I just got an email that my 4PM flight won’t leave until 7:30PM. It’s an international flight (to Japan). Does that mean I can arrive at the airport later? Or do I have to get there at 2 and chill for the afternoon?
There’s nice-but-not-critical stuff I’d do at home if I had an extra hour or two. But I don’t want to risk jeopardizing my seat on the flight. Need answer fast. 
Oh – reason for delay is “due to crew arrangements”
I’m going to say it depends. If it’s rescheduled you’d be OK, but a delay can be a variable thing, and you might get left at the gate. Plus, if it’s an oversold flight and it gets down to it, sometimes it goes to first come, first served, unless you’ve got a full fare ticket. They try to get those people on the plane no matter what.
Fast answer – call the airline.
My personal opinion – you can get there later.
These days we check in online anyway, so there is no need to get to that airport 3 hours before the flight time, especially if you are familiar with the layout and walking distances involved.
Flying from the UK, I usually allow 1½ hours to drop my bags and get through security.
Do they still overbook flights these days, with all the security implications?
If they know upfront about hours worth of delays, then you can arrive late … Because if they could possibly take off earlier, they wouldn’t give a new time… you might have noticed the slot was given up , because they have to pay for a slot… but they wouldn’t state the new time without being committed to it.
Do arrive with more spare time before take off time…eg be at checkin by 6.30pm.
(why don’t these airline people just tell you the check in time ?)
They do overbook, yes. It has nothing to do with security and everything to do with passenger loads on the aircraft, i.e. revenue on each flight. The airlines want to ensure every seat is sold.
To the OP, in most cases you can postpone your arrival at the airport, but it really depends on the airport and the season. It’s not unheard of for an airline to announce a flight delay and then a little later change the flight departure time to something sooner than the delayed time. For example if the original departure was 4pm, they may delay to 7pm, and then change the time to 5:15 or whatever. If you’re not at the gate when they start boarding (or before they shut the jetway door), you’ll be out of luck. They also seem to be hard-asses about this, making it seem like your fault.
Yeah, with a delay for crew reasons, all that has to happen is a flight to somewhere else gets cancelled for mechanical reasons, and just like that, a crew is available. They’ll load that plane and get out as soon as they can.
This has happened to me. Just after I ordered a meal thinking that I had a couple of hours extra to spare. They announced last call about a minute after I’d placed my order. I’m convinced they were watching me!
You should definitely call the airline before making the decision to arrive later. It’s possible that the ticket/baggage check counter is only open at certain times which have been scheduled according to the on-time flight plans. If so, they would be closed within one hour of the planned departure, and by the time you got there, you wouldn’t have anyone there from the airline to check you in. They might have a set time when their counter is scheduled to operate that can’t be changed as often as flights get delayed.
I had something similar happen to me once causing me to miss my flight and pay $1900 for a flight leaving the next day.
I guess you do things differently over there
I hope OP made the flight.
This is the key part IMO; as mentioned, if the cause of the delay/reschedule is something that can resolve quickly they will try for it. I have been at the terminal when a flight was announced to all present to be now set for an hour and a half later, and then at the 45 minute mark the announcement “hey we’re ready now let’s get in line”. And to the customer it’s pretty opaque what is a mere delay and what would be a “hard” re-schedule which implies that dispatch has rearranged the routings to mitigate the chain reaction down the schedule.
This is less likely with a flight to Japan, due to passport and visa requirements for the crew.
Past that, I would only delay travel to the airport to the point where you could probably make the flight if it reverted to the original departure time. (What I mean by this is that I usually get to the airport three hours early for an international flight. In this case, though, I would probably make due with an hour to an hour and a half, depending on how long security lines are and so on.)
The OP decided to get to the airport an hour before the flight was originally scheduled to depart, just to be safe. The flight is now delayed yet another hour, so instead of leaving at 1:30, the flight is now scheduled for 6:00. But they gave us coupons for food in the terminal, and I found a comfy seat and a power outlet, and have some work I can get done.
I did shave a lot of the “just in case” time to get to the airport in my original plans, and wrapped presents for my Japanese host, among other errands.
Thanks for the advice and anecdotes.
I gave the right answer. I win!
Adding my own anecdote, I’ve had a flight that was announced as delayed for several hours suddenly get moved up a few hours because they “found another plane.” Like the example of a crew being found, this is more likely for a shorter flight than one to Japan.
My belief: every time you see there’s a delay and go early anyway to be safe, the plane will be delayed even more. The one time you decide to take advantage of your extra time is the time it will leave early.
And my flight, scheduled for 1:30, boarded at 5 and departed closed to 6. But i did everything i needed to do and am in Japan.