Fighting Flight Delays in Europe.

Business travelers in Europe are enduring the worst year of air travel on record, reported the August 2 Business Week. Average delays on flights within the Continent are greater than 40 minutes, and one third leave at least 15 minutes late.

These delays, attributed to the lack of a shared European air traffic system, have not only frustrated passengers but also increased their costs. Some passengers find it necessary to fly a day early or purchase additional, last-minute tickets in response to altered schedules.

Avoid particular airports. Savvy fliers have adapted a number of strategies to combat the problem, including avoiding consistently tardy airports. The Association of European Airlines, Brussels, Belgium, has provided help with this approach by publishing an unprecedented list of European airport delays. The list reveals, for example, that travelers to Milan's Malpensa airport in Italy suffer a 56.3 percent rate of delayed departures and an average delay of nearly 48 minutes.

Fly in the wee hours. This is an additional way to avoid trouble. Early-morning flights are far more reliable. Fed-up fliers also are insisting that travel agents override programmed itineraries that do not allow sufficient time to make connections in the event of a delay.

Skip the skies and hit the rails. Some travelers are even abandoning the airlines, according to Business Week, choosing instead to board Europe's more dependable and generally less expensive high-speed trains.