemingly focused on completion rate over on time performance," Browjohn tells Explore.
"This makes sense given the overall target market of Jetstar - the primary passenger for Jetstar are those travelling to visit friends and relatives or travelling for leisure. If passengers were give a choice of a delay or a cancellation, the former would win."
Another consideration is, Jetstar has to fly more hours per day to make its lower fares viable, so a delay early in the day will most likely be felt for the rest of the day because "the airline has less fat in the schedule to recover".
Dr Garth Lean, Senior Lecturer Tourism and Heritage Studies at Western Sydney University, agrees Jetstar's low-cost model may be contributing to the airline's poorer punctuality.
"High aircraft use and short turnaround times can leave less room to recover once delays occur. Weather, congestion, air traffic control, crew or aircraft issues and the routes being flown can also play a role. The July data doesn't tell us which of these factors was responsible," Lean tells Explore.
"If poor punctuality continues, it could affect consumer confidence, particularly for people travelling for work, events or connections. But for many Jetstar passengers, price will still be a major factor."
The flight route hit hardest by cancellations
Across the board during July, Aussie airline departures at 78.8 per cent and arrivals at 78.4 per cent, were up substantially from 74.2 per cent and 73 per cent respectively a year earlier.
However, these numbers still fall below the long-term averages of 81.6 per cent for departures and 80.5 per cent for arrivals.
Cancellation data improved in July, falling from 3.1 per cent to 1.5 per cent during the year.
Lean says " things look to be improving".
"The data suggests the industry is continuing to recover from the major punctuality issues that emerged as aviation ramped back up after COVID, when staffing shortages and other operational problems caused significant disruption," Lean says.
"There is still room for improvement, but it's heading in the right direction."
But one route's cancellations were consistently one of the highest during the past 12 months.
The Canberra-Sydney route had the most cancellations in July with 5.4 per cent, and its average throughout the year was 5.9 per cent.
But this can be explained by demand, and Canberra is highly-seasonal, explains RMIT's Brownjohn.
"The Sydney-Canberra [route] saw such high cancellations due to being highly dependent on the parliamentary sitting calendar," Brownjohn says.
"Only a handful of days in July were sitting days and hence traffic will have been much less compared to other months when Federal Parliament is sitting."
This means airlines would be much more likely to seat passengers on later services if they choose to cancel flights, so they might decide to do this over running them late.
Interestingly, the route departed on time a relatively-high average of 80.3 per cent during the year.
"It is one of the data points that airline operation centre teams use to decide when to delay or cancel a flight - what the overall impact is on a passenger, not just on the flight that was cancelled, but other flights scheduled to operate after on that aircraft," Brownjohn says.